Best Pork Cuts for Bak Kut Teh & Chinese Soups: A Singapore Cook’s Guide

Every Singapore household has a soup pot story. The bak kut teh that grandmother made on cold rainy days. The lotus root and pork rib soup that appeared whenever someone fell ill. The ABC soup that was Tuesday's dinner because Tuesday was always ABC soup. What ties all of these together — and what most home cooks get wrong — is the pork cut.

Use the wrong cut and your soup is greasy, gamey, or thin. Use the right one and the broth becomes deep, sweet, and clean — the kind that needs nothing more than a pinch of salt to be perfect. This is the complete Singapore guide to pork cuts for soup — bak kut teh, lotus root, ABC soup, watercress, and the heritage recipes that built local home cooking.

The Six Pork Cuts That Belong in Singapore Soup Pots

Before we get to specific recipes, learn these six cuts. Once you know what each one does, you can build any Chinese soup confidently.

1. Pork Spare Ribs (排骨)

The all-rounder. Pork spare ribs sit between the loin and belly, with a balanced ratio of meat to bone to fat. The marrow in the bones releases sweetness into the broth; the meat stays tender after long simmering; the small amount of fat adds body without making the soup oily.

Best for: Bak kut teh, lotus root soup, watercress soup, corn soup, kim chiam soup.

2. Pork Soft Bone (软骨)

Ribs with the cartilage tip — those little nubs of soft bone that turn translucent and chewable after a long simmer. Pork soft bone releases more collagen than regular spare ribs, giving the soup that silky, lip-coating richness Cantonese cooks call "lou foh tang" (老火汤) — old-fire soup.

Best for: Slow-simmered Cantonese soups, lotus root soup, peanut soup, papaya soup.

3. Prime Ribs / Big Bone (大骨)

Larger bones with thick marrow centres. These are foundation bones — you simmer them for 2+ hours to extract the marrow and collagen, then often discard the bone itself. The point isn't to eat the meat; the point is the broth.

Best for: Stock bases, ramen broth, tonkotsu, mala broth foundations, Hainanese chicken rice stock.

4. Pork Belly (五花肉)

For richer, fattier soups where the layers of fat and meat melt together over hours of simmering. Pork belly is too rich for clear soups, but in Sichuan-style braised soups, kimchi jjigae, or Korean budae jjigae, it's the only choice.

Best for: Kimchi jjigae, mala soup base, braised pork belly soups, Hokkien-style braised dishes.

5. Pork Shank / Trotters (猪脚)

The Singapore specialty. Pork trotter soup with kidney beans or peanuts, vinegar pork trotters for confinement — these dishes are built on shank's incredible collagen content. After 3 hours of simmering, the broth becomes spoonably thick and rich.

Best for: Pork trotter soup, vinegar pig trotters (confinement food), peanut and pork trotter soup.

6. Pork Tendon & Pork Tail

The collagen specialists. Pork tendon adds gelatinous body without much meat flavour — useful when you want richness without weight. Pork tail bridges the gap between belly and shank: meaty, fatty, full of small bones.

Best for: Beauty collagen soups, Cantonese double-boiled tonics, tail soup with red dates.

Browse the full pork slow-cook collection for these specialty cuts.

Bak Kut Teh: The Singapore National Soup

Singapore has two main bak kut teh styles, and they need different cuts.

Teochew (clear, peppery) Bak Kut Teh

The Singapore version most locals grew up on. Clear broth, dominant white pepper, garlic, light soy. The cut needs to deliver clean meat flavour without muddying the broth.

• Primary cut: Pork prime ribs (loin ribs with meat) — 800g for 4 pax
• Secondary cut: Pork soft bone — 300g for added richness
• Cooking time: 90 minutes simmering, then 30 more minutes for the spice infusion

The Teochew bak kut teh method:

1. Blanch ribs and soft bone in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain, rinse
2. Add to fresh water (1.5L for 800g meat)
3. Add 2 whole garlic bulbs (skin on), 2 tbsp white peppercorns (lightly crushed)
4. Simmer 90 minutes
5. Season with light soy and salt to taste
6. Serve with rice, you tiao, soy-braised tofu, and chilli with dark soy

Hokkien (dark, herbal) Bak Kut Teh

Malaysian-style, but widely available in Singapore. Dark soy, complex herbal blend, sometimes with mushrooms and tofu skin.

• Primary cut: Pork ribs + pork belly cubes (for richness)
• Secondary cut: Pork shank slices (for collagen)
• Cooking time: 2+ hours

Lotus Root & Pork Rib Soup (莲藕汤)

The grandmother soup. Cooling, clean, restorative. You'd serve this when someone in the family had a cold, when the weather had been hot for days, or just because it was Sunday.

• Cut: Pork spare ribs or pork soft bone — 600g for 4 pax
• Other ingredients: 1 lotus root (sliced), 8 red dates, 1 small handful of dried cuttlefish or peanuts (optional)
• Method: Blanch pork, simmer everything together for 2 hours, season with salt only

ABC Soup (Singapore Family Staple)

Every Singapore household has a slightly different ABC soup. The constants: pork bones, potatoes, carrots, onion, tomatoes. The cut matters because ABC soup is supposed to be drinkable as broth and have eatable meat.

• Cut: Pork spare ribs — 500g for 4 pax
• Why: The meat stays soft enough to eat, the bones flavour the broth
• Avoid: Just using big bones — you'll get good broth but nothing to chew on

Watercress & Pork Soup (西洋菜汤)

The classic Cantonese cooling soup. Watercress is considered yin (cooling) and balances the warmth of pork. The cut should release sweetness and collagen without being heavy.

• Cut: Pork ribs + pork shin (or shank slices)
• Other ingredients: 1 large bunch watercress, 8 honey dates or red dates, dried apricots optional
• Cooking time: 2.5 hours minimum (this is a "lou foh" soup — long fire is the point)

Pork Trotter Soups (Confinement & Beyond)

In Chinese tradition, pork trotters are a confinement food — eaten by new mothers for the collagen, iron, and warming properties. But trotter soups are good food for anyone, anytime.

• Vinegar pig trotters: Trotters + black vinegar + ginger + hard-boiled eggs. Slow-simmered 3 hours.
• Peanut & pork trotter soup: Trotters + raw peanuts + a pinch of salt. The peanuts thicken the broth naturally.
• Pork trotter with kidney beans: Trotters + soaked white kidney beans + pork ribs. The Singapore "tu kah" classic.

The Five Rules That Make Singapore Soups Better

1. Always blanch your pork first. Boil pork in water for 5 minutes, drain, rinse. This removes the impurities that make soup cloudy and gamey. Skipping this step is the single most common reason home soups taste flat.
2. Use cold water for the actual soup. Bones release flavour into cold water as it heats. Adding bones to already-boiling water seals in the flavour and gives you a thinner broth.
3. Don't over-season early. Salt at the end, not the start. Long simmering reduces volume — soup salted at minute 10 becomes soup over-salted at minute 120.
4. Skim, don't stir. The grey foam that rises in the first 20 minutes is impurity. Skim it off. Stirring breaks the foam and clouds your broth.
5. Long simmer, low heat. Cantonese "lou foh tang" means old fire — 3+ hours at a barely-perceptible simmer. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat and turns clear soup milky. You want a few bubbles per second, not a churn.

Build Your Soup Order

For Singapore home cooks, the ideal soup pantry strategy: order a mixed pack of pork spare ribs, pork soft bone, and a piece of pork shank when you do your fortnightly meat shop. Portion into 500g freezer bags, label with the date, and you're set for two weeks of soup nights.

Browse our pork slow-cook collection for the cuts above, or the full pork range. We deliver in our own refrigerated trucks across Singapore, free on orders above $65.

For more pork cooking guidance, see our pork belly vs pork shoulder guide and Kurobuta vs Iberico vs Duroc.