Thick New Year Soup 糊羹

How it is made

China News Service describes two versions. In one, pork mince, shiitake mushrooms, tofu and carrot are diced and simmered with sweet-potato starch until the liquid thickens, and a handful of chopped spring onion and diced radish goes in just before the pot comes off the heat. In the other, rich chicken stock is the base, with carrot, tofu, duck gizzard and cured pork diced into it; once it boils, the soup is thickened with starch.

The agency sums up a proper bowl with the phrase "五味调和，百味生香", the five flavours in balance so that a hundred tastes come through, and singles out the taste of pepper in the rich broth.

Where it comes from

China News Service gives the soup several hundred years of history in Nanchang and repeats the tradition that it began in the Yuan dynasty. The story is one of thrift: cooking the many New Year dishes left plenty of trimmings, and rather than throw them away, households boiled them together in one pot. Living standards have risen, but the custom has stayed.

The second name carries a wish. People eat fortune soup on the seventh day of the first lunar month so that good fortune will fill the house all year.

How it is eaten

A bowl of Thick New Year Soup comes before the meal, to open the appetite. At the New Year temple fair in the Wanshou Palace (万寿宫) historic district of Nanchang, vendors carry it on shoulder poles and call out "糊羹，糊羹，新鲜热乎的糊羹", "thick soup, fresh and hot", and during the Spring Festival customers eat it at a restaurant in the district.