Vietnamese Pork Bone and Green Papaya Soup (Canh Du Du)

In Asia, no part of the pig goes to waste. In cooking Vietnamese green papaya soup, the pigs' feet are traditionally used. Although they contain little to no meat, they are rich in tendons which liquefy and become part of the broth during the long and slow cooking. 

Although papaya is a fruit, unripe green papaya is cooked as a vegetable in Southeast Asia. The flesh, after cooking, is soft but firm and has a foamy texture. It is bland, almost tasteless, but able to soak up the flavors of ingredients it is cooked with.

How to Cook

It takes several hours to cook pigs' feet to get it to that stage when the flesh separates from the bone and much of the tendon has liquefied into the broth. If you're going to simmer the pigs' feet on the stovetop, use a pot with a thick bottom to minimize the chance of the pork feet sticking to the bottom and scorching.

A pressure cooker may be used and it might be the most convenient method. Although pressure cooking will cook the pigs' feet faster, it does not make a thorough job of drawing out the flavors from the bones.

We find the slow cooker to be the ideal equipment for cooking tough cuts of meat like pork feet. No stirring is necessary and the broth tastes like every bit of flavor have been squeezed off the bones.