Chinese professional cooking uses a tiered stock system — shang tang (superior stock), er tang (second stock), and nai tang (milk stock — cloudy, collagen-rich) — that parallels the French fond system in principle but uses different source materials (whole chicken, Jinhua ham, pork bones) and produces different flavour profiles.
- **Superior stock (shang tang):** Old hen + lean pork + Jinhua ham (or other dry-cured ham) — the combination of fresh protein, dry-cured depth, and Maillard compounds from the ham produces a stock of extraordinary complexity. Simmered 4–6 hours. - **Jinhua ham:** The dry-cured pork of Jinhua, Zhejiang province — aged, intensely flavoured, glutamate-rich. The Chinese equivalent of Parma ham's function in Italian cooking — provides deep savoury background without its own identity in the finished dish. - **Milk stock (nai tang):** Created by boiling bones and chicken at a full boil (not a simmer) — the vigorous boiling emulsifies the fat and collagen into the water, producing a white, cloudy stock. This is the specific technique for the white stocks used in certain Cantonese fish and seafood preparations.
China: The Cookbook