Monday, March 10, 2008
Posted by Miss Neddy at 11:57 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Wulong Tea Related

A popular dish in Singapore is Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶), literally “Bone Meat Tea”. No worries, the tea is not made from meat and bones. Meaty pork bones are combined with several spices such as pepper, star anise and cloves to create a slight spicy, yet refreshing soup. There are some variations on the recipe, usually divided between “white” and “black”. White bak kut teh is more Teochew in style, being lighter in colour but much more peppery; black bak kut teh is usually either Hokkien or Cantonese in style, the former using more soya sauce and sweeter herbs such as danggui (当归) to create a darker soup, the latter using more herbs to create a more varied flavour.

For those who like pork, bak kut teh is a pleasure. The accompanying dishes are usually pork related as well, such as pig’s trotters in dark soya sauce, stewed pork ribs and possibly pork offal (usually stewed to tenderness in a dark soya sauce based stew). Preserved vegetables and deep-fried tofu are common accompaniments as well.

So where is the “Teh” in bak kut teh? Teochew, Hokkien and Cantonese people are great tea drinkers, and almost always, bak kut teh stalls will provide a portable cooking hob with a kettle of hot water, and also a small tea set for gongfu tea (工夫茶). Gongfu in Chinese means “skill”, and while mostly associated with the martial arts, it can be used to apply to anything that requires great skill to accomplish well - such as making tea. Tea to go with bak kut teh is usually dark and smoky - just as light white wines are unlikely to stimulate the tastebuds if the meal is strong-tasting beef or salmon, lighter teas cannot compete with spicy, possibly overpowering taste of the broth from bak kut teh. Add in dishes such as pickled salted vegetables, and pig trotters that have been simmered in litres of dark soya sauce, star anise, ginger and cinammon, teas such as Gaoshan and Longjing have no chance.

Tie Kuanyin (the robust varieties from the Wuyi mountains in China, not the light, almost green varieties from Taiwan) is a popular choice for bak kut teh, and so are Teochew teas such as Bu Zhi Xiang (不知香), so named because the fragrance of the tea is entirely unlike anything else - it cannot be said to be a floral, smokey, fruity, or herbal scent. The tea leaves usually come packed in convenient doses, wrapped in small paper packages. The tea Bao Zhong (包种) was originally wrapped in paper in this way, hence its name which means “wrapped”. The paper, unwrapped, also makes a convenient funnel to pour the leaves into the earthernware teapot.

The strong earthy teas help to refresh the palate after all the spicy, oily, fatty food, and it is believed that the tea will help digest the copious amounts of fat and oils eaten in the meal.

Next entry: 茶鏽 Rust
Previous entry: Change In Blogging Schedule