Jason & April Ruggles

Food Friday: The Whole Pig Soup

Posted on 15. Jan, 2010 by Jason in Thailand, food

So at English Clinic today, we went down to the cafeteria to eat lunch. The cafeteria has maybe 50 vendors that dish out pretty much any Thai food you can imagine. As usual, I wandered around waiting for the food muse to strike. In this state I came upon my Thai friend John.

“Jason, what will you eat for lunch?”
I shrug. “I dunno…”
“You should try this” he says, indicating his soup.
Warily eyeing the odd looking chunks in it, I ask “What’s in it?”.
“Rice noodles, pig lung, pig skin, pig intestines, pig liver, pig tongue, pig meat, and (congealed) pig blood.”
“Wait… WHA…? Rice Noodles?” But then, because I’m one adventurous dude, I decide to man up.

Ok, here’s ranking of the pig from best to worst:
1. Tongue - the tenderest part with the most flavour packed in. I’d eat it again!
2. Meat. aka pork - the one we’ve all come to love. A daily food.
3. Lung - surprisingly, not that bad. It had a porous, spongy texture that absorbed the broth.
4. Liver - I’ve had it with onions, but not ever willingly. The texture is not my friend.
5. Intestines - ok, we’ve all had it before in hot dogs, but I’ve never had it chopped into tubes, which played with my mind. At least it was tasteless.
6. Skin - while chewing this rubbery stuff, I tried to forget that phrase I’ve often used “… sweating like a pig in a marathon!”. ‘Cause porkers sweat! Now that I think about it, this stuff was slightly more salty than the rest…
7. Blood - Last and least! I had to work up the courage to pop the stuff into my mouth. Have you ever had a bloody nose? Have you ever eaten jello? Have you ever had a bloody nose while eating jello? That is what it was like.

Kueh Chap - photo by mike1965ku

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the noodles were fine. And that soup is called Kueh Chap.

Tags: food, friday, Thailand