What it is
Braised pork tendon (滷豬腳筋) is the sinew from a pig's trotter, cooked in a salty-sweet braise. It is chewy and springy with a slight crunch, and rich in gelatin. Rice shops serve it as a side dish or over a bowl of rice, often next to braised pork rice.
How it is made
Tendon matters to the texture of a good trotter. It can be pulled out and sold on its own, which is why many trotter shops advertise that they leave it in. For this dish the fresh tendon goes into the braising pot until it softens but keeps its bite. Some shops add Chinese herbs to the braise, and a few deep-fry the tendon first. The dried tendon used in soups and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a separate product, puffed in oil before cooking.
How to eat it
Order it as a side dish (小菜), served cold at some shops, with rice and soup. Or ask for tendon rice (豬腳筋飯). At Hung Chi Rice Shop in Kaohsiung that bowl comes half topped with minced braised pork and half with tendon.
Around Taiwan
- Kaohsiung
- Hung Chi Rice Shop (弘記肉燥飯舖) in Zuoying, a Bib Gourmand, serves a half-and-half tendon rice bowl. Its tendon side dish carries a faint herbal scent.
- Central
- Fresh Fish Stock (鮮魚鱻), a Taichung shop cooking Tainan-style milkfish dishes for over three decades, fries its pork tendon before braising it. Regulars order it alongside the shrimp rice and milkfish.
