What it is
Zha paigu (炸排骨) is a pork chop pounded thin, marinated and fried in a craggy coating. It is everyday city food, popular with workers and train commuters. Set over rice with vegetables and pickles it becomes paigu fan (排骨飯), a staple of lunchbox shops and railway kiosks.
Where it came from
The chop probably descends from tonkatsu, the fried cutlet served in Japanese set meals (定食), which Taiwanese cooks reworked into a local dish. Research cited on Chinese Wikipedia puts the earliest fried pork chops in Taiwan around Taipei's Ximending, a thriving district under Japanese rule. In December 1927 a 23-day series on Taiwanese cuisine in the Taiwan Nichi Nichi Shinpo (台灣日日新報) noted that drinking houses served plenty of fried food to keep guests ordering drinks, with crisp pork ribs (排骨酥) among it. The chop's coating follows the same method.
Lunchboxes spread it. Station bento grew as Japan expanded the railways between 1895 and 1945, though they were sold on platforms, not on trains. After 1945 private caterers ran the trade until the Taiwan Railways Administration took it over in 1960. Pork chop with rice remains its best-known box.
How it is made
The chop is pounded thin and marinated for about an hour in soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, salt and five-spice. It is dipped in beaten egg so that coarse sweet potato starch will stick, giving a pebbly, crunchy crust. Many cooks fry it twice: the second round drives out moisture from the coating. Styles vary. Soft-fried chops (軟炸) use a batter, dry-fried ones (乾炸) use starch, flour or breadcrumbs, and some are fried and then braised in soy (滷排骨).
How to eat it
It is a lunch or dinner, often bought as takeaway. Lunchbox shops set it over rice with stir-fried cabbage, pickled mustard greens and a braised egg (滷蛋). Ask for paigu fan (排骨飯) to get the full plate or box. Railway kiosks still sell it boxed.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- The Temple-front Eatery (沙淘宮廟海產) is named after its early years outside Shatao Temple and has cooked for nearly 60 years. Among its old-fashioned Taiwanese plates is a crisp, golden chop served with potato salad.
- North
- Dong Yi Pork Chop (東一排骨) opened on Kaifeng Street near Taipei's Ximending in 1971 and moved to Yanping South Road in 1979. Its chops marinate for half a day with spring onion, sesame oil, rice wine and soy, then fry in a sweet potato starch batter.
