Today’s guest writer is Mei from the food and travel blog CC Food Travel. She’s an amazing woman: gorgeous, daring, and willing to try any food once. We love her vivid descriptions of Malaysia’s restaurant scene and her stunning food photos. She’s the Internet’s leading purveyor of “food porn” and her posts always leave us hungry!
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Here are 5 dishes that are believed by the Chinese to make your heart strong, but are not for the weak hearted. The Chinese believe that “heaty” foods actually help the body heal faster and more efficiently after injury or surgery. They also believe that if you are weak and catch a cold easily then the following foods help strengthen the body’s immune system and make you less prone to disease. The last dish in particular is supposed to be good for men’s virility! Unfortunately these dishes are bizarre looking and not everybody’s cup of tea, for obvious reasons. Here are 5 of the weirdest dishes from Malaysia.
1. Pig Brain Soup
Pig brain soup. Yes, in Cantonese this is the Chee-lou-tong.
They say eating brains makes you smarter. Not true. Try again.
They say eating brains makes you fatter? True! Brains are after all, almost 60% fat due to large quantities of myelin (which itself is 70% fat) that insulate the axons of neurons.. and we all know that brains are mainly made up of neurons right? Yes yes.. that’s why they call it grey and white matter.. it’s full of FAT. So, when they called you a “fat-head” in school, they were actually right! This high percentage of good fats also help the body recover and heal faster after injury.
How does pig brain soup taste? To me, extremely delicious! It has a texture not unlike what brains look like – A SQUIDGY MESS .. boiled in all that sweet, meaty goodness of pork meat and bones it really is a feast for the hungry.
2. Pig Intestines
Bakuteh (BKT) or Bak Kut Teh literally translates as “meat bone tea”, and at its simplest, consists of fatty pork ribs simmered in a broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dong guai, fennel seeds and garlic) for as long as possible , i.e. days if possible. However, additional ingredients may include offal and some pretty disgusting looking large intestine. The place we like is situated in the vicinity of the Pudu Wet Market and is a hot favourite amongst KL-ites. Some may beg to differ or have their own favourites but for now, we bring all our friends here. Where else can you see the butchers hacking away at the pig carcass (corner alleyway), in preparation for tomorrows rations, from where you sit and eat along the 5 foot way. Grim? Gross? Well, this is pig’s intestines for you, Pudu style!
3. Chicken Feet
Would you ever say, it’s chicken feet to eat chicken feet? Probably not, unless you really love the taste of it! Here in Malaysia you can buy these wrinkly delicacies at any wet market. Wash them, marinade them, braise them or fry them up and you have a terrific chicken feet feast dying to be shared with friends and family!
4. Bull’s Eye
What do bull’s eyes taste like? Something like the fish eyes you get in your fish head curry, only bigger. Well, don’t stop there, buy the entire head if you like, and make bull’s head soup while you’re at it!
5. Bull’s Penis
This is a variation of the pig intestine Bakuteh. The place that serves this is up north in Penang. What can I say? If you’ve tasted one, you’ve tasted them all. It all taste like offal really – just the same! In fact the flavour of the herbal meat bone tea is so strong with the star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dong guai, fennel seeds and garlic that have simmered for days, you can hardly make out any bull’s bits at all! This dish is a male aphrodisiac but has no ill effects on women and that my friends, ain’t no bull s*** !
About this week’s guest writer
Mei is an avid traveler, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who enjoys writing about her travel and gastronomic experiences. In her words: “It all started out a couple of years back as a means to journal our travels and related photos. However, because we enjoy eating so much (as do other Malaysians) this blog soon took on the form of a food blog: Cumi & Ciki is a Malaysian food and travel blog. The name is derived from a popular educational television puppet show for Malaysian children in the 70s and 80s. This is the tale of the two traveling, eating, thrill-seeking monkeys from Kuala Lumpur. Food and culture go hand in hand. We feel that in life, we need to enjoy what we do, have passion; cultivate a sense of curiosity about the world.
We hope that this is conveyed through our travel and food blog Cumi & Ciki blog.
Alternatively check out our adventure blog www.whoa-adventures.com
Follow Mei on Twitter.
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I am all for trying new foods when I travel but I may have to pass on these 🙂
Yeah, I think a lot of guys in particular are sketched out by #5!
ROFLMAO! Jeremy, I don’t blame ya! Most of the time, we don’t even know what it is, till we have eaten it.. then some old lady in the group says.. do you know you just ate … And we are like, WTF?!! (Oh, kill me now) LOL
Leslie darling, what can I say? Honored to be on your blog. Thanks for putting it up at the speed of lightning and yeah, my post looks way cool on “Downtown Traveler”, if I may say so myself;)
Thanks for the post! I’m amazed you tried all of these foods. The pig’s brains and bull genitals look like they have the weirdest texture… you really are adventurous 🙂
haha great things! I’m familiar with Pig Intestines and chicken feet but not the others! Not sure I’m up for it! And brain? Hm.. Have to think about that. Reminds me of Indiana Jones..
Actually Pig Intestines and Cow intestines are common food here in Korea as well. 🙂
Leslie, you are not going to try those… are you?? 😀
Well, the bull penis is tempting, but I’ll stick with my vegetarian diet! lol
yeah in Asia we share many strange parts on the dinner table eh? 🙂
Very adventurous eating! Not sure if I would try these myself, but it sure was interesting to read.
I am for eating just about all parts of the bull except that one. The other four I would be open to try. Great article and pictures as one would expect coming from Ciki the great.
LOL, thanks Ted! I don’t eat these things OFTEN ok!! LOL. But when presented, it’s rude to decline.. haha
Haha..great post! nice pics too.
haven’t tried 4 & 5. Although I’m Malaysian, I have to admit the only one I like is #3 chicken feet XD
Great posts from Mei. I always love her food posts. Yummy and interesting. I have to admit, I had pig intestine and chicken feet! 😀 Maybe it’s a Asian thing
Juno, i know!! Asia is full of weird icky stuff innit;)
Ted , AHAHAHAHA.. ciki de great? i feel like i should have many battle scars to be worthy of that title.. hmmmm, how bout photography scars, where i scrambled for the shot.. will that suffice? LOL 😛
Sarah darling.. we are what we eat.. good thing we do not look like what we eat ! ROFLMAO!!!
Ciki, as always your photos are amazing! I’m honored to have you as a contributor 🙂
I always thought I was an adventurous eater- just changed my mind.
Everyone has their limits! Fortunately, I’m a vegetarian 😉
Yum! Two of each please.
This was… um interesting to read! Some of the pictures made me feel a little sick but oh well. I can’t see what good eating pigs intestines would do but I guess the scottish eat sheeps stomachs so why not!
Lillian! LOL.. u ain’t not chicken then.. eating chicken feet 😛
santafetraveler .. when are you coming to KL? i promise not to make you eat anything you don’t want to eat 😛
Michael : coming right up!
Harriet: see, the Spanish have been doing it for yonks.. why not the Malaysians.. haha
http://cumidanciki.com/2010/07/about-cow-brains-and-bulls-testicles/
Look, I’m working on becoming a better eater and trying new things but this may be pushing it just a little. I’m not quite that adventurous yet!
It was interesting to read you post. I do love trying out differnt kinds of food but never tried something like this and not sure if I would ever try these myself. I always thought I was an adventurous eater but after reading your post I realized i stand no where when compared to you 🙂 Anyway do keep sharing your experiences !
hehe, bull’s eye made me laugh. thats what travel is about strange and wonderful new food, makes us realise we are all different!
I’ve eaten testicles, and that was enough. I think I’ll be trying to stick with the better more, “approachable” food in Malaysia! And, passing these back to Mei! 🙂
Wow, that qualifies you as an adventurous eater! If you do eat any strange foods during your stay in Malaysia, please blog about it. I’d love to see you smiling next to a simmering pot of brains 🙂
And here I thought I was manly for eating the baby duck embryo inside the egg in Vietnam. That’s just frightening. How I missed that in Malaysia, I dont know. Maybe I just gorged myself on Indian food too much.
We saw duck embryo on the menu in SE Asia but never tried it. I’m actually a vegetarian!
Oh lord, I thought I had seen everything in China food-wise… Although, I admit, I tried chicken feet and pig intestine. I’ll probably skip the other ones, especially #4 and #5 don’t look exactly mouth-watering 😛
Sounds like you are an adventurous eater! I admit, looking at the photo of #5 makes me shudder 🙂
Awesome post Mei!!!
I had some wonderful flashbacks to some glorious bakuteh I enjoyed in Malaysia, spectacular, especially with the chili soy sauce provided!
Next time I come to Malaysia, I’ll be sure to sample the bulls eye!
Thanks Mark! I know you get these in Thais too!
I must say that you are really an adventurous eater.These are really weird kind of food & I really can not even think of putting them in mouth. I wonder how you managed to try them all. In fact i feel horrible looking at the photographs itself. Not my type at all;)
Oh my god these are indeed the weirdest dishes from Malaysia which i have come across till now. Though it is not my cup of tea but it was good to know about the Chinese belief that “heaty” foods actually help the body heal faster and more efficiently after injury or surgery
Alex , everything in moderation I say! haha.. even bulls balls:P But the Spanish have been eating them since the dawn of time.. and look how gorgeous and lustrous their skin and hair are! LOL
Who knew bull’s balls were a natural shampoo? 🙂
I am from Malaysia and I LOVEEE chicken feet…
chicken feet soup is my favourite.. 🙂