...."Taiwanese hotdogs
As I’ve spent more time here in Taiwan I’ve found my phobia of tackling the street vendors has started to ease a bit.
Armed with a basic knowledge of how to say ‘I would like (number)’ and my trusty finger to point I’m beginning to ease into trying out what’s on offer.
Last week I walked past a street vendor selling at what I first believed to be some kind of beef sausage with garnish and then wrapped in a larger chicken sausage.
I felt my arteries protest immediately but my mind was made up. I had to start somewhere with street food and heart stopping hotdogs seemed a good a place as any.
It wasn’t until I tried eating one that I realised the white larger sausage wasn’t chicken but was some sort of bread roll replacement (sticky rice I think?).
In hindsight this made sense but looking at them on the grill they definitely looked like sausages. The garnishes were a chili paste, a garlic paste and some cucumber looking things. They weren’t pickles and they looked too small to be cucumber so I’m not 100% sure what they were.
In any case the little packages were delicious. Two of these hotdogs will set you back about $40 TWD, or just over $1 AUD.
December 21st, 2009 at 6:46 pm Yi(Quote)
good stuff, keep it coming. we want to see you eat some really weird stuff like cow testicles or monkey brains etc…
December 21st, 2009 at 8:08 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Yeah I think to go from Taiwan hotdogs to cow testicles is probably like 10 years missing in there.
Seriously cow testicles? I think you just set me back 6 months in street vendor phobia…
(oh and there’s no way I’m eating cow testicles…)
December 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pm J(Quote)
That’s sticky rice sausage with Taiwanese Pork sausage. I think they call it 大腸包小腸 (can your computer display Chinese?). It’s a really common and quite popular street food.
The green pickles looked like cucumbers to me. Have you seen cucumbers in Taiwan Oz? They are a lot skinnier than our Lebanese or Continental cucumbers here.
As for cow testicles, I think you can be safe from them from the street vendors, but watch out, there is the chicken version…..
December 21st, 2009 at 10:36 pm Roly(Quote)
Is this starting to make leg of camel look attractive?
{I’ve got a recipe somewhere for cat and quandong}
December 21st, 2009 at 10:48 pm Yi(Quote)
Chicken testicles?!? surly it can’t be that big, i can prob fit around 20 per mouth full.
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 am James(Quote)
Asian street food is awesome, try everything you possibly can!
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:15 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ok can we stop talking about mouthfuls of testicles jesus christ…
I want to meet the guy who goes you know what, I am so hungry that even chicken testicles are looking good right about now.
Seriously chicken testicles or otherwise, there are some things that just shouldn’t be eaten.
@J
They probably were cucumbers then. I haven’t had a good look at Taiwanese fresh produce yet, just what I get on my plate after it’s cooked.
Today I had the hopeless realisation that I’ve lost my mandarin phrasebook. I feel so naked without it, seriously that book has got me out of some tricky situations…
I know about 4 words in Chinese, nein-ta (milk tea), nihao (hello), eee (1) and er (2).
I’m going off memory here but I think I remember wo bao (I’ll have… I think) and wo shyoung (I’d like to buy) too.
Tommorow I have to go to the bookstore where there’s not much english speaking and somehow see if they have a replacement book I can buy. I’e been told english books are pretty much non-existant here so I don’t have high hopes.
ARGH travelling and keeping track of all your stuff sucks sometimes. Why couldn’t I have lost a sock or something… why did it have to be my main source of communication?!
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:41 am J(Quote)
Asians have these unexplanable beliefs in eating special “parts” of the animal will make them perform better in bed or cosmetically for women. :p
Oz, you live in Taichung don’t you? Try Caves Book Store (敦煌書局) or Eslite Book Store (誠品書局), with the latter one carry more foreign books than any other stores in Taiwan (but can be expensive). I’ve just checked the internet, both stores can be found in Taichung.
If you still really can’t find it I can order it for you and have it send to your place, if that make things easier.
Also don’t forget I am more than happy to help if you need anything.
By the way, have you found Milo in Taiwan yet?
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:50 am J(Quote)
Not that big, probably 3cm-ish. Of course how many you can fit depends on the size of the mouth lol
But do you really eat that stuff???
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:56 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Thanks for the offer J. I’m in and out of Taichung at the moment as I’ve got work lined up from mid January but am taking subbing jobs till then.
They can be a bit last minute, last night I was asked to go back to the town I was in before where I had no internet so I’m back there for 3 days till Christmas Day.
I’ve got like 2 hrs now before I have to catch a bus, I’ll try the local bookstore and if they don’t have then I’ll hit up the two you mentoned on Saturday (or maybe Friday seeing as it’s not a public holiday here).
Hopefully if I find the Lonely Planet phrasebook it’s not too expensive, overseas it’s only $8 shipped. Still kicking myself for losing it, it’s like subconciously I want to make my trip harder
.
Ozedit: oooh it seems ESL Elite have the book on their webpage, I guess I’ll have to wait till Friday to hit them up and see if they have it in stock. They have it for roughly the same price as The Book depository too which is a bonus! Thanks again mate appreciate it.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm J(Quote)
Not a problem Oz, let me know if you run into any other problems.