The best roast suckling pig in the world
Food in Taiwan is a continuous tug of war for me. On one end of the scales is the crazy Asian food that terrifies me but on the other are the familiar tastes I simply love.
I haven’t had too many experiences on the weird food meter yet, although someone told me the other day I was eating duck bowel hotpot. The abundance of tasty familiar food here in Taiwan on the other hand continues to blow me away.
One of the things I love about Taiwan cuisine is that you can be walking down some random street and then this happens:
I mean seriously, how are you supposed to walk past that glorious example of a spit roasted suckling pig? Whatever the mouth equivalent of a raging erection is happened to me the second I laid eyes on it.
When it comes to tasty food I’m always hard pressed to think of anything more delicious then Chinese prepared pork. Whether it’s in a bowl of noodles, a pork steak on top of rice with vegetables, delicious pork belly or a whole roast suckling pig I simply can’t get enough of it (and neither can my arteries).
This particular stall offered up freshly cut lightly peppered pork with absolutely delicious crackling. I’m not sure what the sauce was but I think it was some kind of barbecue sauce… the perfect companion to any roast honey suckling pig.
My only complaint was the price with the above selection coming it at $150 NTD (roughly $5.50 or so AUD). I guess for that money back home I’d be looking at a small McDonalds meal if I was lucky so in that sense it was worth it.
Definitely worth it.
I tried asking what the price for the whole pig was but I think the question got lost in translation. I had half a mind to chainsaw the pig and just keep it in the fridge… I figure an entire suckling pig is about a week of delicious dinners for me.
I’ve yet to see a whole suckling pig offered up elsewhere so at this stage I don’t have a price comparison reference point. It’s going to take a lot to beat this particular stall’s display so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
If Taiwan continues to put up culinary challenges like this to me, it won’t be long before my cycling output will fall woefully behind my fat intake.
God bless Chinese prepared roast suckling pork.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:10 pm yi(Quote)
that looks good. you should buy the pig’s head. the cheek and the neck muscle area of the pig is meant to be the most tender parts. which area of the pig did they give you? surely some area of the pig is more expense than other parts.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:36 pm Bushrat(Quote)
Your gonna need a bigger bike!……………………..
January 18th, 2010 at 11:27 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ah I’m sure the trucker is up to the task of hauling a 200-300kg suckling pig around!
January 19th, 2010 at 11:16 am Bushrat(Quote)
Aah, dont take this the wrong way old mate, but I was referring to the highly likely weight gain of the rider, wot with all that grouse tucker over there, I am so friggin envious!
Specially with all the shit food we get here now (yuk)
Bushrat
January 19th, 2010 at 5:39 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I haven’t noticed any physical changes but I also haven’t weighed myself since I left Oz either
.
I think once I stop fitting into my clothes the alarm bells will start ringing. Mind you it’s not like I’ve seen any diet options here. There’s vegetables but how do you eat steamed veggies with all the delicious meat on offer everywhere?!
January 19th, 2010 at 7:54 pm Bushrat(Quote)
Yair, thats true.
Tell me, I was told they have a lot of alternate medicine stalls and practitioners over there, very good and cheap, is this right?
Since I cant get any meaningful health care in Oz I might just check it out!
Bushrat
January 19th, 2010 at 10:33 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I haven’t had anything go wrong yet so I’m not 100% sure but from what I gather healthcare in the towns is a bit hard without Mandarin. That and of course there’s always the traditional medicine options available.
If you work in Taiwan you get access to the national healthcare system from which I believe is similar to Medicare over in Australia. Not sure exactly what it covers though.
People come to Asian countries because medical treatment is cheaper so if anything does go wrong I figure it can’t be too expensive even if it’s not covered.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:45 pm Bushrat(Quote)
Sounds like a fair enough thing, I’ve got so many things going wrong and breaking at the moment you wouldnt believe. The standard emergency treatment now seems to be panadiene forte, and go on your way rejoicing.
The health systems nice way of saying “suck it up, baby!”
So much for big Kev’s “the buck stops here” with the health system,
All piss and wind like the barbers fucking cat!
Maybe I’ll take a job over there and try and get fixed up!
Sorry for getting off topic, pain blurs one’s direction…………………
Bushrat
January 20th, 2010 at 2:51 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Sorry to hear your in a bad way mate. You’ve kinda got to wonder what with countries like the US wanting Medicare and us already having it, where else do you go short of massively raising taxes and going the Europe/Canada route.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:41 am Bushrat(Quote)
I think the problem is in the top heavy way it is all run and the entrenched “but thats the way weve always done it” dogmatic and inflexible attitudes that prevail.
Australia’s health service is cursed with being funded and regulated by TWO echelons of government,with a third (local govt.) snapping at its heels.
Given that government is a group of poorly cross trained people elected on promises that are rarely kept, that is clearly a recipe for disaster.
You can bet that the “minister for suckling pig” (I’m sure we would have one somewhere….) has never eaten bloody pork in his entire life!
There is nothing wrong with the concept, just the operating parameters.
One could get a real good blog going on this one!
However, I remain optimistic. I use alternate stuff to help myself, I do a lot of research on the net, and what the hell, I know that I’ll either get better or die, it can only go one way or the other!
Bushrat
March 8th, 2010 at
[...] the amusement of other expats living here I’m quite happy to eat a rotation of beef noodles, suckling pig and pork belly [...]