I've been fortunate in my travels and my stay here in Sydney to find the right friends and...foodie friends. Whether it's exploring different parts of the city and venturing out into the suburbs for some ethnic food, to staying in the city and finding good eats, to cooking different types of cuisines.
It's always more enjoyable cooking for other people and sharing stories and the background behind your food and your culture (be it California, Asian, Thai, Chinese, my inner Hispanic, etc). Sometimes when I don't know the answer about the Asian/Thai part, I can go to straight to parents (who were born and raised in Thailand) and/or Google more about it. I believe it's always going to be a never-ending learning experience.
Let me share with you guys one of my favorite dried foods: pork floss aka pork sung or
rousong. I grew up eating it as a child and still to this day, I can hardly get enough of it. It's definitely a comfort food and makes me think of home. It's usually eaten very simply: on top of some jasmine rice and accompanied with some soy sauce or also with a rice porridge/
congee with fermented mustard leaves/pickled mustard greens (Pak-Gard-Dong in Thai or Swan Tsai in Mandarin). It can also be found on top of pastries found in Asian/Chinese bakeries.
Pork floss is "made by stewing cuts of pork in a sweetened soy sauce mixture until individual muscle fibres can be easily teased apart with a fork. This usually happens when the collagen and elastin that normally hold the fibres have been cooked out of the meat.
The teased-apart meat is then strained and dried in the oven. After a light drying, the meat is mashed and beaten while being dry cooked in a large wok until it is completely dry."
If you haven't tried it yet, I definitely recommend doing so..even if it's just a tad bit on its own or mixed with rice. You have to love the Engrish, it may even bring health and happiness! It definitely brought me happiness when I bought some.
