Jaeyukdeopbap

 

As a flexitarian, this is one of my favourite guilty pleasures.  The whole dish is centered around pork… pork in a spicy red sauce with onions and, mmmm, some other stuff.  It’s delicious.  If you haven’t already, you should try it.

Sweet Beef

Even though this post is titled “Sweet Beef” and there is, in fact, plenty of sweet beef available in Paragon, it’s actually pork pictured here. Same same but different, ya know?!

Another thing which you can get in Gourmet World at Siam Paragon is sweet beef.  It’s sort of like beef jerky, but a little bit sweet.  And you can choose either pork or beef.

Since I spent a significant portion of my childhood in a meat packing plant, these types of artisanal products really interest me.  You see, my dad was a small business owner, a butcher, and an artisan.  He created the most locally-sourced, highest-quality meats I’ve ever seen in my life.  He really had a real skill and was running a business that was about two decades ahead of its time.  If he ran the same business and produced the same products nowadays, I’m pretty sure that would be a million-dollar company, but back then, nobody was interest in buying local or in high-quality, locally-made cured meats and my dad was forced to compete with Safeway as far as pricing because otherwise nobody would have bought our meats.  My, how times change.

I always tell people that the reason why I don’t eat much meat as an adult is that I grew up in a meat packing plant.  Everyone always assumes that what I mean by that is that I saw how gross the process of, well, processing meat can be, but what I actually mean by it is that the quality of the meats we produced at our meat packing plant ruined me for all other meat.  I could go to a fancy restaurant and spend $100 on a steak and be disappointed because it doesn’t come close to the 21-day aged meats we used to make.  I can’t order, I don’t know, honey garlic porkchops because they will not come close to the tender, saturated-with-flavour creations my dad used to make.  I don’t even like buying coldcuts (even the ones that are supposedly hand-made and high quality) because I just know that salami will not be as good as the salami of my childhood (am I the only one with a mind in the gutter who is slightly creeped out by that sentence I just wrote– the sentence was meant with the most innocent of connotations, I swear).  The only thing that’s still the same is bacon, because bacon will be good no matter what.

But every now and then, I get a craving or feel compelled to sample some locally smoked meat.  This one did not disappoint.  It was really impressive, actually.   I sent some to my dad who, in my eyes, is the god of meat, and when it arrived in Canada, even he agreed that it was pretty wonderful.  The god of meat approves!

Yellow Noodles with Pork

I had seen this noodle vendor plenty of times before, but she’s much too close to my mataba lady, and usually if I’m on that stretch of sidewalk, I end up making a beeline for the mataba lady.  The other night, though, I looked down at what the people were eating near that stand and just really wanted to have some of it, too.  So I pointed to what one of the guys was eating and said I wanted that, too, and this is what I got.  It came with a bowl of broth, which I’m sure you’re supposed to eat separately from the noodles, but which I’m also sure you could get away with pouring right over top of the noodles and creating your very own noodle soup (and if anyone looks at you askance for doing that, they’ll likely forgive you immediately when they see that you’re just a silly falang).

Pork and Rice Redux

I’ve written before about how much I enjoy the pork and rice dish which is available here in Thailand.  The vendor I usually go to has a fixed stall in the same place on the sidewalk, so she’s easy to find whenever I want to find her.  The other day, I saw a roving pork and rice vendor and figured, “Ah, might as well give him a try, too.”  I’d say his pork and rice was about every bit as good as my usual sidewalk vendor.  The only thing I didn’t love about him was that there was nowhere nearby where I could sit down while I ate.  Also, he gave me one piece of pork which was mostly all fat.

To be fair, the fat was actually okay, as I just fed it to a hungry nearby cat.

Pork with Holy Basil

I had read about pork with holy basil and really wanted to try it.  However, I was really not sure what exactly it looked like or how to say it in Thai, so finding and ordering it proved to be a little tricky, but I think this is it.  Probably.  Another thing which I’m not sure of: holy basil? or holly basil?  I’ve seen both spellings, and I’m not sure which is correct (and I’m too lazy to put any research into it).  I like the “holy” version, as, to me, it suggests that it is a basil so special that it has achieved holy status.

Whatever this is, it’s a dish so spicy that the cook who makes it has to cover his or her mouth with his or her apron whilst cooking.  Once, I was walking through an alley, and I walked past a man making this dish and accidentally inhaled at the wrong time and just double over coughing.  The cook seemed to find that pretty funny.  Anyway, it might be a little bitch to cook, but eating it is muy delicious!

A dish so spicy you have to cover your mouth to cook it

Pork and Rice

This is a meal I’ve had twice since I’ve been in Bangkok this time around.  I walked past this street vendor a lot and every time I walked past her stand, the smell of it killed me.  In a really, really good way.  I generally pride myself on being a pretty decent cook, but I’m completely stumped on what exactly it smells like.  I just know that it smells GOOD.  Now, I’m not usually a big meat-eater (I consider myself a flexitarian), but eventually I just had to sit myself down and order some of that deliciousness.

This particular vendor serves up duck, chicken, or pork.  Her ducks and chickens were hung neatly on hooks, but her pork was in a big unappetising fatty mess of a pile.  I asked the vendor which one she would choose if someone told her she could only eat one of those for the rest of her life, and without even the slightest hesitation, she said, “Pork!”  Well, pork it is, then!

The pork was so tender you could break it apart just by looking at it.  The vegetables that are served with the pork are cooked in the ridiculously savoury broth, and then, once the vendor has arranged everything over a generous scoopful of rice, she scoops some of the broth over it all.  This meal is just so gratifying.  But the meal doesn’t stop at what’s on your plate.  When you sit down, there is a selection of condiments on your table, and let me tell you they make this amazing dish even better.

I love this meal for all of its glorious delicious components.  But this meal also makes me feel sad.  I really do pride myself on being a pretty excellent home cook, but there is just so much about the flavours in this meal that I just can’t place.  All I know is I loves it and wants more of it.