The real name is Teetou-chang, 'tee' is for pork, 'tou' is for head, and 'chang' is tied. The food is made from pork's head, its ear, nose, head skin, fat and meat, plus 'samcwan' - three layers part of the pork, which refers to belly part.
They said its origin came from the old Teo-chew Chinese who came to Indonesia and settled in Java island. It is a rare food, you will not find it on the table until Chinese new year's eve, and it is served in the Teo-chew family only. And not all of the Teo-chew, but the ones who have ancestors came from China. Being the process is a little bit complicated: you have to prepare 6 kilograms of ingredients to produce a 2 kilograms ready to eat ham. They h
ave to cooked it with 'gohiang' - five spice powder in 'angsio' (red) style, then chopped it into small pieces, cooked it again and pressed it in a special gadget traditionally made of wood. To make it more special, they say you have to pour some cognac to finish cooking.
The end product will be just like the western ham, dark brown with some spots of semi transparent jelly like fat and solid white
of the soft ear bones. It tastes good and aromatic. It is served cold cut, never heat it in a microwave nor pan fried. Just let it there in the room temperature to let the fat melts.
It is good as appetizer or for eating with plain steamed rice. Or as a center fill for your sandwich or burger bun. If you need some companion for your instant noodle, it will be just fine to shred some sheets of teetou-chang!
Do you care for some bites?
