from humble beginnings

Once a long long time ago, in the southern province of China, poverty struck the people of China. The land did not bear fruit and harvest was minimum. All they had was their livestock and the cows and pigs were also dying. So in order to make the best of it, the people decided to slaughter their cows and pigs. Then winter came. Everybody was cool and shivering. Hence they would boil the meat of pigs to make a stew. For taste they would just season with salt and pepper. Somehow, the Chinese knows how to enjoy themselves. Later, they started adding herbs and Chinese medicine and the taste of the stew begin to evolve. Little did they know, through all this hardship they actually started a food revolution. As any good practical practise, this style of cooking was handed down from generations to generations until now.

Introducing BAK KUT TEH

If you ask anyone about Klang, chances are one word, “bak kut teh”. In Klang, bak kut teh is not just a meal, a dish or some poke stew, its is a religion, a way of life. I can still remember my grandfather, every morning without fail, he would dress up and hop on his Honda cup and ride to his favourite coffee shop and order a bowl of bak kut teh before doing anything else. Yes, breakfast is important but having bak kut teh as breakfast is even more important.

For the past 10 years, the bak kut teh phenomenon as blown up. Now, there are 10s if not 100s of bak kut teh stalls in Klang. Why not 1000s? Because not all bak kut teh stalls succeed. In bak kut teh, there are 2 fundamental elements, the pork and the soup. If your pork is tender and moist but your soup is not up to par or the other way around, people would not come. But on the other hand, there are different types of soup in bak kut teh, there are soup that are strong with pork smell, there are soup that are strong in herbal elements and there are blunt soup and etc etc. Because the people of Klang have develop particular affinity towards different types of soup, so only certain ones would do well. I have seen people adding seafood in bak kut teh, it did not do well.

In regards to the pork, there are many parts in a pig that can be eaten and made delightful. There is the ribs, lean meat, fatty meat, the intestines and etc. Basically it depends on people’s preference. Some even love the stomach, intestines and what more pig’s blood. But all need to be boiled well to perfection. Personally, I am a lean meat person, either big bone or small bone, as long its meat and not fat, its fine.

Due to its popular demand, cost of a meat for a person can reach to about RM 10. The irony is that it started out as a poor man’s dish. But in this time and place, I guess if the more people long for it, the higher the price will be. Simple common sense. 10 years also, a meal would cost about RM4, now about RM 10. But people still go, people still eat, people still pay. This is how dedicated Klang is towards this humble dish.

So, as a Klangite, I love bak kut teh. I am glad that people are still going all out to continue the tradition. The way I see it, it would last the test of time. It’s so strong that families, business partners fight over recipes. Some even break from the current stall to set up another one right next to the previous one. Its amazing how one dish has changed people’s life.

Hmm... can’t to think of it, I am hungry now... until next time...