Monday, April 19, 2010

Local colour (1)

I encountered another China first yesterday when taking an afternoon stroll through my neighbourhood.

A man was cooking a pair of pig's feet on the sidewalk.

With a blow-torch. (Well, not one of those oxyacetylene ones for welding; one of those little jobs you can use for melting tar on a roof [I think that's what this chap had been doing in the morning], or crisping the top of your creme caramel...)

Top marks for improvisation.

(And I am relieved to be able to record that the trotters were no longer attached to a live pig.)

1 comment:

Froog said...

A chef friend has pointed out to me that this technique is quite commonly used here for searing the hairs off pig skin, etc. However, I am pretty sure that this guy was a) not affiliated to any nearby restaurant, but merely sorting out his own lunch; and b) actually cooking the trotters - the skin was starting to colour and crisp.