Sanya, Hainan, China.
Well, sorry folks, DOG is quite tasty. It is very similar to pork, and if its fresh and cooked well you would really not necessarily know the difference.
Raised for food in China for thousands of years, this is not some gross in-humane tragedy here. This is a traditional food, that is even considered a delicacy in the northern parts of China. Known for many generations to be great to eat in the winter, as it is a warming food and will fend off the cold.
Emotional attachments aside, I recommend to anyone visiting China (especially in the South of China, where I tried it) to try this interesting and unusual ingredient. This dish was stewed in a slightly spicy broth with tofu, ginger, and cilantro. The skin had an interestingly springy texture, the fat was melt in your mouth, and the meat was juicy and tender. Just like a great pork braise!
There are other places to eat dog as well, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Korea. They even used to eat dog in France! (now its taboo, but they still eat horse! Speaking of which I need to find my picture of the Donkey Saucisson that I had in Southern France. One of the best cured sausages I had in France…)
I haven’t been there yet, but I hear Korea is the place to eat dog. Very typical. Its on my list.

Oh, and don’t worry, I wont cook your pet;)

Malaysia. DURIAN
Not exactly excepted by everyone everywhere, this super stinky fruit is something you love or hate. I have a strange affection for the smell and the flavor, which is a little on the B.O. side of things. Its pretty pungent, and you can smell it from a mile away. Like I’ve written before, my favorite is either fresh or durian Ice cream.
Remember, there are loads of places that have banned the stuff….

April 24th, 2011. – Cambodia

I am FINALLY feeling better, normal, and back on the “train” so to speak!!!!
With a body and stomach back to normal I was able to finally enjoy some local weird food….Beef with BIG BLACK ANT. There were black ants, but there were also Big Green ones, Little ones, Little yellow ones, big White Larvae, and little brown ones. ABSOLUTELY delicious!!!! I was so happy to have this dish you have no idea. (one whole week in Cambodia and no crazy foods due to sickness… TERRIBLE!)
Sorry about the photos, as the lighting was really poor….
This had some really peppery beef, with Khmer Peppercorns, a distinctively spicy peppercorn, and fresh curry leaves.

I pulled a few out so you can see these little guys! Yum!
Ants have a distinctive flavor, similar to other insects. These had a light grassy, almost wood-chip essence to them, as well as a earthy note. The guts of insects have this rather indescribable flavor as well, that to be perfectly honest is “insecty”… I think you either like it or you don’t, but you wont know until you try! And remember that most insects are deep fried, so I always explain that its like eating crunchy popcorn, but with a little tasty goo in the middle.
Shanghai, China.
These fried DUCK BEAKS have a nice amount of meat around the cheek area. Very crispy, perfect duck flavor, extremely tender and juicy, absolutely nothing too strange about this Cantonese dish. The only odd bit is the tongue, which when fried is perfectly palitable. Rule number One when cooking…If you fry it, It will be good!

Shanghai, China.
In China they really do like their CHICKEN FEET. I don’t think I have seen so many chicken feet being consumed! An interesting tidbit is that here the chickens are smaller, so the feet people eat are quite small as well. In the US, the chicken feet you can get at a chinese restaurant are MUCH bigger. Both are good, and considering all the different preparations, there are many opportunities to try these!

Shanghai, China.
Much bigger than what you will find in France, there is a lot more meat on these suckers. Kind of like chicken in a way, there is no reason you should not try FROG LEGS. I’m pretty sure that what is used in China is more of a “toad” than a frog, hence the size difference.

Beijing, China.100 YEAR EGGS (one of many names for these eggs)
Eggs preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending. Through this process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey colour, with a creamy consistency and an odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor. These are actually pretty darn good, despite the strange features!

Chengdu, China.
Out of all the things we put in to the vat of scalding, bubbly, chili oil that consists of the Sichuan Hot Pot, this was probably the one that threw me off the most. ESOPHAGUS? Yup, didn’t think anybody ate the esophagus… But in reality, this was kind of like eating a very thin slice of a slightly under cooked potato. A bit more “crunch” to it, though it was really more tender than I originally expected. Not much flavor, but what was there was good. A slight beefy, tripe thing going on. It was by no means “funky”, and I will definitely try this one again.

Chengdu, China.
At first I thought this was pork liver, but as my friend slid this off a plate into the Hot Pot he said it was DUCK BLOOD. It took a surprisingly long time to cook in the hot chili oil, but when it was done it was delicious. Very soft texture, kind of like eating a really soft tofu. Not a strong flavor at all, just a really nice richness similar to eating a delicate foie mousse of some sort, with a hint of “duck flavor.”
PIG TAILThis little piggy had a long tail… And it was very tender and tasty! These little cut up pieces of pig tail were very good. Soft tender skin, gelatin, and connective tissue was very easy to eat off the small bones in the middle.

Chengdu, China.Thanks to my friend Jenny, who has a great food blog (Jingtheory.com…), I was set to find some good RABBIT HEADS “Tu Tou”, in Chengdu. Right away, any of the locals who I asked about rabbit heads, got a smile on their face and said enthusiastically, “Oh yes! You want to try rabbit heads!?” This was a good sign, and through some good friends I met in Chendgu, I was able to try these little delicicies at a great hole in the wall restaurant.

Chengdu, China.
Poor little Bugz. He was smart, but not smart enough. I figure the more brains you eat the brainier you will get. If I stick to this theory perhaps I should eat as much liver as I can, after all the Baijiu I had in Shanghai…
There is something wonderfully basic about taking a rabbit head and cracking the skull open with your teeth so that you can suck the brains out. Just be fore warned…if you inhale too much you will get a dose of those spicy chili peppers in your throat!

Chengdu, China.
Here we have a nicely cooked RABBIT HEAD, a specialty of Chengdu and the Sichuan region of China. This one is without all the spicy chilies, numbing sichuan peppers, and oil, so that you can admire (and recognize) exactly what I was eating. To put it simple, these things are really tasty. If you like rabbit you will like these for sure. The only thing is you need a good instructor to show you exactly how you dismantle the things. There is quite a good process to abide by, resulting in getting all the good bits off each head.
Step one: Grab both the top teeth and the jaw with both hands, keeping the teeth up and the scull down in your dish. Pull the jaw off from the rest of the skull. Split the jaw in half, giving you both jaw bones to eat the meat from. The meat right behind the tongue is REALLY good!
Step two: On the skull, in between the top teeth, pull off the connective tissue that would be the roof of the mouth. This is tasty! Its kind of like a little slice of tasty connective tissue (for the lack of better words)
Step three: Now the next step involved pushing the eyes through the skull in order to get the meat around the cheeks into an edible position. Place your index finger on the side of the head that is away from you in order to get right. If you like eyeballs, great, have at it. If not be careful as you will be suprised when one pops in your mouth!
Step four: Now this is the fun part. Grab the front of the head and at the back of the scull bite it open with your teeth. It should be rather easy, and the top-back of the scull is quite soft. This allows you to suck out the brain, which is definitely the best part. Not sure why, but this was one of the better brains that I have ever eaten. VERY CREAMY! …Perhaps it was also because you have to get to it yourself!
Rabbit Heads…Good Stuff…