Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Waxed Meats for Chinese New Year



Have you had your fix of these traditional waxed meats for this year? Every year, it's a tradition of my family to eat Lap Mei Fan once Dong Zhi is over. Usually we either buy our own supplies to make it at home or indulge in it at a restaurant. It's my mother's favourite hence she makes it a special point to select a few varieties to cook it at home before Chinese New Year.


These meats are directly imported from China where the cold winter winds dry these sausages and duck. Packed in metal tins, you can easily buy them from street vendors in Petaling Street or dry ingredients shops in Chinatown.

Although I have been exposed to this type of dish almost all my life, I recently realised not everyone know of or has tasted this before. (My mother recently ate this in Singapore and one of the relative's sons had never seen waxed meats before and didn't dare touch a single piece)

To prepare these at home, it's relatively simple. Although you get the full flavour of the waxed meat if you steam it on top of the rice, it's not very healthy as all the oil seeps into the rice. Instead, we cook the rice and meats seperately. As an additional measure, we blanch the meats in hot water to remove the oil. Once steamed, add the remaining liquid to the cooked rice. You should also serve it with the traditional nga-ku or arrowhead that is flaky and tender after steaming. The selection in the picture features lap cheong (chinese sausages), waxed duck, liver sausages and various other waxed meats.

31 comments:

Freya said...

Hi, first time at your site, I was lured over by your souffles for the Hay Hay It's Donna Day event (I love the lemon curd with meringue! They look so authentic).
What are the meats waxed with or does that just refer to their appearance?
They look really good!
Freya

boo_licious said...

hiya freya, am glad you're visiting becoz of my kooky looking egg souffles. I love the tangy lemon curd too. The meats isn't really waxed, it just looks like it is hence the term. It's more wind dried and absolutely delicious. Although we get them all year around, this is the best time to get them.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Gawd I love Chinese New Year. So much food to eat! I love the array of waxed meats and sausages in Petaling Street. Not only do they provide a great photographic opportunity, they're also terribly delicious! Thanks for making me salivate.

Precious Pea said...

Wahh...slurpz..definately my favourite dish but such a waste if you steam the sausages separately cos the oil actually makes the rice so aromatic. Once a year is ok i guess?

boo_licious said...

lyrical lemongrass - the shop which has the nice photo op is up already. I snapped a pix of it last year so this yr decided not to repeat it but do visit them as it's there's a great background with all the waxed ducks.

precious pea - LOL! my mum is a health freak so she will shudder if you put extra oil the rice even though she knows it tastes extra nice. We actually add back the sauce from the sausages to the rice but only after we skim off the oil.

MeiyeN said...

it's true that every year throughout this season mom will buy da lap mei, think it's a tradition? anyways, i prefer to have da steamed sausages...

boo_licious said...

meiyen - I think it's a tradition plus this is the best time to get this type of meats esp with the seasonal nga-ku.

PabloPabla said...

I like some good quality lap cheongs but still have not acquired the taste for the waxed duck. Maybe because I'm hokkien???

P/s : You've been tagged by me! :)

Babe_KL said...

i've made glutinous lap mei fan but need another round to perfect it. will post up later

boo_licious said...

pablopabla - I think it's personal preference as my mum is also hokkien but she eats waxed duck. I'm not too good with memes though. Very poor track record on doing them.

boo_licious said...

babe - glutinous lap mei fan sounds so sinfully good. Must persuade my mother to go make that one day before she runs down to Singapore.

bibliobibuli said...

hey, boolicious congrats on being one of the most influential blogs in malaysia

you're doing v. good stuff here

(but i don't read you 'cos you make me hungry all the time)

boo_licious said...

aiyoh sharon, don't be like that! Read me after lunch or after dinner ok? Yeah, I have been slacking on my literary reads, see how I'm still reading Jeffery Steingarten and I have not bought a new book for a few mths!

Thxs so much and congrats to you too.

sc said...

hey boo, my family prepares the waxed meats the same way too! :) i absolutely adore the shuin yun cheong (liver sausage), esp dipped in chopped garlic and vinegar..yummy!

Rasa Malaysia said...

I can really smell Chinese New Year from my computer screen. Malaysian lap cheong is really good.

D said...

But the oil is what makes it taste so good!

boo_licious said...

sc - I guess we're not the only ones health concious too. wow, that's an idea to combine it with garlic and vineger. Thxs, will try that the next time we eat this dish.

rasa malaysia - lots of it around now and yee sang has also started appearing at restaurants.

d - I know but my mum plus my aunt and uncle who ate that meal with us are very health concious so any extra oil would have been rejected.

sc said...

oh, i've forgotten to mention it's white vinegar..dont use the wrong vinegar :). goes really well with liver sausage. hope you'll like it too

Tummythoz said...

Still get to eat such food at home tho the cook is very health conscious? Lucky lucky you! Pity I'm only a fan of lap-cheong. Still trying to appreciate the other waxy stuff.

backStreetGluttons said...

what a welcome 4 the yr of the PIG !

...and well done Malaysian Queen of Foods...

Audrey Cooks said...

Congrat! Boo, U are the QUeen!

Babe_KL said...

Congratulations boo_licious! Now you gotta hunt more food places for us :D

jesscet said...

No. 15! not bad at all!! u can start placing ads like kennysia or other `influential' bloggers u know.

oh i love the 2nd pix of all the waxed meat! real cool! but thank god we only eat those stuff once a year as it's not very healthy! :p

btw, the soup turned out delicious.. i did whip up the cream a bit. thanx! ;)

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Congratulations, boo_licious! You deserve it. :-) It's great to see food blogs in the top 50.

GFAD said...

Wah!! The only two food blogs I read regularly is in the most influential blog list!! Congrats boo!

Just had lap mei fan tonight. Asked mum to make it as next year onwards cannot eat anymore! Just love liver sausages!

wmw said...

Congrats! I finally know what's it about....Eh, yah, I'm getting hungry looking at food blogs at such a time!

boo_licious said...

sc - wow, white vinegar. luckily you mentioned it as I thought it was the usual black variety.

tummythoz - traditions are hard to break so must try and keep them.

team bsg aka tonixe - thxs! heard abt your exploits over at fbb's blog.

audrey - thxs but it's just a technorati rank. From the blog experts, it may be a skewed and inaccurate survey.

babe - congrats to you too. Faint as more places mean more eating!

jess - doubt I will earn much but it will be nice since I want to up grade my camera to a DSLR. Glad the soup went well and the cream worked out. Thought I was giving the wrong advice since you called when we were distributing food in Johor and it was chaos at that time.

lyrical lemongrass - thxs. I guess people love food, food, food!

kat - small thing as I read some people doshing it already as it's an inaccurate indicator and has some biasness to the sampling. Glad you had yr lap mei fan. I wonder if I can persuade my mother to make it again.

wmw - thxs! I get hungry looking at yr pixs all the time too.

Unknown said...

Oh my Goodness! I would love to your your waxed meats! they look fabulous! I love lop chung and preserved duck so much, but it is difficult to impossible to get them here where I live. I am impressed you make your own every year!

boo_licious said...

lannae - Sorry to hear how difficult it is to get waxed meats in yr area. Maybe the Chinatown places will do mailorder to yr place? These are bought waxed meats but we do cook the rice and steam them at home.

whistler said...

the picture look really nice.. I like Lap Mei Fan but not the duck too salty for me.

boo_licious said...

whistler - yeah, the duck can be salty hence we usually take a bit only.

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