December 7, 2023 • 37 mins
This dish (and/or cooking method) reduces a stew completely – and invites infinite iterations. Anney and Lauren dig into the history and culture(s) that add up to make rendang.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savor Prediction of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Reason.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Lauren vocal Baum, and today we have an
episode for you about rendog.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, yes, any reason. This was on your mind, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
H It has been on our list for a very
long time, and I was kind of looking at the
list and I was going, I want to eat that
right now. So why don't I make the craving worse
by reading about it for three days straight?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yep, yep, As is the way of things that one
that list. I need to update it. There's a lot
of things that the list is very long listeners and
I have been slacking and I do keep all of
the ideas, but we need to we need to wrangle
(00:56):
the list.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, it's I mean right, there's like hundreds of entries
in this spreadsheet, and there's it definitely has some duplicates
in there. There's some it's we have not we have
not been good list curators.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, and I'm good at list so this is a
real pailing on my part. I will say, I don't remember.
I don't remember seeing this on the list. What is
probably more likely as I saw it and I didn't
know what it was so I just.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Your brain start of skipped over it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah right. But when I was doing this research, I
immediately was like, no, I'm getting this, and we kind
of had to delay this recording and I was like, great,
I'll get some before we record. And I did delicious.
Oh yeah, I loved it. I ate off it for
(02:01):
three days, even though it was like not that big,
but it's quite filling. Oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah, Oh it
was very very good. I was going to get the
chicken version, but everything I said was like the B
version is the one you should get. So that's what
it did. Yeah, and it was amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Okay, did you can?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I can?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I ask what what Atlanta restaurant you found this at?
Do you remember the name?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I don't, but I remember vaguely the name. Okay, it
was like I think it was Top Spice, Okay, sure, yeah, yeah, yeah,
because they Honestly, I found four places that had it
and a take of this what you will, but Top
Spice had a lunch option and it was way cheaper
(02:50):
than everything else. And it was still not cheap, I
will say, but it had a lunch option that was
cheaper and I wasn't looking to like get a whole
meal to share with people.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You just wanted your unit of rendom.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, and it fed me for three days, right.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So it's okay, So they're gonna they're
like a thaie Malaysian restaurant. So so I wonder, I
wonder if you had a more Indonesian uh slanted version,
if like, like I want to, I want I need
to compare notes across multiple Rendom experiences.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now, okay, I'm into it. You know, I struggled to
describe taste, but I was keeping it in mind when
I was eating and I was like, okay, what's going
on here? But you've had it? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
There are a number of Malaysian and or Indonesian restaurants
around Atlanta that I really love and uh that I
don't get out to that often anymore, partially because I
used to live on the corner of Beuford Highway and
that is, if you are familiar with Atlanta, that is
where many of our Asian subculture restaurants opened up.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So yes, yes, well it was delicious. And I told Lauren,
it's always nice when we get a topic where I'm
like immediately okay, for research, I must try this.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Dish right, purely for research, purely, purely, purely.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Well. I guess that brings us to our question. I
guess it does. Rendong What is it?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Well? Rendowng is a category of dishes or a method
of cooking in which a main ingredient is cooked low
and slow with coconut milk and pungent herbs and spices
until the liquid has been reduced and or absorbed in Thai,
giving you a richly stewed main ingredient in this like thick, flavorful,
(05:06):
reddish brown to brownish black kind of paste of a sauce.
The main ingredient is traditionally beef, but can be anything
that stands up to this kind of low and slow cooking. Chicken, oysters,
different kinds of fish, vegetarian options like jackfruit, or various greens,
all of those are popular. It's usually served with rice
(05:26):
and some vegetable side dishes. And yeah, it's just it's
it's rich and warming and like satiny, usually with a
little bit of like saucy grit from the cooked down
coconut gravy sort of stuff with sweet tart spicy notes
from ingredients like ginger and lemon, grass, and chili peppers,
(05:48):
and like all kinds of nutty, buttery, roasty, toasty flavors
from the cooking process. It's like it's like starting with
just a really nice coconut curry and then evolving it,
like a pokemon, into something that's related but also very different.
It's like it's like reducing an entire delicious stew into
(06:16):
just a single hunk of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
M Yes, yeah, because that's good.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That is what it is.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, And gonna love that Pokemon reference.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So we are morally obligated to catch all of them.
It is true, all right. So so those spices are
going to be doing a lot a lot of the
work and eventually flavoring this and the herbs and spices
used can vary, but some common ones include yes, chili peppers,
(06:54):
some ball, which is a chili sauce, ginger, gallingel or
gold galand galanngal galangel still don't know how other humans
say it right in lemon, grass, aliums like shallots, garlic
and or onions, bay leaves, lime leaves, turmeric and or
turmeric leaves, nutmeg, cori under cuman palm, sugar, grated coconut meat,
(07:18):
toasted coconut. I've also seen cinnamon and cloves, star annis,
cardamom tamar and sour mangoestein other sour fruits. Yeah, and again,
the term ren dung can refer to both the finished
dish and the cooking method used to get there. What
(07:38):
you're what you're looking to do is take the sauce
that you're cooking that main ingredient in through three distinct stages.
The first is called gulai, and this is the thin
kind of soupy mixture that you're just getting started with.
You cook that down into what's called coglio, which is
a thicker sauce akin to to a nice curry.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
But right.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
What makes this dish special is that you then continue
cooking it until the coconut milk actually breaks and the
fats in it separate out from the solids. So it's
like making browned butter, but with coconut milk instead of
you know, butter. So you're sauteing all of the good
stuff in your sauce, the herbs and spices and all
of those flavorful coconut solids in that coconut oil, and
(08:24):
all of that is infusing into the main ingredient. And
mixing with any juices that the main ingredient is giving
off as it cooks. You have to stir it constantly
at this stage. From what I understand, Uh, you're employing
both caramelization and the maiar reaction. And yeah, you wind
up with just like a deeply browned, thick paste type
(08:47):
sauce and a very tender main ingredient fall apart meat,
just absolutely silky veedge. This is usually served either family
style or individually plated with a rice, various side dishes
and condiments like some ball And because the whole process
takes a few hours and like a lot of vigilance,
(09:09):
it is traditionally a celebration dish. There are all kinds
of variations, from what herbs and spices you use, to
exactly how dark the sauce is, to how much you
let the main ingredient dry out in the pan. Some
people prefer like an almost crisp on the outside beef rendong.
(09:32):
Some people like it a little bit stewier. Yeah, it
is a dish that has been localized in a lot
of places around the Malay Archipelago where it's from, you know,
like like localized from city to neighborhood to household level,
like people have preferences. It is one of those lovely
family dishes that you know, whatever you grew up with
(09:54):
is probably the high that you are still chasing.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, I read that. I read a quote that was
like the one you think is the right one is
the one your mom made. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
There are also a lot of riffs on the dish,
both both locally and out in the wider world. Like
you want some Rendong lasagna, Rendong sliders, Rendong tacos, I do, sure?
Why not?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Absolutely? Wow? What about the nutrition?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Oh, that depends. I cannot tell you that it depends
on what goes into it, but I will say that
it's a popular enough dish that there are actually kind
of a lot of nutritional science studies that have been
done recently into like how different preparations affect both palatability
and bioavailable nutrients. So more research is being done.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Huh, you're welcome, yes, because we're definitely later role in that.
I'll send you things are away, and definitely we have
a couple numbers for you, A couple yeah. Yes. A
(11:08):
CNN poll out of twenty seventeen that received about thirty
five thousand votes named rendong number one on a list
of the world's fifty most popular food. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, this was a Facebook pole, so you know, like
maybe not the most scientific, but still impressive. Impressive.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Indonesia's Record Museum has recognized the largest dish of rendong
as having been created in twenty sixteen. A group of
chefs cooked down over six hundred kilos of beef that's
about thirteen hundred pounds for over twenty four hours. They
also have a record for the largest rendong cooking demo,
(11:50):
which had one thousand participants and took place in twenty eighteen.
I also do understand that there's a Rendong festival in
Padung in Indonesia every year, but I couldn't find out
that much about it. I think it's a cooking competition.
I think there are hundreds of participants every year. Y'all.
(12:10):
Y'all are going to have to.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Write in You're gonna have to Yeah, this is important,
very much. It is, along with any recipes, images.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, personal stories about it.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, oh indeed. But in the meantime, there is quite
the history to get over.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Oh there is, and we are going to get into
that as soon as we get back from a quick
break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
They we're back, Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you. Okay.
So the written record around Rendon is pretty sparse until
fairly recently, when a lot of people have been writing
a lot of very fascinating details stuff. Oh yeah, but
there is a lot going on here, so bear with us.
(13:07):
This is kind of a twisty turney outline. Also, yeah, yeah,
but experts believe this dish originated in West Sumatra, Indonesia
by the Mignankabau people, a culmination of influences ranging from India, Islam,
and Portuguese. Other things too, but those are the three
big ones. There are some really great resources that dug
(13:31):
into this, and we're going to break it down a
bit here, but just know that there's like there's a
really layered history. Oh yeah, yeah, yes, and some things
I read subscribe strictly to one theory, some a mixture
of all three, some a mixture of two, like a
mixing match. Yeah, yeah, and right.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
The reason that there aren't a lot of written records
until relatively recently is partially that the Monong people were
mostly using oral history, yes, as their record keeping for
a very long time, so yes.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And then just general historical terminology, etymology confusion, oh yeah, yep.
But okay, let's break down those three things briefly, because again,
if you want to learn more, you actually can, and
it's very interesting and very exciting. That's not always the
case for these but all right, let's start with India.
(14:34):
One popular theory ties the history of Rendong closely to
Indian curries. As early as the second century CE, traders
from India were journeying to the Indonesian islands in hopes
of finding minerals like tin and gold. Due to their
strategic location between China and India, these islands became a
(14:55):
popular hub between the spice trade of these two countries.
This is when a lot of spices involved in Rendong
were probably introduced to West Sumatra, like ginger, turmeric, chili.
These roots led to a blend of influences in the region, Arab, Chinese, Indian,
and European. The thinking goes that the Menong people adapted
(15:19):
curries from India to their taste, ingredients and cuisines, with
all of these other influences mixed in. One of the
first known believed references to Rendong traces back to the
eighth century CE out of West Sumatra, though some speculate
it was present, Yes, in oral history as far back
(15:40):
as the fourth century CE, and outsiders observed similarities to
Indian cuisine in this dish by at least the eighteenth century,
So there's that. As for the potential influence of Islam
in this dish, a couple of sources linked the Islamic
mission movement in the area during the sixteenth and seventeenth
(16:03):
centuries and the push for helal meats to the origins
and evolutions of rendong. This is part of a long
history of meat cooking and consumption in that region.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, it's a little bit complicated, but researchers think that
before the spread of Islam in the region, consumption of
the traditional water buffalo or chicken would have been even
more of a special occasion. Like prior to that influence,
those animals would have been used for farm work and
egg production rather than for eating.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yes, yes, and actually it's a fascinating history of just
consumption of meat and got me thinking when I was
reading about how it. Yeah. Yeah, one of the first
written instances of the word rendong to refer to this
dish comes from a sixteenth century Islam influenced Malay manuscript.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, the manuscripting question was this Malay adaptation of a
Persian classical literary text. So it's again showing that like
although maybe no one local had been writing about it
before then, this process and this dish were already well
known at this time. And that was all the way
over in Malacca, like across the whole island of Sumatra
(17:20):
in the Malacca Strait from the Manangkabao region, though notably
Malacca would have been like a center of business for
traveling Manong traders who did use river routes to cross
Sumatra and reach the sea for centuries before roads were
built there. But that brings us too the Portuguese element. Yes,
(17:41):
the Portuguese controlled Malacca from fifteen to eleven to sixteen
forty one, which many believe also impacted this dish. The
Portuguese influence in the area includes words adopted in the
Malay language in the realm of cooking. There's actually also
a very detailed out of this that you can look into.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Oh yeah, and people arguing about whether or not that
actually means what we think it made, which I do love,
but yes. One of the biggest things that the Portuguese
may have blended to this dish was their techniques and
preferences in preserving meat by cooking it for a long time,
a technique adapted by people in the region. They also
(18:24):
probably introduced chili peppers. I actually couldn't nail that down
completely and I was sort of surprised by it. But
probably yeah, yeah, but okay. So those are some of
the theories influences going on. At first. The meat in
this dish was primarily water buffalo, which was an important
(18:47):
animal and the ming Nankbou culture. Water buffalo is a
tougher type of meat than something like beef, so to
soften it and make it tastier, the meat would be
braised in coconut milk, seasoned with spices, and then cooked
low and slow for seven hours. Higher temperatures would toughen
the meat and curdle the milk. So you don't want that, nope. No.
(19:08):
The coconut trees lined the streets in West Sumatra, and
as the region became more and more involved in the
spice trade, indigenous folks would plant spices outside of their home.
So it stands the reason that those ingredients were relatively
easy to come by once the meat was done. Basically, yes,
this sort of dry curry. It was often wrapped in
(19:29):
plantain or banana leaves for transport, and the dishes said
to be representative of the Mgnankabal philosophy of patients in
the cooking wisdom setting the fire and choosing the ingredients,
and persistence or sincerity with the stirring. Because it was
time consuming to make, it was usually reserved for special occasions.
(19:50):
On top of that, at the time, yeah, meat conception
was not very high amongst the mcnon peoples, so it
was by no means a daily thing. Yeah. Yes, And
the fact that it could last on long journeys made
it a popular travel food. So it spread throughout the
region as people migrated, and as with many dishes that
(20:10):
we talk about, that meant regional variants popped up based
on ingredients and tastes. Yeah. Another reason for the spread
of this dish has to do with a unique practice
of the Manokaboo people called Marintau or voluntary migration, and
this tradition of wandering is thought to be in part
(20:32):
due to their matrilineal culture where men were considered guests
in their wives' homes. Therefore, ancestral land was passed down
to women not men. Because of this, many men and
some women would travel with the hopes of getting more
experienced and economic opportunities. They travel via water on foot
(20:52):
to nearby places like Singapore or Malaysia, and they brought
the food of their homes with them, including the easily
transportable rendung. I also found a source. I was having
trouble wrapping my head around this, but said that they
would write home and ask for it to be sent
to them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, I couldn't quite suss out what that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I was like.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
But how would you ship it if you're not?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Okay? Sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was very curious about it.
But a professor of history at the University of Adolas
and Sumato named Gusti Anan has written a lot about
all of this. He was a great source and Anan
is a big proponent that Indian curry had a big
influence on Rundong too, and points out that one word
(21:36):
the Monong people use for one of the states of
cooking of this dish resembles curry.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yes. Because of established trade roots in the region with India.
This dish made it over to that country, and once
the British established a presence there, it made its way
to the UK.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
The dish also spread further west to the Arabian Peninsula,
with a Westumatran Muslims making pilgrimages to Mecca.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Written accounts of Rendung and its variations started popping up
in nineteenth century European newspapers and travel journals. According to
one of these accounts, the paste used to season chicken
rin Dung included spices like pounded chili, turmeric, white cuman
seed and coriander seed, fried with sliced onion and a
little bit of water. Sounds really good to me. Chicken
(22:25):
was then added, followed by coconut milk and cooking for
a long time. Get the dish. Another version included garlic,
ore ginger and war ginger. I would say, others a
sour juice of some sort, others fish. So already there
were all these variations. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
The dish really began spreading though in the nineteen hundreds,
as more Manang immigrants began leaving home and opening foodstalls
throughout what was at that time the Dutch East Indies.
Recipes for rendung appeared in Manang women's periodicals in the
nineteen teens, and cookbook authors working in other local languages
(23:04):
and in Dutch started publishing recipes too.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yes, but during World War Two, meat shortages slowed down
the production of rendong in West Sumatra.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Though interestingly, a Dutch military food service cookbook from nineteen
forty listed a recipe for Padang style rendong made with beef.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Huh yeah, well, jumping way ahead to our social media
controversy of the episode, Oh good well, a master Chef
Uk Judge sparked outrage in twenty eighteen when he commented
that the Malaysian contestants rendon was not crispy enough. And yes,
it is not crispy at all. No no, no, no nope.
(23:51):
At the same time, the comment did call some establishment
in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to create a krispy version.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. Folks from all of those three
nations and also Brunne all piled on.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
It was yeah, yep, oh yeah. Here's a quote from
the BBC The trendy light box sign at Singapore's Indie Cinema.
The projector read justice for Chicken Rendong in April this year,
echoing the hashtags that were blowing up on social media
at the time, hashtag crispy Rendong and hashtag Rendong gate,
(24:28):
uniting maul Nations and Indonesians who were utterly outraged at
a diplomatic controversy whom h well, it didn't in there.
Another show on the show made it worse by posting
to social media, maybe Rendong is Indonesian and what many
(24:49):
saw as an attempt to get Indonesians and Malaysians to
fight each other basically inflamed the situation. Yeah, because there
have been tensions between these places, but they for sure
came together.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Oh this, Oh yes, as it turns out as a
home style meals are the thing that can really pull
people together. He also ended that tweet with namaste, like
oh my heck, Like what a what an interesting human person?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Like a lot of people got in
on this. One actress with Manang Ancestry argued she kind
of jokingly did this, or at least that was her vibe.
She was like, it's not from Indonesia or Malaysia, but
West Sumatra and the Manong people. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, she was like, I'm sorry, it's from neither thank you,
thank you. It was a whole thing, okay that In
twenty nineteen, the local government in West Sumatra announced that
it was going to propose rendong for inclusion in UNESCO's
(25:56):
World Heritage List. I think they succeeded. In twenty two one,
UNESCO's website was like kind of down today, so I
couldn't I couldn't double check that, but yes, I think
that it is registered there, and I think it's registered
as having come together from the cultural heritage of Padang.
(26:16):
Then in twenty twenty, at the Dubai twenty twenty Expo,
Indonesia's government announced their Indonesia Spice Up the World initiative,
which is promoting local cuisine and economic opportunities on the
global stage, and rendong is one of the five specialties
being highlighted. Just for example. This initiative managed to set
(26:37):
up the first European rendong factory in Bulgaria this year
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It was a three.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Million dollar investment meant to eventually produce some thirty metric
tons of rendong a month for distribution throughout Europe and
the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Who wow. As the dish has spread around the world,
and grown in popularity. There have been all kinds of
additions and preparations, some of which you mentioned, Lauren, that
many would argue or not Rendonald I raised my hands.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Oh yeah right, it's one of those. We're backing away slowly.
We would never, we would never tell you, We would
not want to. We would not if we could.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Uh yeah. There.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
There was a really cute quote in one of the
articles about Crispy Rendong gate on on BBC dot com.
The quote was from this proprietor of an Indonesian restaurant
in Singapore. He was all, like, some people come and
they ask for curry sauce with it. I tell them,
if you want curry sauce, you can go to McDonald's.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
There's something you gotta respect about that. Like, no, yeah,
I know that's not how it served. Sorry, yeah, yeah,
I think that was in the same article that was like,
you're never on the top of your what you had
growing up essentially, Yes, that's the one. Well, it was delicious.
(28:15):
I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it, but
I there's so much more obviously that I could try. Yeah,
in this space. Yep again, Yes, thoughts recipes recommendations. Oh yes,
please let us know. But I think that's what we
(28:37):
have to say about Rendong for now. It is.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
We do have some listener mill prepared already for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with Li. It was so warming, That's what
I really thought about it.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, like a big old hug hug a meat.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, yeah, because it was like it wasn't that it
was spicy, but it was warming. It was so good.
I immediately sent Lauren a message and was like, oh no,
this is delicious. It was like Friday or Saturday night.
I get this random message from Anny. Yeah. It was great,
(29:36):
so good. So I was so happy. Yeah, yeah, all right,
Carolina wrote, I was excited to hear your dragon fruit episode.
I loved this crazy fruit. I get craving sports sometimes.
(29:56):
When I was living in Utah, it wasn't easy to
find and I could only find the white flesh variety.
I'm currently living in Taiwan, where every fruit market has
it year round, and red dragon fruit, which has a
stronger flavor is far more common. The magenta color of
the juice doesn't get altered by going through digestion, so
eating red dragon fruit can result in an uncommonly startling
(30:18):
trip to the bathroom if you don't have a good
memory for what you've recently consumed. Oh that is good
to know. Yeah, it's good to know. I do. I've
had that experience.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Beats any number of times so so, but still right,
important safety tip.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yes, yes, I had a friend who had She loved
watermelon so much. I don't think watermelon is common to
do that, but she loved it so much. Oh it would,
But I did see. I didn't buy one, but I
did see some dragon fruit at the store when I
was there yesterday, and I thought about it. I think
(30:58):
I'm gonna wait for whenever we have our dinner a
special occasion or sent.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Sare but I am excited. It does look good, it does.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
They're real pretty yep, Bart wrote Bart from Ireland back
with another Christmas related comment. I always seem to email
around the holidays for some reason. Lots of good food
memories associated with the season.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Listening to your show this week on Chinese five spice.
Two things struck me. Firstly, I'm so used to it
being ubiquitous that I was shocked to hear it's a
recent arrival to our Western pantries. Secondly, you asked about recipes,
and what immediately struck me is that it's one of
those rare ingredients I use in dessert and dinner. I
prefer to do this with tender stem broccoli, but it
(31:44):
works with any green veg. Really, toss it in some
sesame oil, a little soy sauce, sprinkling of dark brown
sugar and a dash of Chinese five spice roast four
fifteen to twenty minutes and you have a fantastic side
for any Asian dish. Being here in Ireland, one of
the Christmas treats I love is the dried fruit mix
that briefly appears on our shelves each year. It's intended
(32:04):
for use in traditional Christmas cakes, but I use it
in fruit based desserts instead. As well as your usual
mix of currants and raisins of all sizes and colors,
it includes dried cherries and some wonderfully exotic additions like
dates and preserved citrus peels. One of my favorite uses
for this mix is stuffed baked apples. Start by hollowing
out a tart for an apple like a Granny Smith
(32:25):
by going halfway down with a cora and then scooping
out the bits with a melon boller. Then score a
line around the equator so it can expand as it bakes. Next,
stuff it with a mix of chopped dried fruit, maple syrup,
dark soft brown sugar, and slices of your choice. Optionally,
add a dash of vanilla and or almond extract. Then
(32:46):
bake it low for about forty minutes and top with
cream or Greek yogurt. This works with any dried fruit
and any warming spices, so for Halloween I love to
use dried cranberries and pumpkin spice. But at Christmas, the
very best variant is Christmas cake fruit mix with Chinese
five spice. By pure chance, I'm opening this year's bag
of Christmas cake fruit mix to make this very recipe
(33:08):
with Sunday Dinner tonight. Thanks for many years a thoughtful, informative,
and above all fun listening pleasure, You folks rock have
a wonderful holiday season and a healthy, tasty, and prosperous
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
You too, Oh thank you? Yeah, Oh heck, that sounds
really good. Definitely really good.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I feel like that's specific, Like Christmas cake, dried fruit
mix is something that I am aware of existing, but
I don't feel like we really get it in America.
I don't think that it shows up. I think it's
kind of like a specialty item you kind of have
to track down.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, I think so, And I feel like we talked
about that in our the Fruitcake episode, the Much Mind Fruitcake,
which is experiencing a little bit of a comeback. But yeah,
it's true like this, this sounds so good to me,
but it's not like anything I have tried personally.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, I mean you could you could make you I mean,
with a decent, you know, bulk good section. You could
make your own dry fruit mix.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
And that's true. You know this is true. It can
be done.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
You would have a lot of it at that juncture probably,
But yes.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know what this reminds me of. It reminds me
of when we did our episode on cranberries and I
got it my head that I'm going to make my
own homemade cranberry sauce. Turns out your own homemade cranberry
sauce makes a ton. But it was delicious and I
loved doing it, but I stopped doing it because it
just made so much.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
It depends on how much you want to consume. And
like I mean, even like a single bag of cranberries
kind of makes a lot of sauce. I mean again,
it depends on how much you want to consume.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So yeah, true, but I feel like if I made this,
it would be me eating it and to get other
people to get on board, and they probably would, but
they wouldn't eat that much. With my cranberry sauce, which
I think was delicious, everybody was like, I'll try cheese,
(35:20):
but this sounds really good to me.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, and that that Vege recipes sounds terrific as well.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Oh my gosh, it does. I feel like I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I feel like I shy away from from five spice
in the kitchen, but maybe maybe I should. It's I
think that really like the idea of just having a
light hand with it is what I need. I needed
to hear, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yes, yes, And like I said, I did purchase some,
so I am looking for skees okay, But also, you know,
I feel like we have enough recipes now we can
make a Savor cookbook. We never would because the work
and time and crediting all of you. But we could
do it. We could do it. We could do it.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I mean you know, yeah, yeah, I mean we could.
We could also, I mean, man Ben Bolan has been
threatening to get us a cookbook deal.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Oh well, I love it. I just love because I
know some of you have written in like I made
this person's recipe, and oh that's so cool. That's just
it's just cool to hear real people's recipes and then
hearing other people make them. So thank you for taking
the time. Yes always, yes, yes, yes. Thanks to both
(36:32):
of these listeners for writing in. If you would like
to write to as, you can our emails Hello at
savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saver pod and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
(36:58):
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor Prediction of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Reason.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Lauren vocal Baum, and today we have an
episode for you about rendog.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, yes, any reason. This was on your mind, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
H It has been on our list for a very
long time, and I was kind of looking at the
list and I was going, I want to eat that
right now. So why don't I make the craving worse
by reading about it for three days straight?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yep, yep, As is the way of things that one
that list. I need to update it. There's a lot
of things that the list is very long listeners and
I have been slacking and I do keep all of
the ideas, but we need to we need to wrangle
(00:56):
the list.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, it's I mean right, there's like hundreds of entries
in this spreadsheet, and there's it definitely has some duplicates
in there. There's some it's we have not we have
not been good list curators.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, and I'm good at list so this is a
real pailing on my part. I will say, I don't remember.
I don't remember seeing this on the list. What is
probably more likely as I saw it and I didn't
know what it was so I just.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Your brain start of skipped over it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah right. But when I was doing this research, I
immediately was like, no, I'm getting this, and we kind
of had to delay this recording and I was like, great,
I'll get some before we record. And I did delicious.
Oh yeah, I loved it. I ate off it for
(02:01):
three days, even though it was like not that big,
but it's quite filling. Oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah, Oh it
was very very good. I was going to get the
chicken version, but everything I said was like the B
version is the one you should get. So that's what
it did. Yeah, and it was amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Okay, did you can?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I can?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I ask what what Atlanta restaurant you found this at?
Do you remember the name?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I don't, but I remember vaguely the name. Okay, it
was like I think it was Top Spice, Okay, sure, yeah, yeah, yeah,
because they Honestly, I found four places that had it
and a take of this what you will, but Top
Spice had a lunch option and it was way cheaper
(02:50):
than everything else. And it was still not cheap, I
will say, but it had a lunch option that was
cheaper and I wasn't looking to like get a whole
meal to share with people.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You just wanted your unit of rendom.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, and it fed me for three days, right.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So it's okay, So they're gonna they're
like a thaie Malaysian restaurant. So so I wonder, I
wonder if you had a more Indonesian uh slanted version,
if like, like I want to, I want I need
to compare notes across multiple Rendom experiences.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now, okay, I'm into it. You know, I struggled to
describe taste, but I was keeping it in mind when
I was eating and I was like, okay, what's going
on here? But you've had it? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
There are a number of Malaysian and or Indonesian restaurants
around Atlanta that I really love and uh that I
don't get out to that often anymore, partially because I
used to live on the corner of Beuford Highway and
that is, if you are familiar with Atlanta, that is
where many of our Asian subculture restaurants opened up.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So yes, yes, well it was delicious. And I told Lauren,
it's always nice when we get a topic where I'm
like immediately okay, for research, I must try this.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Dish right, purely for research, purely, purely, purely.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Well. I guess that brings us to our question. I
guess it does. Rendong What is it?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Well? Rendowng is a category of dishes or a method
of cooking in which a main ingredient is cooked low
and slow with coconut milk and pungent herbs and spices
until the liquid has been reduced and or absorbed in Thai,
giving you a richly stewed main ingredient in this like thick, flavorful,
(05:06):
reddish brown to brownish black kind of paste of a sauce.
The main ingredient is traditionally beef, but can be anything
that stands up to this kind of low and slow cooking. Chicken, oysters,
different kinds of fish, vegetarian options like jackfruit, or various greens,
all of those are popular. It's usually served with rice
(05:26):
and some vegetable side dishes. And yeah, it's just it's
it's rich and warming and like satiny, usually with a
little bit of like saucy grit from the cooked down
coconut gravy sort of stuff with sweet tart spicy notes
from ingredients like ginger and lemon, grass, and chili peppers,
(05:48):
and like all kinds of nutty, buttery, roasty, toasty flavors
from the cooking process. It's like it's like starting with
just a really nice coconut curry and then evolving it,
like a pokemon, into something that's related but also very different.
It's like it's like reducing an entire delicious stew into
(06:16):
just a single hunk of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
M Yes, yeah, because that's good.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That is what it is.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, And gonna love that Pokemon reference.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So we are morally obligated to catch all of them.
It is true, all right. So so those spices are
going to be doing a lot a lot of the
work and eventually flavoring this and the herbs and spices
used can vary, but some common ones include yes, chili peppers,
(06:54):
some ball, which is a chili sauce, ginger, gallingel or
gold galand galanngal galangel still don't know how other humans
say it right in lemon, grass, aliums like shallots, garlic
and or onions, bay leaves, lime leaves, turmeric and or
turmeric leaves, nutmeg, cori under cuman palm, sugar, grated coconut meat,
(07:18):
toasted coconut. I've also seen cinnamon and cloves, star annis,
cardamom tamar and sour mangoestein other sour fruits. Yeah, and again,
the term ren dung can refer to both the finished
dish and the cooking method used to get there. What
(07:38):
you're what you're looking to do is take the sauce
that you're cooking that main ingredient in through three distinct stages.
The first is called gulai, and this is the thin
kind of soupy mixture that you're just getting started with.
You cook that down into what's called coglio, which is
a thicker sauce akin to to a nice curry.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
But right.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
What makes this dish special is that you then continue
cooking it until the coconut milk actually breaks and the
fats in it separate out from the solids. So it's
like making browned butter, but with coconut milk instead of
you know, butter. So you're sauteing all of the good
stuff in your sauce, the herbs and spices and all
of those flavorful coconut solids in that coconut oil, and
(08:24):
all of that is infusing into the main ingredient. And
mixing with any juices that the main ingredient is giving
off as it cooks. You have to stir it constantly
at this stage. From what I understand, Uh, you're employing
both caramelization and the maiar reaction. And yeah, you wind
up with just like a deeply browned, thick paste type
(08:47):
sauce and a very tender main ingredient fall apart meat,
just absolutely silky veedge. This is usually served either family
style or individually plated with a rice, various side dishes
and condiments like some ball And because the whole process
takes a few hours and like a lot of vigilance,
(09:09):
it is traditionally a celebration dish. There are all kinds
of variations, from what herbs and spices you use, to
exactly how dark the sauce is, to how much you
let the main ingredient dry out in the pan. Some
people prefer like an almost crisp on the outside beef rendong.
(09:32):
Some people like it a little bit stewier. Yeah, it
is a dish that has been localized in a lot
of places around the Malay Archipelago where it's from, you know,
like like localized from city to neighborhood to household level,
like people have preferences. It is one of those lovely
family dishes that you know, whatever you grew up with
(09:54):
is probably the high that you are still chasing.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, I read that. I read a quote that was
like the one you think is the right one is
the one your mom made. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
There are also a lot of riffs on the dish,
both both locally and out in the wider world. Like
you want some Rendong lasagna, Rendong sliders, Rendong tacos, I do, sure?
Why not?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Absolutely? Wow? What about the nutrition?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Oh, that depends. I cannot tell you that it depends
on what goes into it, but I will say that
it's a popular enough dish that there are actually kind
of a lot of nutritional science studies that have been
done recently into like how different preparations affect both palatability
and bioavailable nutrients. So more research is being done.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Huh, you're welcome, yes, because we're definitely later role in that.
I'll send you things are away, and definitely we have
a couple numbers for you, A couple yeah. Yes. A
(11:08):
CNN poll out of twenty seventeen that received about thirty
five thousand votes named rendong number one on a list
of the world's fifty most popular food. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, this was a Facebook pole, so you know, like
maybe not the most scientific, but still impressive. Impressive.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Indonesia's Record Museum has recognized the largest dish of rendong
as having been created in twenty sixteen. A group of
chefs cooked down over six hundred kilos of beef that's
about thirteen hundred pounds for over twenty four hours. They
also have a record for the largest rendong cooking demo,
(11:50):
which had one thousand participants and took place in twenty eighteen.
I also do understand that there's a Rendong festival in
Padung in Indonesia every year, but I couldn't find out
that much about it. I think it's a cooking competition.
I think there are hundreds of participants every year. Y'all.
(12:10):
Y'all are going to have to.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Write in You're gonna have to Yeah, this is important,
very much. It is, along with any recipes, images.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, personal stories about it.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, oh indeed. But in the meantime, there is quite
the history to get over.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Oh there is, and we are going to get into
that as soon as we get back from a quick
break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
They we're back, Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you. Okay.
So the written record around Rendon is pretty sparse until
fairly recently, when a lot of people have been writing
a lot of very fascinating details stuff. Oh yeah, but
there is a lot going on here, so bear with us.
(13:07):
This is kind of a twisty turney outline. Also, yeah, yeah,
but experts believe this dish originated in West Sumatra, Indonesia
by the Mignankabau people, a culmination of influences ranging from India, Islam,
and Portuguese. Other things too, but those are the three
big ones. There are some really great resources that dug
(13:31):
into this, and we're going to break it down a
bit here, but just know that there's like there's a
really layered history. Oh yeah, yeah, yes, and some things
I read subscribe strictly to one theory, some a mixture
of all three, some a mixture of two, like a
mixing match. Yeah, yeah, and right.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
The reason that there aren't a lot of written records
until relatively recently is partially that the Monong people were
mostly using oral history, yes, as their record keeping for
a very long time, so yes.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And then just general historical terminology, etymology confusion, oh yeah, yep.
But okay, let's break down those three things briefly, because again,
if you want to learn more, you actually can, and
it's very interesting and very exciting. That's not always the
case for these but all right, let's start with India.
(14:34):
One popular theory ties the history of Rendong closely to
Indian curries. As early as the second century CE, traders
from India were journeying to the Indonesian islands in hopes
of finding minerals like tin and gold. Due to their
strategic location between China and India, these islands became a
(14:55):
popular hub between the spice trade of these two countries.
This is when a lot of spices involved in Rendong
were probably introduced to West Sumatra, like ginger, turmeric, chili.
These roots led to a blend of influences in the region, Arab, Chinese, Indian,
and European. The thinking goes that the Menong people adapted
(15:19):
curries from India to their taste, ingredients and cuisines, with
all of these other influences mixed in. One of the
first known believed references to Rendong traces back to the
eighth century CE out of West Sumatra, though some speculate
it was present, Yes, in oral history as far back
(15:40):
as the fourth century CE, and outsiders observed similarities to
Indian cuisine in this dish by at least the eighteenth century,
So there's that. As for the potential influence of Islam
in this dish, a couple of sources linked the Islamic
mission movement in the area during the sixteenth and seventeenth
(16:03):
centuries and the push for helal meats to the origins
and evolutions of rendong. This is part of a long
history of meat cooking and consumption in that region.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, it's a little bit complicated, but researchers think that
before the spread of Islam in the region, consumption of
the traditional water buffalo or chicken would have been even
more of a special occasion. Like prior to that influence,
those animals would have been used for farm work and
egg production rather than for eating.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yes, yes, and actually it's a fascinating history of just
consumption of meat and got me thinking when I was
reading about how it. Yeah. Yeah, one of the first
written instances of the word rendong to refer to this
dish comes from a sixteenth century Islam influenced Malay manuscript.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, the manuscripting question was this Malay adaptation of a
Persian classical literary text. So it's again showing that like
although maybe no one local had been writing about it
before then, this process and this dish were already well
known at this time. And that was all the way
over in Malacca, like across the whole island of Sumatra
(17:20):
in the Malacca Strait from the Manangkabao region, though notably
Malacca would have been like a center of business for
traveling Manong traders who did use river routes to cross
Sumatra and reach the sea for centuries before roads were
built there. But that brings us too the Portuguese element. Yes,
(17:41):
the Portuguese controlled Malacca from fifteen to eleven to sixteen
forty one, which many believe also impacted this dish. The
Portuguese influence in the area includes words adopted in the
Malay language in the realm of cooking. There's actually also
a very detailed out of this that you can look into.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Oh yeah, and people arguing about whether or not that
actually means what we think it made, which I do love,
but yes. One of the biggest things that the Portuguese
may have blended to this dish was their techniques and
preferences in preserving meat by cooking it for a long time,
a technique adapted by people in the region. They also
(18:24):
probably introduced chili peppers. I actually couldn't nail that down
completely and I was sort of surprised by it. But
probably yeah, yeah, but okay. So those are some of
the theories influences going on. At first. The meat in
this dish was primarily water buffalo, which was an important
(18:47):
animal and the ming Nankbou culture. Water buffalo is a
tougher type of meat than something like beef, so to
soften it and make it tastier, the meat would be
braised in coconut milk, seasoned with spices, and then cooked
low and slow for seven hours. Higher temperatures would toughen
the meat and curdle the milk. So you don't want that, nope. No.
(19:08):
The coconut trees lined the streets in West Sumatra, and
as the region became more and more involved in the
spice trade, indigenous folks would plant spices outside of their home.
So it stands the reason that those ingredients were relatively
easy to come by once the meat was done. Basically, yes,
this sort of dry curry. It was often wrapped in
(19:29):
plantain or banana leaves for transport, and the dishes said
to be representative of the Mgnankabal philosophy of patients in
the cooking wisdom setting the fire and choosing the ingredients,
and persistence or sincerity with the stirring. Because it was
time consuming to make, it was usually reserved for special occasions.
(19:50):
On top of that, at the time, yeah, meat conception
was not very high amongst the mcnon peoples, so it
was by no means a daily thing. Yeah. Yes, And
the fact that it could last on long journeys made
it a popular travel food. So it spread throughout the
region as people migrated, and as with many dishes that
(20:10):
we talk about, that meant regional variants popped up based
on ingredients and tastes. Yeah. Another reason for the spread
of this dish has to do with a unique practice
of the Manokaboo people called Marintau or voluntary migration, and
this tradition of wandering is thought to be in part
(20:32):
due to their matrilineal culture where men were considered guests
in their wives' homes. Therefore, ancestral land was passed down
to women not men. Because of this, many men and
some women would travel with the hopes of getting more
experienced and economic opportunities. They travel via water on foot
(20:52):
to nearby places like Singapore or Malaysia, and they brought
the food of their homes with them, including the easily
transportable rendung. I also found a source. I was having
trouble wrapping my head around this, but said that they
would write home and ask for it to be sent
to them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, I couldn't quite suss out what that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I was like.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
But how would you ship it if you're not?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Okay? Sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was very curious about it.
But a professor of history at the University of Adolas
and Sumato named Gusti Anan has written a lot about
all of this. He was a great source and Anan
is a big proponent that Indian curry had a big
influence on Rundong too, and points out that one word
(21:36):
the Monong people use for one of the states of
cooking of this dish resembles curry.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yes. Because of established trade roots in the region with India.
This dish made it over to that country, and once
the British established a presence there, it made its way
to the UK.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
The dish also spread further west to the Arabian Peninsula,
with a Westumatran Muslims making pilgrimages to Mecca.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Written accounts of Rendung and its variations started popping up
in nineteenth century European newspapers and travel journals. According to
one of these accounts, the paste used to season chicken
rin Dung included spices like pounded chili, turmeric, white cuman
seed and coriander seed, fried with sliced onion and a
little bit of water. Sounds really good to me. Chicken
(22:25):
was then added, followed by coconut milk and cooking for
a long time. Get the dish. Another version included garlic,
ore ginger and war ginger. I would say, others a
sour juice of some sort, others fish. So already there
were all these variations. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
The dish really began spreading though in the nineteen hundreds,
as more Manang immigrants began leaving home and opening foodstalls
throughout what was at that time the Dutch East Indies.
Recipes for rendung appeared in Manang women's periodicals in the
nineteen teens, and cookbook authors working in other local languages
(23:04):
and in Dutch started publishing recipes too.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yes, but during World War Two, meat shortages slowed down
the production of rendong in West Sumatra.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Though interestingly, a Dutch military food service cookbook from nineteen
forty listed a recipe for Padang style rendong made with beef.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Huh yeah, well, jumping way ahead to our social media
controversy of the episode, Oh good well, a master Chef
Uk Judge sparked outrage in twenty eighteen when he commented
that the Malaysian contestants rendon was not crispy enough. And yes,
it is not crispy at all. No no, no, no nope.
(23:51):
At the same time, the comment did call some establishment
in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to create a krispy version.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. Folks from all of those three
nations and also Brunne all piled on.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
It was yeah, yep, oh yeah. Here's a quote from
the BBC The trendy light box sign at Singapore's Indie Cinema.
The projector read justice for Chicken Rendong in April this year,
echoing the hashtags that were blowing up on social media
at the time, hashtag crispy Rendong and hashtag Rendong gate,
(24:28):
uniting maul Nations and Indonesians who were utterly outraged at
a diplomatic controversy whom h well, it didn't in there.
Another show on the show made it worse by posting
to social media, maybe Rendong is Indonesian and what many
(24:49):
saw as an attempt to get Indonesians and Malaysians to
fight each other basically inflamed the situation. Yeah, because there
have been tensions between these places, but they for sure
came together.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Oh this, Oh yes, as it turns out as a
home style meals are the thing that can really pull
people together. He also ended that tweet with namaste, like
oh my heck, Like what a what an interesting human person?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Like a lot of people got in
on this. One actress with Manang Ancestry argued she kind
of jokingly did this, or at least that was her vibe.
She was like, it's not from Indonesia or Malaysia, but
West Sumatra and the Manong people. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, she was like, I'm sorry, it's from neither thank you,
thank you. It was a whole thing, okay that In
twenty nineteen, the local government in West Sumatra announced that
it was going to propose rendong for inclusion in UNESCO's
(25:56):
World Heritage List. I think they succeeded. In twenty two one,
UNESCO's website was like kind of down today, so I
couldn't I couldn't double check that, but yes, I think
that it is registered there, and I think it's registered
as having come together from the cultural heritage of Padang.
(26:16):
Then in twenty twenty, at the Dubai twenty twenty Expo,
Indonesia's government announced their Indonesia Spice Up the World initiative,
which is promoting local cuisine and economic opportunities on the
global stage, and rendong is one of the five specialties
being highlighted. Just for example. This initiative managed to set
(26:37):
up the first European rendong factory in Bulgaria this year
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It was a three.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Million dollar investment meant to eventually produce some thirty metric
tons of rendong a month for distribution throughout Europe and
the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Who wow. As the dish has spread around the world,
and grown in popularity. There have been all kinds of
additions and preparations, some of which you mentioned, Lauren, that
many would argue or not Rendonald I raised my hands.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Oh yeah right, it's one of those. We're backing away slowly.
We would never, we would never tell you, We would
not want to. We would not if we could.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Uh yeah. There.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
There was a really cute quote in one of the
articles about Crispy Rendong gate on on BBC dot com.
The quote was from this proprietor of an Indonesian restaurant
in Singapore. He was all, like, some people come and
they ask for curry sauce with it. I tell them,
if you want curry sauce, you can go to McDonald's.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
There's something you gotta respect about that. Like, no, yeah,
I know that's not how it served. Sorry, yeah, yeah,
I think that was in the same article that was like,
you're never on the top of your what you had
growing up essentially, Yes, that's the one. Well, it was delicious.
(28:15):
I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it, but
I there's so much more obviously that I could try. Yeah,
in this space. Yep again, Yes, thoughts recipes recommendations. Oh yes,
please let us know. But I think that's what we
(28:37):
have to say about Rendong for now. It is.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
We do have some listener mill prepared already for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with Li. It was so warming, That's what
I really thought about it.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, like a big old hug hug a meat.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, yeah, because it was like it wasn't that it
was spicy, but it was warming. It was so good.
I immediately sent Lauren a message and was like, oh no,
this is delicious. It was like Friday or Saturday night.
I get this random message from Anny. Yeah. It was great,
(29:36):
so good. So I was so happy. Yeah, yeah, all right,
Carolina wrote, I was excited to hear your dragon fruit episode.
I loved this crazy fruit. I get craving sports sometimes.
(29:56):
When I was living in Utah, it wasn't easy to
find and I could only find the white flesh variety.
I'm currently living in Taiwan, where every fruit market has
it year round, and red dragon fruit, which has a
stronger flavor is far more common. The magenta color of
the juice doesn't get altered by going through digestion, so
eating red dragon fruit can result in an uncommonly startling
(30:18):
trip to the bathroom if you don't have a good
memory for what you've recently consumed. Oh that is good
to know. Yeah, it's good to know. I do. I've
had that experience.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Beats any number of times so so, but still right,
important safety tip.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yes, yes, I had a friend who had She loved
watermelon so much. I don't think watermelon is common to
do that, but she loved it so much. Oh it would,
But I did see. I didn't buy one, but I
did see some dragon fruit at the store when I
was there yesterday, and I thought about it. I think
(30:58):
I'm gonna wait for whenever we have our dinner a
special occasion or sent.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Sare but I am excited. It does look good, it does.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
They're real pretty yep, Bart wrote Bart from Ireland back
with another Christmas related comment. I always seem to email
around the holidays for some reason. Lots of good food
memories associated with the season.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Listening to your show this week on Chinese five spice.
Two things struck me. Firstly, I'm so used to it
being ubiquitous that I was shocked to hear it's a
recent arrival to our Western pantries. Secondly, you asked about recipes,
and what immediately struck me is that it's one of
those rare ingredients I use in dessert and dinner. I
prefer to do this with tender stem broccoli, but it
(31:44):
works with any green veg. Really, toss it in some
sesame oil, a little soy sauce, sprinkling of dark brown
sugar and a dash of Chinese five spice roast four
fifteen to twenty minutes and you have a fantastic side
for any Asian dish. Being here in Ireland, one of
the Christmas treats I love is the dried fruit mix
that briefly appears on our shelves each year. It's intended
(32:04):
for use in traditional Christmas cakes, but I use it
in fruit based desserts instead. As well as your usual
mix of currants and raisins of all sizes and colors,
it includes dried cherries and some wonderfully exotic additions like
dates and preserved citrus peels. One of my favorite uses
for this mix is stuffed baked apples. Start by hollowing
out a tart for an apple like a Granny Smith
(32:25):
by going halfway down with a cora and then scooping
out the bits with a melon boller. Then score a
line around the equator so it can expand as it bakes. Next,
stuff it with a mix of chopped dried fruit, maple syrup,
dark soft brown sugar, and slices of your choice. Optionally,
add a dash of vanilla and or almond extract. Then
(32:46):
bake it low for about forty minutes and top with
cream or Greek yogurt. This works with any dried fruit
and any warming spices, so for Halloween I love to
use dried cranberries and pumpkin spice. But at Christmas, the
very best variant is Christmas cake fruit mix with Chinese
five spice. By pure chance, I'm opening this year's bag
of Christmas cake fruit mix to make this very recipe
(33:08):
with Sunday Dinner tonight. Thanks for many years a thoughtful, informative,
and above all fun listening pleasure, You folks rock have
a wonderful holiday season and a healthy, tasty, and prosperous
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
You too, Oh thank you? Yeah, Oh heck, that sounds
really good. Definitely really good.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I feel like that's specific, Like Christmas cake, dried fruit
mix is something that I am aware of existing, but
I don't feel like we really get it in America.
I don't think that it shows up. I think it's
kind of like a specialty item you kind of have
to track down.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, I think so, And I feel like we talked
about that in our the Fruitcake episode, the Much Mind Fruitcake,
which is experiencing a little bit of a comeback. But yeah,
it's true like this, this sounds so good to me,
but it's not like anything I have tried personally.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, I mean you could you could make you I mean,
with a decent, you know, bulk good section. You could
make your own dry fruit mix.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
And that's true. You know this is true. It can
be done.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
You would have a lot of it at that juncture probably,
But yes.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know what this reminds me of. It reminds me
of when we did our episode on cranberries and I
got it my head that I'm going to make my
own homemade cranberry sauce. Turns out your own homemade cranberry
sauce makes a ton. But it was delicious and I
loved doing it, but I stopped doing it because it
just made so much.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
It depends on how much you want to consume. And
like I mean, even like a single bag of cranberries
kind of makes a lot of sauce. I mean again,
it depends on how much you want to consume.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So yeah, true, but I feel like if I made this,
it would be me eating it and to get other
people to get on board, and they probably would, but
they wouldn't eat that much. With my cranberry sauce, which
I think was delicious, everybody was like, I'll try cheese,
(35:20):
but this sounds really good to me.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, and that that Vege recipes sounds terrific as well.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Oh my gosh, it does. I feel like I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I feel like I shy away from from five spice
in the kitchen, but maybe maybe I should. It's I
think that really like the idea of just having a
light hand with it is what I need. I needed
to hear, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yes, yes, And like I said, I did purchase some,
so I am looking for skees okay, But also, you know,
I feel like we have enough recipes now we can
make a Savor cookbook. We never would because the work
and time and crediting all of you. But we could
do it. We could do it. We could do it.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I mean you know, yeah, yeah, I mean we could.
We could also, I mean, man Ben Bolan has been
threatening to get us a cookbook deal.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Oh well, I love it. I just love because I
know some of you have written in like I made
this person's recipe, and oh that's so cool. That's just
it's just cool to hear real people's recipes and then
hearing other people make them. So thank you for taking
the time. Yes always, yes, yes, yes. Thanks to both
(36:32):
of these listeners for writing in. If you would like
to write to as, you can our emails Hello at
savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saver pod and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
(36:58):
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Dylan Fagan
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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