Moo tawd: I am in pork heaven up here in the north! Above are strips of pork drying in the sun. Once dried, it gets fried in oil to a crispy texture. The end-product are strips that taste like bacon! A friend from Bangkok introduced me to this while in Mae Hong Son. He also brought to the table eggs that were grilled in their shells - a winning combo!Pork and bacon jerky: Finally! after four months, I finally found jerky! The Thai twist is that they add coriander to the soy sauce marinade for a refreshing sensation. On an eight-hour bus ride from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son, I was able to survive with just water and a bag of beef jerkey.
Khow kow moo: a shank of pork that has been slowly steamed (not braised) and is served over rice. The pork is so tender. Usually, a small portion is served over rice for 50 cents. In a Chinese village near Pai, a restaurant serves the whole shank with skin and fat for almost $4... this is meant to be for a whole family, but Gabor and I ate the whole thing - gluttony at it's finest.
Hanglay: a northern specialty. Pork is slowly simmered (possibly steamed) and served with a dark red curry sauce. Not especially spicy hot, but extremely tasty. One restaurant in Mae Hong Son has the pork so tender that it melts in the mouth. I usually don't eat too much of pork fat or skin (yeah, cardinal sin of pork lovers is to waste pork, but I eat so much much pork, that I gotta draw the line somewhere), but I had to make an exception for this bowl of goodness.
kaoh soy: wide yellow noodles are served in a spicy red curry broth, with some sort of meat added - usually chicken, beef or pork. Crispy fried noodles are thrown in on top for texture, as well as pickled cabbage and sliced shallots. It's usually only 50 - 75 cents. Since I've been up north, I probably have this five times a week for lunch/breakfest/brunch.
fried chicken: previously reviewed, but it needs to be revisted. Some of the northerners have fried whole legs and sometimes half the bird, which keeps the natural juices inside. I must say that this is the way to go... soooo juicy. The batter is somewhat thicker than other places... maybe someone stole the Colonel's method of the double-dipped batter?!?
Northern sausage: I know I've forsaken sausages when in the south because of the bone-factor, but was conviced to give it another try up here. I found a place that roasts a coil of sausages in an oven. I just had to try it. Nice and spicy, reminded me of an andoullie sausage. And there were no crunchy bones! There are also sausages that are like the Cajun Boudin - rice and glass noodles are added to pork and rolled into either a suasage link or many little balls. I'm not a big fan of these, but they are really cheap.
Fern leaves: I've had this in a couple of varieties - steamed and served with oyster sauce (preferred), as a salad with roasted garlic and dried shrimp (the shrimp/garlic combo is too strong of a flavor) and an addition to a soup (not really a big player). These ferns have many tiny, sharp thorns on the stems, which have been playing havoc on me when I'm biking on some of the trails in Chiang Mai - if one thorn tears into me, ten others follow. Eating them is a small bit of revenge.
