Tendon as food


The tendons of certain animals are used as an ingredient in some Asian cuisines, including the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese traditions. Tendon is tough and fibrous, but becomes soft after a long period of cooking. In some cases it may be boiled for as long as eight hours, while in other dishes it is prepared by deep frying. It contains large amounts of collagen, and after boiling or stewing, it is sometimes described as mimicking the mouthfeel of high-fat cuts of beef despite its low fat content. One author described the taste of deep-fried tendon as being similar to chicharrón.

Culinary uses

China

One popular Chinese dish is suànbào niújīn, where the tendon is marinated in garlic; it is often served at dim sum restaurants.

Indonesia

In Indonesian cuisine, bakso urat is beef meatball filled with pieces of tendon, while soto kaki is spicy cow's trotters soup which includes cow's leg tendons. Another dish is mie kocok which is a noodle dish with meatballs, beansprouts and pieces of beef tendon.

Japan

In Japanese cuisine, beef tendon is a common ingredient in oden.

Korea

In Korean cuisine, beef tendon known as soesim and is eaten raw as hoe, or stir-fried as namul. But eaten raw or stir frying the beef tendon is not very commonin Korea. The most common way to eat beef tendon in Korea is steaming it with high pressure to serve it soft. They eat the steamed beef tendon with green onions and soy sauce, sometimes serve beef tendon in ox bone soup.

Thailand

There is a Thai cuisine steamed beef soup called Guay tiew nuea, and noodle, or toon, is added to the dish.

Vietnam

In Vietnamese cuisine, it is often used in pho.

Gallery