Hmmm, I thought pia is gall blader part of a cow. It is a deep greenish and
bitter taste thing - smelly but not as a poop.
am i wrong?
The part about meat seems to need a little bit clarification. In nothern
part of laos, people do keep meet until it spoiled before they use it in
cooking ( they do this by burying it for couple days so enzym could
breakdown the flesh. I believe that Chinese restaurant uses baking soda to
make meat tender instead of burying it). The dish I refered to is normally
called Orh Larm (thick soup of meat, hide parts and vegetables).  So Laotian
eat fresh meat most of the time is true to a point because we have no mean
to store them long term unless we turn them into meat jerky, of course.
It is interesting to note also that we Laotian eat every parts of so said
animal is mainly because we lived in a very poor and harsh region of the
world. Once you ate it it became an acquired taste. Even though now we have
abundant foods to consume still we long for that exotic taste. So if you
haven't try those food, my advise to you is don't. Once you do it it is very
hard not to eat it again. Well, this could only be my experience. Happy
eating Lao food every one!



-----Original Message-----
From: Amphon Guy Phiaxay <aphiaxay@sk.sympatico.ca>
To: ss2b@frank.mtsu.edu <ss2b@frank.mtsu.edu>
Date: Thursday, July 23, 1998 8:03 PM
Subject: I am back...



>Sabaidii my fellow SJD,
>
>First, I am so sorry for my silence for the past month or so.  I was so
tied
>up with works, communities involements, weekly weddings (not mine of course
>hehe) and other personal matters.  yes, as Ky said, it's no excuse :(..i am
>back with you now and hoping to see many of you in Seatle :)
>
>I am in the process of reading all the emails that i miss for the last
>month.  I am slowly catching up to the SJD news and discussion - so  please
>bare with me if I am a bit out of sync.  The first thing I see is oh my
>gosh, I didn't hand in my writing on the subject of food yet... well here
it is:
>
>Note: Eventhough I have live my life more in Canada than in Laos, I always
>enjoy Laotian food.  I have little knowledge of cooking Laotian food, but
by
>watching and helping the elders, I pick up few things. I happen to like the
>hard-core of Lao food...and some of the things in this article may be too
>hard for some of you to swallow:)
>
>                        The Art of Laotian Food.
>
>When you come into Laotian cuisine, there are many variety of dishes to be
>offered.   People from different regions of  Laos create and consume their
>food in their own unique styles.  Thus, in Laos, food can be an expression
>of one's root or identity.  Laotian food consists of variety of ingredients
>- ranging from exotic vegetables to the juice of the beef intestine (young
>cow poop or 'pia').  Yes..cow poop :) ..sure some may say we eat the
>strangest thing, but these meals do conform to the four essential Food
Group
>(Well most of them do anyway)
>
>For instance, let's talk about Larp Pia, a favourite dish of Southern Laos.
>This meal covers the basic Lao Food group, which is similar to North
>American Food Group.  They are Raw Meat (Meat and substitute), Vegetable (a
>food group itself), Rice (Bread) and Lao spices.  So where is Milk or Dairy
>Product group, you say.  Well, since most Asians are lacto-intolerant, we
>don't like to consume milk, butter or  cheese (Except for those that grow
up
>here).  However, we do use padek,  a sauce made from pickled fish, on most
>of our dishes.  This can be considered the Dairy (or daily) Product of
>Laotian Food group.
>
>Let's examine these food groups in more details:
>
>Meat:
>
>In North America, most restaurants like to hang their meat for couple weeks
>before they serve it.  But in Laos, we prefer fresh meat - right from the
>butcher's hands.  In fact, it's traditional that we go out and kill a water
>buffalo or cow for special occasions.  Butchering the water buffalo on the
>spot is an important part of the Laotian festivity.  We take pride in doing
>such works and sometimes it requires skills to cut the buffalo in the
proper
>manners.    Since meat is so scarce in Laos, we do not waste any parts of
>the buffalo at all - from head to tails.  Besides the meat,  we take all
the
>internal organs , the head, tail, skin, etc..  Some people even take the
>external organ (We won't dwell on this...
>
>For the Larp Pia, the beef should be thinly sliced into small pieces.  The
>size of these pieces should be half inch square.  Boil the Pia (the juice
>from the small intestine).  Let the hot pia cool off before mixing it with
>the beef.   When you drop the beef into the Pia, you will see it curl
>because of the intensity of the sauce....hmm ahh what a sight.   Leave the
>beef soaked in the pia sauce for few hours.  Other meat ingredients are
>sliced liver(preferably raw), beef heart and tripe. Some people like beef
>kidney too.
>
>Lao Spice:
>
>"Hey, your rice is burning", my Caucasian friend yelled at me as he watched
>the burning smoke coming of the pan full of sticky rice.
>"No, it suppose to burn", I replied.
>"Is this why they call you rice burner?" he said jokingly.
>That is, of course,  part of the making 'kout kouir', the ground roast
rice.
>Once the rice is 'burned' or roasted, let it cool off.  Then ground them.
>In Laos, most people would use 'coke' (a hard bowl-shape pottery) and
'sack'
>(a small log-shaped wood) to ground them.  This would have required a bit
of
>strength.  But in modern world, we use an electric blender or grounder
which
>only take seconds to ground the rice. Kout Kouir  is a very essential spice
>for the any kind of Larp.  Another important spice is ground roast dried
>chili.  It is recommended that you roast or grill-fried the chili outside
of
>your house.  If you fry the dried chili in the kitchen, people  in the
house
>may suffer from continous sneezing symptom.  Others Lao spices for the Larp
>Pia include ground Ka (galanga), Houir si-kai (lemon grass), puck horm
>(cilentro, green onion, minth, etc) and fish sauce.  Padek can also fall
>into this category.
>
>Rice:
>
>The preparation of sticky or Laotian rice is different from the normal
>steamed rice you eat in the Chinese restaurant.  First you soaked the rice
>in water for few hours.    You must have a special Laotian pot and wooden
>opened basket in order to steam the rice.  Start boiling a pot with one
>fourth full of water.   Put soaked rice in a wooden basket.    Rinse the
>rice and let it drain for a few minute.  Put the basket on top of the
>boiling pot.  Let it steam for certain period of time.  The length of time
>depends on the amount of rice in the basket.  Three quarters into cooking
>time, you have to turn over the rice. By this time the rice should be
sticky
>and form a ball.  The flipping or turning over of the rice can be quite a
>task for beginners.  First you have to contend with the hot  basket.  Then
>you have to throw up the rice ball in right way in order to flip it.
>Sometimes the rice can end up on the floor.  (This is speaking from
>experience ).  Once the rice is ready, you have to spread them, roll them
>into ball and store  them in the special wooden basket.
>
>Vegetable:
>
>Back in Laos there are many vegetables that go really good with Larp.  But
>over here, it's hard to find them.  We can use other substitutes such as
>lettuce, cucumber, radish, celery, cabbage, etc.
>
>Once all the ingredients are ready, first drain out the beef from the pia
>(don't drain it too much..you don't want to lose the taste of the cow
poop).
>Mix this meat with kout kouir, ground chiili, Ka and lemon grass, padekk
and
>other beef ingredients (liver, beef heart, tripes etc).  In the old days,
we
>use bare hands to mix them. But nowaday, for sanitary reason, it's strongly
>recommended that you wear plastic gloves or sandwich bags.   Then put in
the
>rest of the other spices.  The amount of spices to be added on is up to the
>persons' tastes.  Once all the Laotian spice and the beef are well mixed up
>to the tastes, it's reading to be served.
>
>Laotian style of eating:
>
>The Laotian eat our food in different manners from others.  For Larp Pia,
we
>roll up the sticking rice into balls.  Then with your  fingers, stick some
>Larp into the rice.   Gently put them into your mouth (ahh I am so hungry
as
>I am writing this).  Or you can use the vegetable to shovel up the Larp to
>you mouth.  Then eat the rice right after each bite of Larp.   For better
>tastes,  a shot of whisky or glass of beer will go nicely with the larp.
Or
>you can bite a piece of fresh chili with each ball of rice.
>
>Yes, it's true that some of us Laotians like our food spicy.   Our style of
>eating is so unique.  Our eating habit is even different from those of the
>neighbouring countries.  Take Pho for example.  Pho is noodle soup dish
>originate from Vietnam.  But the Laotians have gone further in spicing up
>the original recipe.   We love to add chili oil sauce into this noodle dish
>- making the broth looking so red.  Most of us prefer to have  kapi (shrimp
>paste) and chili on the side.  While eating the noodle, it's best to dip
the
>chili into the kapi and take a bite of it.  After a few chili, we can feel
>the sensational hot taste of the chili spreading inside your mouth, lips
and
>all over your sinus.  This usually will cause the sweat to drip from the
>sides your head.   Sometimes, you will get running nose.  Midway through
>eating this, we would take a break to wipe off the sweat or blow our nose.
>Then we continue on with the eating....and sweating..ahh yes..this is
eating
>the Laotian way...and it's making me very hungry.
>
>Well I can't take this anymore.  I am going to home to make myself some
Larp
>or some Pho.   I hope this piece has helped you learn a bit about Laotian
>food.
>
>Note: These types of food are not for everyone of course.  Most of the
>consumers are ones that have adventurous tastes and are hard-core Laotian
>eaters.
>========================================================
>* Amphon Guy Phiaxay     Database/System Administrator *
>* Canada Loan Administration Services (CLAS) Inc.      *
>* Phone:(306) 934-0914 (H) (306) 975-8704 (W)          *
>========================================================
>
>