Lap cheong

saucisse chinoise

What it is

The perfume is mei kuei lu chiew, a rose-petal spirit of around 54 percent alcohol that goes into the mix with sugar and soy before the sausages are wind-dried for about a week. Lap, in lap cheong, refers to the twelfth lunar month — the cold dry weeks when preserved meats were traditionally made.

In the kitchen

It is dried, not cooked, so it always needs heat: lay the whole sausages on the rice once the water has been absorbed and steam ten minutes, and the fat runs down through the grain. Slice on a steep diagonal — straight coins stay tough.

Goes with

Rice Ginger Spring onion Soy sauce Choy sum Shiitake

Same species

Andouillette Boudin blanc Natural casings Caul fat Chorizo Ciauscolo

Also used with

Lotus leaf

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