The tendons of certain animals (particularly beef tendon) are used as an ingredient in some Asian cuisines, including the Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese traditions. Tendon is tough and fibrous, but becomes soft after a long period of cooking.[1] In some cases it may be boiled for as long as eight hours, while in other dishes it is prepared by deep frying.[1] [2] 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.[1] One author described the taste of deep-fried tendon as being similar to chicharrón (fried pork belly).[3]
One popular Chinese dish is (Chinese: 蒜爆牛筋), where the tendon is marinated in garlic; it is often served at dim sum restaurants.[4]
In Indonesian cuisine, bakso is beef meatball filled with pieces of tendon, while soto 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.
is a Lombard dish made of meat, cartilage and tendons.[5]
In Japanese cuisine, beef tendon is a common ingredient in oden.[6]
In Korean cuisine, beef tendon is known as (Korean: 쇠심) and is eaten raw as hoe,[7] or stir-fried as namul; however, it is not very common. The most common way to eat beef tendon in Korea is steaming it with high pressure to serve it soft. The steamed beef tendons are eaten with green onions and soy sauce or sometimes served in ox bone soup.
Known as litid in Philippine cuisine, tendon is typically served after boiling for hours into a sticky gelatinous consistency, such as in bulalo [8] and some preparations of pares.[9]
In Thai cuisine, tendon is often added to noodle soup such as .[10]
In Vietnamese cuisine, it is often used in pho.