Talk:Bak kut teh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bak kut teh is part of SGpedians' Resources
An attempt to better coordinate and organise articles related to Singapore.
To participate, simply edit this page or visit our noticeboard for more info.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
(If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.
This article is supported by WikiProject Malaysia.

This project provides a central approach to Malaysia-related subjects on Wikipedia.
Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.
Start This article has been rated as start-Class on the Project's quality scale.
(If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance on the importance scale.
 WikiProject Southeast Asia This article is within the scope of WikiProject Southeast Asia, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Southeast Asia-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.
Start This article has been rated as Start on the Project's quality scale.
(If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
This article falls within the scope of the Brunei work group. If you are interested in articles relating to Brunei, please visit the project page to see how you can help.
Food Portal
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Food and drink, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of food and drink articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-class on the quality scale.
Low This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale.

My difficulty in using doughnut is that it invariably conjures up images of a torus-shaped pastry i.e. dough in the shape of a nut. Irrespective of familiarity, Cruller is actually more accurate, as it refers to a specific variety of doughnut, and besides, that's why it's linked if people are not familiar with the term. Nobody would describe yao zha gwei (which is the Chinese variety used for bak kut teh) as a doughnut in Singapore, for example. --khaosworks 22:19, May 6, 2005 (UTC)

The trouble is that the cruller article says little more than that they're a kind of doughnut, usually sweet, and often twisted and unraised. Could the things just be described, rather than being given an alien name by analogy? Do they have a name? Are they always twisted in shape? Are they made of plain dough, or seasoned? Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 09:52, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
If cruller can simply be described as a twisted doughnut, then we wont have needed a seperate page for it. I concur with Khaosworks's view that it is quite misleading to refer to yao zha gwei as a doughnut, especially in the context of places whereby yao zha gwei is served.--Huaiwei 10:23, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Fine, but the text as it stood clearly didn't succeed in describing the things, because it led me to think that they were savoury doughnuts. The name yao zha gwei doesn't get any hits on Google, but an alternative transliteration. you char kueh, gets lots. The photographs I found don't look like doughnuts, but then they don't look like the description of crullers either. I've changed the text to include this information; does it look OK now? Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 12:06, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

It looks much better now, thanks. you char kueh/yao zha gwei/Zha you tiou is indeed strips of fried dough...and certainly not anything close to doughnuts or cruller (strange why the term cruller was used at all, so good call)!. :D --Huaiwei 12:18, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
Ah, thanks — I thought that they looked like strips of dough, but the photographs weren't perfect. I've added that to the article. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 13:11, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
Just realised in the Youtiao article, they called it a doughnut! Oh man...is doughnut such a universal term? ;)--Huaiwei 13:16, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Well, yes... but I've changed that article in line with this one ("bread stick" was even more misleading). Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 13:51, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Just woke up and found progress has been made. Excellent - it reads much better now! :) --khaosworks 13:53, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Relationship with phở

The ingredients in the broth seem similar to phở. Is there any relationship between the two dishes? Badagnani (talk) 00:14, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

I've eaten both but of course I can only state things from a Singaporean viewpoint -- the taste is rather different! Chensiyuan (talk) 01:02, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks--I think the "fingerprint" of the broth is so similar: garlic, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and bones boiled for hours (though bak kut teh uses pork rather than beef)...it seems unusual that there wouldn't be a relationship. Badagnani (talk) 01:03, 28 January 2008 (UTC)