Dishes
Goat offal soup
羊雜湯
Also called: yang za tang · lamb offal soup
A herbal goat broth served with mixed goat innards, a regular order at the goat restaurants of Gangshan in northern Kaohsiung.
Photo: bryan... from Taipei, Taiwan, CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0What it is
A bowl of broth with assorted goat innards. Menus in Taiwan translate 羊 as both lamb and goat, but in Gangshan the animal is goat. The soup sits on the menu next to goat hot pot and stir-fried goat.
Where it comes from
Gangshan in Kaohsiung and Xihu in Changhua are Taiwan's two best-known goat towns. In the Japanese era, travelling vendors there sold goat soup, goat thick soup and stir-fried goat. Goat hot pot only caught on from the 1970s.
How it is made
At Joes in Gangshan, Michelin describes a signature stock slow-simmered with goat bones and Chinese herbs, which it says goes well with fresh offal. Freshness is the point: the shop uses goat slaughtered the same day.
How to eat it
It comes as a side bowl to goat hot pot or a goat stir-fry. Gangshan is also famous for broad bean paste, which local cooks mix into dipping sauces for goat.
In Kaohsiung
Michelin dates Joes to 1955 and TVBS to 1956. Both agree it grew out of a goat stall in the Gangshan market, and the family still cooks harder-to-find cuts such as goat head meat and trotters.
Where to eat it in Kaohsiung
Sources