What it is
Goat offal soup (羊雜湯) is a bowl of assorted goat innards in broth. The word za (雜) means mixed. Tripe and intestine are typical, often served with plenty of shredded ginger and spring onion. Menus translate 羊 as both lamb and goat, but in Taiwan the animal is usually goat. The soup sits beside goat hot pot, plain goat soup and stir-fries.
Where it came from
Offal soup belongs to the goat cooking of Gangshan (岡山) in northern Kaohsiung, one of Taiwan's two best-known goat towns along with Xihu in Changhua. Goat was market food there long before hot pot, and one account dates the first goat soup stall in Gangshan's old market to 1926. The town's long-running goat restaurants grew out of market stalls. Te Chang (德昌羊肉), which dates itself to 1944, and Joes (舊市羊肉), founded in the mid-1950s, both serve goat offal.
How it is made
Shops serve the offal in their house broth, so the soup tastes of each kitchen's stock. At Joes in Gangshan that stock is slow-simmered from goat bones and Chinese herbs, with a mellow sweetness that suits fresh offal. The shop cooks goat slaughtered the same day, and its cold dressed offal (涼拌羊雜) comes under a heap of shredded ginger and spring onion.
How to eat it
Order it as a side bowl with goat hot pot or a goat stir-fry, and add a plate of fine noodles tossed in goat fat (羊油麵線). Gangshan's broad bean paste (豆瓣醬), one of the town's three local products along with goat and honey, goes into the dips served with goat.
Around Taiwan
- Kaohsiung
- Gangshan is the place to order it. Joes (舊市羊肉) is still a family kitchen, with relatives taking turns at the stove, and it also cooks harder-to-find cuts such as head meat and trotters. Michelin dates Joes to 1955, while TVBS gives 1956.
