It's a bad day for pigs in Bali today....

ronb

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2007
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Ubud, Bali
Recently, I believe turkeys had a bad day in the US - but today in Bali, it's the pigs who are getting a bad deal.

I have seen them hanging sadly up-side down from a bamboo poles as they are taken to their end, groups of people gathering around to help in the processes, and I saw and enormous white pig being led down the road by her owner/carer - presumably to her death.

Tomorrow is Galungan.
 

scout

Member
Jun 25, 2010
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Ubud
Anti pork day

Yes, I have stayed indoors today, but can still here the squealing with the doors closed....note to self, no babi guling in the forseeable future
:icon_cry:
 

Markit

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Sep 3, 2007
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Karangasem, Bali
Don't understand what the attraction is with their Babi Guling? I mean the pig when it's roasted looks great but taste? Nothing! The Balinese Kitchen has some of the best and tastiest spices available in the whole wide world but do they use any of them on the poor pig? Do they hell!

Now if it was me I would stuff that old boy (or as an equal opportunity eater - old girl) with a couple or 5 juicy pineapples mixed with some parsley and lots of garlic. When he (or she) has taken his place on the spit then to be basted regularly with some Bintang and honey to give that crunchy skin some flavour! The way the locals do it looks good but tastes like dead feet and is tough on the fillings too!

The Somalis do a great goat stuffed with herbs and rice - might be good to with a pig. Anything but the Balinese Babi guling - oh and then the locals take the beast home and chop him up on an old shower curtain in the middle of the compound where everybody has been spitting and whatever else they all do there. Funny thing is that Babi Guling day is when all the guys come out and decide they know how to cook too - kinda like Thanksgiving or Barbecuing in the US - the girls all sit back and laugh at what the boys are doing - this is were the separate eating habits come into play. I bet the girls don't eat that shit - hell they've sent out for fried chicken.:icon_biggrin:
 

tintin

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Sep 13, 2005
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I have a very old friend in Klungkung (also known as Amlapura), Ibu Agung, whom I met way back the second year I came to Bali, in 1985. She used to sell postcards and cheap tourist souvenirs across from the Kerta Gosa. We became fast friends (and still are). Later on, in the 1990s, her family was having a rough time, and she decided to have a cleansing ceremony where she lived with her family in three rooms small house, few blocks away from the Kerta Gosa. This ceremony, called a Mecaru, is especially intended to deal with the balance between man and nature.

They had no money to speak of, but they are Balinese, so…(of course, I contributed). They even hired a Pendeta (expensive) to conduct the ceremony. Offerings were prepared way ahead of the ceremonial day, and in these offerings was a babe guling that sat there, in the sun, for about ONE week.

After the ceremony, we all went down to the Telaga River to dump into it all the offerings and decorations, to be taken to the sea, except for the babe guling. When we return to the house, we all sat on the floor, and proceeded to eat the “thing,” which had sat in the sun for the last week…Obviously, I could not refuse partaking in the dinner :icon_sad:, especially the expensive “had-been” babi guling, plus the trimmings. My sacrifice and faith were obviously well appreciated by the Gods who, even if I had much apprehension in submitting to the protocol, granted me a peaceful night and let me survived the experience absolutely unscathed. :icon_surprised:
 

ronb

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Aug 14, 2007
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Ubud, Bali
I have a very old friend in Klungkung (also known as Amlapura),

Maybe you mean "also known as Semarapura" - but of course this makes no difference to your story. What did the week old Babi Guling taste like?
 

Markit

Well-Known Member
Sep 3, 2007
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Karangasem, Bali
The English will only eat a pheasant that has been hung by the neck (after it's been shot, of course) for at least a week, 2 is considered better. Some will even preach that the best pheasant is one that's been hung so long that it falls down from alone - head's come off - yum!?

Of course the pheasant is then cooked and not as in tintin's story of the Babi prior to the "ripening".
 

tintin

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Sep 13, 2005
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Boston, MA, USA
Maybe you mean "also known as Semarapura" - but of course this makes no difference to your story. What did the week old Babi Guling taste like?

Right on, Ronb. Of course I meant Semarapura. Thanks. Actually, I surely don't remember how it tasted (except that it was cold). The apprehension of the possible "after shocks" prevented me from appreciating this "aesthetic" experience. All I had in mind was to finish my plate fast and go home, hoping for the best...:icon_lol:
 

zoyra

Member
Jun 24, 2010
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Bali
Now if it was me I would stuff that old boy (or as an equal opportunity eater - old girl) with a couple or 5 juicy pineapples mixed with some parsley and lots of garlic. When he (or she) has taken his place on the spit then to be basted regularly with some Bintang and honey to give that crunchy skin some flavour! The way the locals do it looks good but tastes like dead feet and is tough on the fillings too!

Mark, sounds very yummy - this is my type of 'babi guling' - can i order online :icon_razz: