Iberico Bak Chang by JY's Signature

During the last Dumpling Festival, my neighbour gifted me a piece of bak chang to try but it wasn't any ordinary bak chang but an Iberico Bak Chang by JY's Signature (sent to her courtesy of her daughter overseas).

You see, since visiting her son in US, she is now used to eating Iberico pork and find our local pork hard to take (too porky a smell for her).  Well, I'm sure most would agree that Iberico pork does taste better for sure but then it also costs a lot more (probably more common and much cheaper over in the US compared to here).  These days, you get to eat bak chang all year round and not just during the Dumpling Festival (and I'm sure that pleases a lot of people). ^.^

The Iberico bak chang came vacuum packed and frozen.  Great that the packaging comes with a diagram of all the various cuts of the Iberico pig too which serves to educate us on what parts we're eating (and the Spanish terms for them as well).

My first introduction to Iberico pork was through Iberico Kitchen some 7 years ago (note that they have moved twice but glad to see they're still going strong at their current location in SS2 PJ).  Buoyed by that excellent introduction to Iberico pork, I continued my Iberico dining with El Iberico and Curious Kitchen.

Let's see which Iberico cuts I've had the pleasure of eating already....I've eaten their ever popular spareribs, cheek (or jowl), collar, pork chop, top loin, shoulder loin, iberico ham (or jamon iberico), even Iberico siew yuk, Iberico pork chop from a Chinese restaurant and now Iberico bak chang...lol.

The bak chang was bigger in size than the usual bak chang I buy and on opening it, I could see that the glutinous rice dumpling was abundantly filled with.......

1)  Black eyed beans - I actually prefer mung beans (or luk tau) but don't mind black eyed beans either so long as I get to eat chung...lol.  If you like to eat your beans whole, the black eyed beans would be a better option since mung beans are usually cooked to a more mushy consistency.  I'm actually starting to appreciate black eyed beans more these days.

2)  Chestnuts (or foong lut) - there were two actually when you'd usually get one in most chungs (coz of their much smaller size).

3)  Salted egg yolk - ah, this is what I look forward to most...a bright orange, oily-looking yolk for the best quality and creamy taste.  This one was of a very decent quality indeed.  Not sure if this was one or two yolks...well, the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.

4)  Dried shiitake (or Chinese) mushrooms - again, there's usually one piece but this one has two.  This ingredient is not critical for me as the given ones are mostly the lower quality, thin-type and all black cap (not those white flower top shiitake mushrooms).

5)  Finally, the pork - the piece de resistance in any glutinous rice dumpling as the fatty pork is what gives the chung its all-round flavour.  But this is no ordinary pork but a piece of slightly fatty Iberico collar....and, somehow, because it was Iberico pork, I was able to eat up the fatty part also without it being too gelatinous or cloying for me.

Was it good?  Definitely. ^o^  The glutinous rice was nicely soft and all the ingredients came together for a well-flavoured chung.  Flavour wise, did the piece of Iberico collar taste significantly different from regular pork?  Not really, maybe just a smidget more flavour than regular pork.  Not when it was stuffed together like that in a flavourful chung.  Yes, the meat was super tender but you can also get this from chung makers who manage to cook their regular pork just as tender.  Because the bak chang was so fully loaded with ingredients, there wasn't much space left for the glutinous rice...I would have loved more of it though! ;)

Well, if you're feeling a little bit extravagant, then you can certainly order this bak chang which retails for RM21 a piece (alamak, 3x the price!).....but but but...I can get 3 pcs of (normal) bak chang for the price of one wor! O_o  Ok-lah, the price goes down to RM18 a piece if you order 4 pcs.  I suppose if it wasn't at three times the price, I would buy them in a heartbeat.  Maybe I'll reserve these for special occasions only or when I feel like splurging.  I know I'll probably get it at some point but for now, I guess I'll just rely on my regular sources for bak chang....hehe! ^_^

My Personal Opinion

JY's Signature (opened end of last year) operates a deli and frozen food store and they have a physical shop in Jalan Ipoh.  They also offer pre-cooked, ready-to-eat Iberico ribs, healthy raw meat, sauces and all sorts of Iberico pork products including Iberico satay (with sauce), moo ping (Thai satay) and siu mai (I've not tried any of this).

Even though the price is on the higher end, I would still recommend this Iberico bak chang coz it does taste really good sans the difference in its more "atas" fei chu yoke (higher end fatty pork) for a once in a while indulgence when the pocket permits. ^_~

JY's Signature

Lot H-GA-02 Block H

Ground Floor Rivercity

No 1 Jalan Selvadurai

Off Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah

Jalan Ipoh

51200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 011-3666 6340