Babi Pangang

The name already tells you the first truth, if you let it speak in the right language. Babi is pork in Malay and Indonesian, panggang is roasted or grilled, and there you have the plain grammar of the dish before the Dutch got involved. Plain grammar, never plain history.

But let me tell you a secret. The babi pangang most Dutch people know is not simply an Indonesian dish copied into Dutch kitchens. It is a Chinees-Indisch restaurant dish, born from migration, colonial memory, and practical restaurant genius: pork roasted until the edges catch, sliced, and served with a glossy red sweet-sour sauce that no Batak grandmother in Sumatra needed but every Dutch child learned to recognise from the takeaway counter. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, even when they arrive in a foil tray with kroepoek tucked beside them.

So we cook it honestly. The pork needs salt, five-spice, garlic, and time; the sauce needs tomato, vinegar, sugar, ginger, and restraint. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. Roast the meat ahead, let it cool enough to slice cleanly, then crisp it hard and fast before serving. The sauce goes alongside or over, depending on the household argument. I put it partly over and partly beside, for obvious reasons: peace at the table.