Gabus Pucung is a Betawi legendary culinary that is hard to find. However, while on a virtual tour of Finding Hidden Gems in Bekasi, Diva Travel just found it.
Just like his name, this sweet black person uses cork fish and pucung as the main ingredients. Pucung is also known as kluwek. The use of kluwek on cork pucung makes the color of this food dark. Similar to rawon color, Surabaya's culinary specialties.
Cork is the main ingredient because there used to be a lot of swamps, ponds and rivers in Jakarta. The three places are the habitat of snakehead fish. If you want to cook cork fish, people are also free to take it from the swamp, pond or river.
During the Colonial rule, Betawi people also have to think twice about buying goldfish and mujaer because they are expensive. So, no wonder they prefer cork fish.
The cork pucung is cooked by adding vegetables such as green onions, cauliflower and carrots. Seasoning, besides pucung is turmeric, Red onion, garlic, candlenut and cayenne pepper. All spices are fried first to be fragrant. After that, it's finely ground.
To avoid the fishy smell, The cork fish used must be fresh. The fish is also fried first so that the sweet smell disappears. After that, then doused pucung gravy.
See the history, Heron cork used to be part of the Nyorog tradition. In Nyorog, younger family members bring Eid gifts in the form of cork pucung food to older family members.
Now, both the tradition and the cork pucung, is rarely found. even so, it turns out that there are still a number of culinary business people who consistently offer cork pucung menus. One of them, Pondok Gabus H Lukman in Harapan Mulya, Bekasi.
This restaurant was formerly known as Warung Nasi Sabi'ih and started to open in 1960. Since 1980, the owner is more focused on the cork pucung menu so he changes the name of the restaurant to Pondok Gabus H Lukman.
During the virtual tour, there are photos of appetizing cork pucung. Makes saliva dripping and unconsciously makes a promise to visit the restaurant after the Corona storm has passed.
