Holiday Ayo - For those of you lovers of soupy food, Soto is the top recommendation, this one-of-a-kind soup has a savory and delicious taste, with a sprinkling of chicken, and an appetizing slice of lemon.

Every region in Indonesia has its own version of Soto, and if you visit Indonesia, you will easily find soto in many places.

Soto is basically a soupy dish made from meat broth topped with sliced chicken or beef or offal, vermicelli, sprinkled with bean sprouts, and eaten with rice or lontong.

However, did you know that soto has existed since the 19th century and was originally made from offal, not meat as we know it today?

The following facts are cited for Soto from IDN Times:

1. The name soto is taken from Mandarin

Indonesian food is heavily influenced by various cultures, both local and foreign. Chinese culture is one that influences various culinary delights in Indonesia, including soto.

Soto probably comes from Mandarin, namely cao du (chau tu). There are also those who say that soto comes from the Hokkien dialect, namely sao du (sao tu) or sio to. Cao itself means grass, shao means cooking, and du means stomach, beef offal, or tripe.

2. Soto originated in the city of Semarang around the 19th century

Source : Hops.ID

Soto allegedly originated from the city of Semarang around the 19th century. This is because Semarang is a producer of beef at low prices.

At first, soto recipes in the 19th and 20th centuries could not be identified in ancient cookbooks. Possibly because at that time the ingredients for soto were offal. The Dutch do not use offal for cooking.

At that time, the image of soto was attached to offal and the purchasing power of meat by Chinese and Javanese was also low. However, from the Bromartani newspaper in 1892, it was stated that soto had been traded and had been accepted as daily food by the people.

3. The island of Java is the island with the most variety of soto

Every region, even every city, has its own variant of soto. This cannot be separated from the influence of cooking habits, local culture, available materials, and other cultural influences involved.

Not only the taste and shape of the soto, the name of the soto can be different in some areas, for example sauto from Brebes and tauto from Pekalongan which both combine soto and tauco. In addition, there are also sroto sokaraja, coto from Makassar, and others.

4. Soto soup has many variations

Source : IDNTimes.com

Because there are so many variations of soto, the spices and ingredients used also vary. The use of chicken is the prima donna in the soup dish, followed by bean sprouts, soun, eggs and beef. Furthermore, the broth from soto is dominated by chicken broth and beef broth, but there are also other broths used to make soto.

There are soto that have a clear soup, such as soto typical of Solo and soto typical of Bandung, but there are also soto that are yellow, such as soto Kudus and soto Lamongan. In addition, there is also a brown Makassar coto.

5. Padang's signature Soto is the one with the most spices

The spices and herbs used to make soto are quite numerous and varied. If you don't know, Padang's specialty soto is one of the most spiced soups, followed by Ngelo goat soto, Magetan soto, jackfruit soup, and ambengan soto.

Garlic, shallots, pepper, ginger, turmeric, and lemongrass are spices that are often used to make soup. Complementary ingredients also vary, some use fried onions, koya, Padang pink crackers, pickles, lime juice, fried sliced potatoes, and others. Wow, a lot of variety, right?