Spice Treasures in A Bowl of Coto

It is undeniable that everyone has different experiences and expressions A B owl of Coto Spice Tresure in longer a strange thing that each person has their own favourite when it comes to soups. Different palate, coto stall. different way of tasting. A soup that is easy to find and one of the favourites for The taste of the sauce, the meat, the people, especially in Makassar, is coto. price, the place, and the service, are The taste of coto gives rise to subjectivity. among the determinants of why people Two or more people often argue with like one or two or even more coto stalls. each other about which coto stall they like Beside the taste, precise location also is the best. Despite this, coto stalls never determines whether coto stalls can last lose their prestige. Young and old come for decades. Being suitably located on to visit to taste this unique food. It’s no the edge or not far from the highway, for example, makes it easier for customers to like. Amid the clutches of restaurants that serve a variety of regional food and foreign food, supported by a magnificent or modern building, the coto stall has not been left out by the lovers of exotic soup dishes, even though their setup is simple. Each coto stall has a distinctive sauce and

A bowl of happiness. - shutterstock_1982143724 – Tyasindayanti - https:// www.shutterstock.com/g/ Tyas+Indayanti

offers different tenderness of the meat. Some serve very thick gravy, some don’t. Some offer very tender meat pieces, some are medium, and even a bit tough.

This is related to the duration of the cooking. The fireplace for the gravy must also be maintained. Some stalls have been using firewood from the start and still survive until now because the unique aroma seems genuine. Some shop owners choose oil stoves because they are reluctant to use wood – after all the shops are normally not spacious. If the meat and offal are not cooked, and it takes tens of minutes according to the cook’s calculation, the coto will not be served, unless the visitor is willing to patiently wait. Maintaining the composition of the taste is indeed a major concern.

Stall Distribution

Of course, it’s easy to find a coto shop in Makassar. The stalls that can be visited are located on Perintis Kemerdekaan Street, Urip Sumoharjo Street, Andi Pangeran Pettarani Street, Emmy Saelan Monument Street, Minasa Upa Street, Antang Raya Street, Sultan Alauddin Street, Abdullah Daeng Sirua Street, Monginsidi Street, Gagak Street, Nusantara Street, Ranggong Street, Sunu Street, Merpati Street, Tiger Street. The naming of coto stalls often refers to street names (not applicable to stalls with many branches), people’s names, or regional names.

The coto’s trade potential is huge. People will not get tired of eating it, even though they often cook at home too. The cheap price of a bowl of coto doesn’t guarantee that the shop will be crowded with visitors. Similarly, expensive coto stalls are also not a guarantee for customers to stay away. Everyone’s palate is different, right? Customers know which coto stalls are right for their taste buds.

For some residents who live in the city of Makassar, coto is sometimes a breakfast menu before their activities, because coto stalls are usually open since morning. Some people also believe that eating coto can be a solution when blood pressure is low. Breakfast with coto provides positive energy to get through the day.

Coto Origins

Coto is different from soto. Anto (41), a shop owner on Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan Makassar, quoted his late father’s story, that tripe (people often call it towel) is the essence of coto. “I have no doubts in what he taught me, considering that he was making coto for decades. Both as a waiter at a coto stall, which was considered the first coto stall in this city, to being a maker and owner of a stall that he then passed on to his children,” he said.

Many people argue about the origin of the soupy fare, by observing its various aspects, from the selection of spices, the selection of meat, to the way of presenta-

Coto is a form of identity - shutterstock_1695167698 - Musfirahsergi99 - https://www.shutterstock. com/g/Musfirahsergi99

(widow) from jantung-daging (heart and meat). If the customer wants to order heart-meat-brain, then the acronym is janda berpikir (thinking). Similarly, janda mau mandi (a widow who wants to take a bath) means heart-meat-towel (tripe).

Dansa (dance) on the menu means meat only (daging saja).- shutterstock_1742453021 – Yohanes Setiyanto - https:// www.shutterstock.com/g/ yohanes_setiyanto

tion. There are no local sources, documents, or reports from foreign nations before the 20th century that say coto is a typical food or consumed by the people of South Sulawesi. That’s because spices were an expensive product in the past. “Coto most likely came about only in the early half of the 20th century. However, further historical research on this culinary treasure has not been carried out in depth yet,” said Dr. Amrullah Amir, a history lecturer at Hasanudin University who often researches and writes about the history of the 17th century in South Sulawesi.

A person who holds a celebration often chooses to order coto from their favourite stall and serve it as a dish at the event because they don’t want to disappoint the guests. It is not easy to process spices to make a savoury coto sauce. It can fail if you are not an expert or someone who is used to mixing the spices. It is well known that the main ingredients of coto are meat and offal and that the ingredients for the seasoning consist of peanuts, lemongrass, coriander, cumin, candlenut, red and white onions, cinnamon, and others. However, in execution, it is never easy to know the correct proportions of these ingredients. Some say coto sauce requires 40 spices. However, Anto denied it. “It’s too much and what would be included among these 40 spices?” he said.

What’s interesting about coto stalls in Makassar is that there are stalls that provide free ketupat, however much you can eat. It’s an ingenious strategy to get customers because new stalls must survive against many coto stalls that already have many years’ head start and are already famous. In addition to ketupat, the shop owner also provides rice and buras.

An interesting gimmick that is seen as a market strategy for a unique coto dish menu list, for example, is using acronyms. Dansa (dance), is short for daging saja (meat only without offal). Another acronym that can make you smile is janda There is also japar or heart-lung, parto or paru to’, and daus or meat-offal. Tanpa perasaan (without feeling) means mixed but without the liver. Jahat (evil) means heart and liver, dapur (kitchen) means lung and meat, and oplosan means a mixture of meat and offal. Stall owners need to be continuously creative to keep gaining attraction. With the rapid use of social media, stalls can use the menu acronyms as a way of promotion. Visitors are also happy to publish these cool findings on their social media accounts. However, these acronyms are just acronyms displayed on the menu, people will still order what is commonly spoken.

Interesting things about coto, especially the mixture of spices that produce a unique sauce, make coto still exist in the eyes of local, national, and foreign culinary connoisseurs (Alfian Dippahatang, writer from Bulukumba).

An abundance of spices. - shutterstock_1915352725 - Hanifah Kurniati - https://www.shutterstock.com/g/ Hanifah+Kurniati