The food of Taiwan : recipes from the beautiful island

453 Pages·2015·12.38 MB·English

by  Erway

Copyright © 2015 by Cathy Erway Photography © 2015 by Pete Lee Food styling by
Michael Harlan Turkell Prop styling by Cathy Erway All rights reserved.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue
South, New York, New York 10003.
www.hmhco.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Erway, Cathy, author.
The food of Taiwan : recipes from the beautiful island / Cathy Erway ; photography
by Pete Lee.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-544-30301-0 (paper over board); 978-0-544-30330-0 (ebk) 1. Cooking,
Chinese—Taiwanese style. 2. Food—Taiwan.
3. Taiwan—Description and travel. I. Title.
TX724.5.C5E76 2015
641.5951249—dc23
2014016524
Book design by Jennifer S. Muller
Ebook design by Jessica Arnold
v1.0315
Dedicated to the proud people
of Taiwan.
This book deserves the credit of many who helped make it to fruition. I
would like to thank my editor Justin Schwartz for seeing the value in a
Taiwanese cookbook after so many did not, and my agent Ethan Bassoff for
his longstanding enthusiasm for the project. Also, thanks to Cynthia
Brzostowski and Jacqueline Beach at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for
handling its every stage of production with care.
I can’t thank enough my photographer, videographer, translator, travel
buddy, and friend Pete Lee for his talents in the above respects. His
incredible efforts on everything from framing the perfect photo to finding
people and chefs to hang out with was invaluable to this cookbook.
On that note, I’d like to thank Tina, Simon and Zoe Ma, Joy Chang, Xiao
WanZi, Mr. Jian, Pete’s family, Leah Huang, Cerbrina Chou, Chi-Chieh
Yen, Kannie and Pea Chen, Xiao ShouShou, JenPei Aiee, and many other
helpful friends along the way in my journeys in Taiwan.
I would like to thank Michael Harlan Turkell for styling many of the food
shots and Norah Hoover for assisting the food photo shoot.
Special thanks to all the friends who attended my recipe-testing dinners:
Tom and Katrin Helmick, Karol Lu, Dave Klopfenstein, Jordan and Ben
Ho, Laena McCarthy, Leiti Hsu, Terry Seal, Rachel Wharton, John Taggart,
Pervais Shallwani, Katherine Goldstein, Travis Morrison, Kara Masi,
Melissa Sands, Lacey Tauber, Noah Berland, Stephanie Berland, Ali Seitz,
Esther Young, Donny Tsang, James Boo, Mary Izett, Chris Cuzme, Noah
Arenstein, Justin DeSpirito, Nick Gray, Josh and Rasha Kaplan, Lukas
Volger, Jon Meyer, Mary Meyer, Aaron Fox, Wen-Jay Ying, Finn Smith,
Erik Michielson, Debbie Kim, Andrew Gottlieb, and Jennie Gustafson.
Most importantly, thanks to my mother, Tina Chen Erway, for her help with
everything from scrubbing dishes at these dinners in Brooklyn to
accompanying me to her old stomping grounds in Taipei. Her interest in the
foods of her homeland was an inspiration. Many thanks to my uncle, John
Chen, my father, Chip Erway, and brother, Chris Erway, for their guidance
and translating help, too. This book is especially dedicated to my
grandparents, or Gong Gong and Po Po, for all the fearlessness and
righteousness with which they embarked upon a new life in Taiwan as
young adults. This spirit, I believe, very much lives on in Taiwan.
At the coast of Yeliou
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
The History of Taiwan
The People of Taiwan
The Land, Climate, and Agriculture of Taiwan
The Taiwanese Pantry
Sauces and Condiments
Appetizers and Street Snacks
Vegetables
Noodles and Soups
Meat and Poultry
Seafood
Desserts and Drinks
Index
The fish faces scared me. I was a five-year-old straight out of the
supermarket suburbs of Tennessee, where all the seafood remained faceless
fillets behind thick sanitized glass. At the bustling outdoor markets of
Taipei, not only were the fish laid out in the open, they still had their little
features intact. And, I could swear, those glassy eyeballs were looking at
me.
That’s probably my earliest food-related memory of Taiwan. I have since
come to love the vibrant food markets that line alleys and streets throughout
the country. They’re noisy, messy, cramped, lush, colorful, and everything
wonderful all at once. Just like Taiwan.
With this book, Cathy brings into sharp focus the wild array of flavors that
define Taiwan. She explains how the country’s cuisine has been shaped by
its people and the history of the region. Perhaps most importantly, The
Food of Taiwan has made all of that available and understandable to those
who might be confined to shopping in the aisles of American supermarkets.
Taiwanese cuisine has plenty to offer—from savory oyster omelets to
delicate cake-like pineapple tarts—and this book helps ensure that all that
bounty isn’t confined to one small island.
Cathy took on a formidable task by writing this book. After all, Taiwanese
people are obsessed with food. I realize that’s an assertion that could be
made about people from any number of countries, so let me offer up some
solid evidence.
In the National Palace Museum outside of downtown Taipei, you can find
two of the nation’s treasures: One is a seven-inch tall piece of jade that’s
been carved into the shape of bok choy cabbage. The color of the stone
perfectly mimics the white and green of real bok choy. Nearby, you’ll find