Continuing on my catch-up journey is week four of ICLP. First off, I’ve got to say, the temperature/weather here really is brutal. It was super hot that week, like always, and even though it usually cools down in the evenings after the rain, the thunderstorms themselves always happen when I’m trying to walk home from school.
An authentic July 12 screencap
But more importantly. and much more happily, I finally managed to taste some Beijing Roast Duck in Taipei. It was a restaurant called “天廚菜館” and we ordered a duck served three ways, so it was the crispy skin, the meat, and then a duck soup.
Greatness.
Beijing Roast Duck is, in my opinion (and I think a lot of people would agree), the highlight of Beijing cuisine. Chinese people have eaten duck since forever and it was a popular meat in imperial banquets, hence the glorious techniques you see on display above. It’s featured in a 1330 imperial cookbook, called “Complete Recipes for Dishes and Beverages,” but the history goes back even further. Having grown up with this way of cooking duck, I have to admit my first-time trying French-style roast duck with some berry sauce was a huge disappoint.
It’s a banquet, of course, so it couldn’t just be the duck! Though I would’ve been 100% okay if it was.
But to be honest, stuff like Beijing Roast Duck isn’t the food I’m going to miss from Taiwan. It’s the local specialties that you can buy from any traditional eatery.
Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Rice Bowl)
Dan Bing (Taiwanese Egg Crepe)
Porridge and you tiao (Apparently the folklore origin story for you tiao is that the strips of dough were effigies for a hated Song Dynasty chancellor and his wife?? To be fried?? Didn’t expect that.)
What I’m going to miss is the chance to find these specialties for cheap just about anywhere in the city.
Frozen Cream Taro Bowl
I’ll also miss Asian dessert flavors more than I expected. I have to admit–things like tofu pudding (dou hua) and Taiwanese shaved ice, along with flavors like taro, red bean, mung bean, etc. don’t appeal to nearly as much as Western dessert flavors. But I can admit when I haven’t given things enough credit, and this trip to Taiwan has definitely turned my mind around on some of these flavors. I never thought I’d enjoy taro, for example, until I had the taro frozen cream bowl at “何家甜品鋪-剉冰雪花冰,” near Gongguan station. The taro syrup especially was a stunner. Taro grows great in the Taiwanese climate, and it was one of the island staples before the late twentieth century made rice widely affordable. Nowadays, it’s taken more of a backseat, but it’s still seen just about everywhere, especially in desserts! I’m still not totally sold on its savory applications, but I’ll have to look for taro syrup of equal caliber when I’m back in the United States.