Lee Jung-feng, one of the owners and chefs at Lucky Bon, a newly opened Hakka restaurant in Taoyuan County located at the end of Zhongzheng Road, has been a chef of Hakka cuisine for 27 years. He spent the past month trying to make a super-sized 66cm-wide, 108cm-long and 12cm-thick guabao, a traditional Taiwanese steamed bun stuffed with pork, peanut powder, cilantro and pickled vegetables. The giant guabao was served to 100 patrons at the restaurant’s grand opening last Wednesday.
The gargantuan guabao is about 60 times larger than a standard bun. Lee says that giving it the proper shape of a normal-sized guabao was the most difficult part. Usually the buns are made in steamers, but there are not any steamers large enough to cook guabao this big. They also had to consider the overall appearance, shape, taste, ingredients and the consistency of the flour that was used to make it. There were five chefs working on the project for over a month. They failed around a dozen times before finally succeeding.
Dough was used to make the bun of the super-sized guabao, which was filled with superior quality streaky pork and slowly cooked dried mustard cabbage that was steamed, stir-fried, stewed and boiled for four hours. Other ingredients include cilantro, flavored peanut powder and tamarind beans, which give the guabao its robust flavor.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者李容萍
Hakka singer Stanley Hsu from the television singing contest One Million Star and Chang Ching-hui, a former legislator of Hakka ancestry, were invited to participate in last Wednesday’s grand opening activities, which included the cutting of the bun. Everyone said the “Taiwanese hamburger” was savory and delicious and not too oily or salty. The restaurant has already started taking orders to make more of the super-sized guabao.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
桃園市中正路尾的柚子花客家菜館老闆林榮烽,有廿七年客家菜廚師資歷,他耗時一個月研發直徑六十六公分、高一○八公分、厚十二公分的特大號客家割包,上週三開幕日,提供百位饕客分食。
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者李容萍
特大號割包是一般小割包的六十倍大,他說,製作大割包的困難在於割包外皮「開模」,一般割包外皮在蒸籠中完成,但做超大割包受限於蒸籠沒那麼大,又要考慮外觀比例與口感、材料、麵粉黏稠度,動用五位廚師嘗試一個多月,做壞十幾次麵皮,最後才大功告成。
特大號割包用天然老麵酵母製作,客家梅干扣肉以台灣上等黑豬五花肉,搭配手工梅干蒸炒燉煮四個小時,加上新鮮香菜、特調花生粉與獨家酸豆等佐料,風味十足。
上週三包括星光幫客家藝人許仁杰、前客家立委張慶惠等都受邀為開幕活動喜切大割包,大夥兒直呼這款「台灣漢堡」,不油不鹹、好香又好吃,特大號割包即日起接受預訂。
(自由時報記者李容萍)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
A: As well as Eid al-Fitr, Southeast Asia is celebrating the Water Festival this week. B: And this year, Thailand is expanding the celebration between April 12 and 16 for the event, officially known as the Songkran Festival, expecting to make 24.3 billion Thai baht in tourism revenue. A: Does Taiwan celebrate the Water Festival? B: Some local cities and counties do have similar activities. A: Let’s go experience the festival then. A: 除了「開齋節」外,東南亞「潑水節」本週也盛大登場! B: 泰國今年從4月12日到16日擴大「宋干節」連假,預估觀光收入可高達243億泰銖。 A: 台灣會慶祝「潑水節」嗎? B: 有些縣市會舉辦類似活動。 A: 那我們也去體驗一下吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)