For this celebration of Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica and the food of Taiwan, via an event organised for the Saisiyat people and Hsinchu Branch Taiwan’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, by a culinary group in Taipei called MINGCHU implemented by Perry Wu, together with KeYa Jam Taiwan, bringing together chefs, producers, farmers, designers, and filmmakers (and many more) a lunch was created that explored how the bitter orange Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica with marmalade made from it could be incorporated into both traditional Taiwanese-inspired cooking and – beyond that – into more adventurous risk-taking menus.
The Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica Orange Feast Menu
Citrus Taiwanica Brioche | Liu Enyou (Liu) | (Bakery)
Soft Taiwanese-style ‘brioche’, baked in discs studded with butter pieces and KeYa’s Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica marmalade, sprinkled with salt flakes and black pepper.
My thoughts: Chef Enyou is baker at Miaolin Foods, one of Taiwan’s top artisan bakeries, I’ll tell you more about it in a later article. The sour, sweet and bitter flavour of KeYa’s marmalade, on a dough with pieces of rich French AOP butter pressed in cubes directly into the surface just before baking, giving it a slight “mini focaccia” appearance, made it a fun playful bread. Brioche was incredibly delicate and soft, not dry at all (which surprised me given the thinness of it, as well as being baked earlier that day).
Roasted Radish and Fennel with a Citrus Taiwanica Spicy Sauce | Tim Hsu | (Vegetarian)
A warm salad of baby radishes, fennel bulbs, red onions; dressed with a yogurt, fresh Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica zest and juice, KeYa’s Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica marmalade, and chili. The black tree beans were stewed in oil seasoned with Chinese angelica.
My thoughts: Brilliantly fresh and exciting, utterly delicious. Chef Hsu’s vegetarian restaurant Curious Table opened in 2022, it’s excellent and I will tell you more about in in another post; plus his Little Tree Food in Taipei is Michelin Bib Gourmand and Green Star rated. Very confidently combined and plated, reminded me of the bold assurance New Zealand chef Peter Gordon would bring to his menu.
Pork Belly / Citrus Taiwanica / Salted Koji / White Radish | iAN Lee | (Meat-based)
Fresh Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica mixed with salted koji to make a marinade for the thick pork belly, then stewed, finally grilled with honey. Dressed with a Hakka-inspired orange sauce using KeYa’s Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica marmalade, served with a radish and marmalade “pickle” side dish. With a twist of fried crackling on top.
My thoughts: what I especially loved here is how a traditional Hakka salted tangerine sauce, somewhat unknown outside of Taiwan, was adapted to work with the Saisiyat’s oranges. I’ve visited but not eaten at Chef Lee’s Michelin Green Star rated restaurant Hosu, I will tell you more about it in a later post: fyi, there’s a great New York Times article on his cooking from October 2023. Also, what Chef Lee was metaphorically touching on with the dish is the historic tension between the Saisiyat tribe, Hakka people, and Japan (Chef Lee is of Hakka descent, see my article of the history of the region) and the hope that through food communities can be helped back together.
Citrus Taiwanica Spritz Cocktail | Adrian Ng | (Non-Alcoholic)
Non-alcoholic red Campari-style bitter liquor, and KeYa’s Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica marmalade, mixed with de-alcoholised sparkling white wine. An Italian-themed cocktail, with KeYa’s marmalade heated in a bain-marie back to liquid, mixed with the Campari-style bitter liquor: this allows Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica to be the main body and flavour, with the de-alcoholised sparkling white wine adding a bright acidity, and bubbly sensation.
My thoughts: Adrian Ng is a super-talented mixologist, I’ll tell you more about his “sober bar” ABVless in another article, looks amazing (was nominated for a Restaurant & Bar Design award in 2022). It’s only lately after decades of pounding my liver and mind with spirit that I’m realising how few sane, unfussed but sophisticated non-alcoholic options there are out there. So really impressed generally with Ng’s drinks menu. This seemingly simple orange bitters spritz, like you might hope to get in San Tropez one summer, really dazzled. Fresh, lightly sweet, delicious. Especially like that Ng thought about how to warm-emulsify the peel and marmalade elements first, rather than just plonking it into a shaker.
A Citrus Taiwanica Saint-Honoré Dessert | I Chun Lai
Mille-feuille pastry base, choux pastry, piped Chantilly yogurt, candied ginger, with KeYa’s Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica marmalade used in the choux filling. With a chocolate covered gingerbread vine to the side of the dish.
My thoughts: Crazy, wonderful, bright and hugely inventive. Chef Lai from Quelques Patisserie in Taipei, creates a mixture of Parisian patisserie chic with bright Taiwanese flavours. I will write more about Quelques Patisserie in a later article. Technically this was the most out-there construction, so much work in it. Lots of crisp-meets-creamy textures, and the chocolate ginger twist was a great bold adjunct to the brighter citrus flavours.
Overall, the menu showcases a creative and sophisticated use of Nanzhuang Citrus Taiwanica oranges in various dishes, blending traditional flavours and techniques with a fearless approach. What was apparent was that these Taipei chefs – using the Taiwan’s local bitter orange, often first poached until soft and then sweetened much as you would in making a British-style Seville marmalade – didn’t stress with fear/horror in using it; compared to the way it can annoy-bewilder Brit cooks, using it only when their arm is twisted, and often in a predictable “marmaladey” pastiche of old English cookery. Few (anyone?) is using marmalade with gusto and vigour in their menu. Spare us your lazy-arse puds and spoonfuls on ham: astonish us. And that’s before I even get talking about Britain’s fear of savoury food and fruit, with few cooks climbing into that orchard. Now it may be that in Taiwan the foreignness of an ingredient like marmalade allows for creativity; while in Britain it ignites inhibition, encircling marmalade in a ring of fire keeping it out of reach.
One of many things that is so wildly different about Taiwan, even compared to its neighbour Japan, is that it’s a very fruity island, something I didn’t appreciate before visiting. So it’s easy to affordably buy great fruit, often freshly picked, from an assortment of pineapples though to pink guava, fresh jujubee fruit (more like a crisp pear than a date), as well as mango, banana, lychee, citrus, papaya, custard apples, wax apples, dragon fruit and persimmon. So chefs are extremely comfortable incorporating fruits and fruit flavours in their cooking, not in a namby-pamby tweeness, but fiercely. Ditto vegetables. So many vegetable dishes, and so happy to innovate with vegetarian and vegan cooking if you ask.
