Photos by MJ Klein
One of the great things about Dutch oven cooking is the fact that anywhere you can build a fire is anywhere you can cook a delicious meal. I carried my 12″ Dutch oven down to Kaoshiung over the holiday because I knew there would be an afternoon where I would want to relax and cook. This is the story about what I cooked.
I started out by cutting up onions. I also had baby carrots and small white potatoes so I didn’t need to cut those items up. The only other things that I had which needed to be cut up were some mild bell peppers (shown later). This type of cut shown here is one that I learned from a Chinese master chef back when I was being trained for restaurant work.
This is a shot of Hui-ling (along with Hui-chen) helping me with the garlic for the dish.
I started out by building a fire on the ground outside Hui-chen’s parents home. I made it on the stonework as I didn’t want to sterilize any natural ground area with fire. Later this area was swept clean and left no traces, as opposed to some of the junk you see in this photo. There were remnants of fireworks just about everywhere as people were setting them off for Chinese New Year.
I had purchased a package of US beef rib meat, with the bones removed. Here you can see 2 things: 1: another small fire to the left which was used to make top coals and also to act as a replacement bottom fire as the first one burned down, and 2: the meat in the pot, which I was browning.
This is a closeup of the browning meat. The black specs are a normal part of Dutch oven cooking as sometimes the cooked-on black coating rubs off a little. That does nothing detrimental to the food.
The package of meat turned out to be two pieces so I separated them along the sides while I browned the onions in all that beef goodness. The aroma of the onions browning in the beef juice was awesome.
I added the carrots and the mild bell peppers to the pot next.
Next, the white potatoes went into the pot. For this dish I decided not to use basil or rosemary but to instead just feature more of the natural flavors of the food items themselves, rather than adding spices. I did season the dish with oyster sauce (not shown) right after I took this photo.
Here you see I’ve moved the pot onto the other fire. I’ve added fresh coals to the old fire to get them burning. By the time the fresh coals are glowing it will be time to move the pot back to the other fire. Cooking over the coals tends to choke them down so it’s not practical to cook on a single fire, at least not using this kind of charcoal. Real wood fires tend to burn a bit hotter and longer.
This is an overview shot of the area where I was cooking. In the far distance is a factory on the canal (which leads to the wharf area) and then a small children’s park that was recently built. Notice the light pole to the right.
Eventually the light came on with approaching darkness. In this shot I’ve moved the pot back to the fire on the right and added some coals to the left fire. All together the cooking time was just under 2 hours. Take a close look at the lid on this pot. I had added quite a bit of water to the pot (for braising) and I wanted to boil some of it off, so I moved the lid slightly off center to allow steam to escape.
There was a wall right next to where I was cooking and there was a sort of shelf on the wall. On this occasion I was drinking Suntory Special Reserve whisky (15 years old) and Pelligrino Italian sparkling water.
It’s a lonely business sometimes, this Dutch oven cooking, but someone must do it.
The dish turned out just perfect. The beef was fork-tender, and the vegetables had a lightly grilled flavor from the top coals browning them. I made a nice beef gravy with the liquid that was left in the pot and I poured that gravy over everything on my plate, I’m telling you! I’m not one to brag about my own cooking but this dish was a 9/10.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to leave us a rating!
Articles in series Kaohsiung:
- Kaohsiung’s Dream Mall
- The Dome Of Light
- Dutch Oven in Kaohsiung
could almost smell it
Dennis, that is one of my “wish list” items for WordPress – smells as well as photos! don’t we all wish!
if such technology did come true we’d have to b very careful what we look up on the internet wont we.
you are so right, Dennis!
however, this could be overcome by internet browser plug-ins, or new feature of internet security softwares to block out or pre warn of likely unpleasant smells in a website hmm…
god bless the internet
Dennis, that last comment really made me laugh! i’m sure that reality will surprise us all.
They must think you’re a nut in Kaosiung….Looks good…
Dave, yeah, pretty much! people were giving me the stare and checking out what i was doing for sure. no one tried to talk to me though. perhaps its the fear of having to speak English (although not necessarily true). thanks.
MJ, wow. That was a great post and the food looked so good. I am drooling from your descriptions of how tender it was and a good gravy on top of it all. I need to find a Dutch Oven here in Thailand so you can cook in it teh next time you are here.
I tried to comment on your last two posts but couldn’t as the comment field isn’t filling out so I can hit the submit button.
Looked like a great day and a great post. The roof of the mall was pretty impressive. I would have no chance of getting Noot that far off the ground. Shiang looked pretty calm with his uncle and toy.
Bruntys last blog post..Pedophile Laws in Thailand Need to Change.
Brunty, thanks for the bug report. i don’t know what’s going on with the blog, but sometimes it displays the comments box a bit weird.
you should try to pick up a DO yourself as you said, and then when i come back i’ll show you the basics so you can take off on your own.
Shaing was pretty calm. he hugged that toy pillow and he was all set – which is why they have them on board of course. maybe if Noot went with Hui-chen she might be willing to give it a try. you know, go with someone who survived the trip and lived to tell about it! thanks Brunty.
About the only thing I don’t like about this article… are the mild bell peppers. I’ve NEVER liked peppers. If you had left the peppers out… then to me that would’ve been perfect 🙂
Mike, to each his own. the peppers add a little more depth to the flavor, but the dish certainly would have worked without them!
Hmmmmm – oh man, I’m so hungry now. 🙂
Stefan, i hope this article didn’t cause you any undue discomfort!
I am with Brunty on this one – I need to by one in Ubon as well! It would be prefect for cooking bread also.
If you or Brunty find out where to get one here please let me know.
Hiking or camping stores should have some.
What a fantastic dish and a great story!! Thanks so much for sharing.
thanks Gary. looking forward to the next dish!
Looks good. Only a few things missing. I can name them on 1 hand so you didn’t miss much.
🙂
That’s wicked man! Wish I could’ve been there!
andress last blog post..trip to yunlin
i could have used some help drinking the Suntory whisky!
Looks like a good spot for a block party!
oh, i wish!
That looks fantastic. I wish I could give Dutch oven cooking a try. I’m sure the community security guards would be on me in a second. We tried an outside BBQ once and were reprimanded.
Stevos last blog post..Chinese Food: Red Rice
Stevo, if i lived in a place where i couldn’t enjoy outdoor cooking, i’d move! just pretend you can’t understand Chinese, lol. Dutch oven cooking is a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoor life because it doesn’t take much fussing around with. once you get the fire going just right, you can sit back and relax. soon it’ll be time to eat!
Now, where did you get that Dutch oven?!
hello Mei. i bought my 3 Dutch ovens in the US and i took them to Taiwan when i moved here.
hi mei… you can buy them in taiwan as well. my cousin bought hers from some camping & outdoor shop. you can also find them on tw yahoo auction by searching ???
.-= andre´s last blog ..grandpa’s birthday 2010 =-.
thanks Andre. good information! i’ve also seen them for sale at Metro Oasis, the camping/hiking and outdoor store.