Photos by Hui-chen and MJ Klein, including FOOD PHOTOS!
A few weeks ago, Titty Tea hosted a cookout for their regular customers. We’re going to show you what we cooked.
Now you know that anything that begins with charcoal and a torch is going to be good!
Notice the round aluminum grill. I’ve been wanting to get one of these to use with the Dutch oven, and finally I did. This one fits my 12″ Dutch oven like it was made for it. Using this grill meant that I didn’t have to build the fire on the ground and I didn’t lose much heat.
Most good meals begin with garlic….
To which I added the meat – in this case Australian shin muscle.
Next to me, Marcus had a grill set up and was doing various kinds of meat, these bratwurst being some of what he was grilling.
Once the meat was browned nicely, it was time to add more ingredients to the pot.
Sliced white onions went in next.
Followed by potatoes and carrots.
Regular readers of this blog know that I like to cook with oyster sauce. It adds a great flavor element and also negates the need to add additional salt to the dish.
Our friend Marcus brought some rosemary that he had grown in his herb garden, and it made a very nice contribution to our pot.
This is the scene beside where Hui-chen and I were set up. The closest 2 grills are for cooking vegetarian food items.
Once the 12″ Dutch oven was going, I started another dish in the 8″. Here we see bacon and sliced onions being sauteed.
A quick check on the contents of the 12″ and we’re back to the 8″.
In a local baking goods store, I found several varieties of beans, which I added to the bacon and onions.
This slightly-out-of-focus shot shows the 2 kinds of beans in the pot, stacked on the 12″.
This is the second type of bean I used.
And this is the brown sugar that went into the dish also.
In the meantime, Hui-chen had our other grill going, with these ribs (and something else in foil that was cooking for someone else).
That’s Bootsy BBQ Sauce that Hui-chen is brushing on the ribs. They were very popular with everyone.
Now it’s time for grilled corn!
This type of grilled corn is virtually unknown to local people in Taiwan. But once our Taiwanese friends tried it, they agreed that it is much better than the dried-out-to-death grilled corn that is served in night markets all around Taiwan.
Marcus surprised everyone with some of his home-baked sourdough bread.
Here is a closeup. I can’t tell you how good this bread was, but it was some of, if not the best bread I’ve ever eaten. Honestly!
We settled into evening as I got the last dish ready – a Dutch oven cake that I baked in the 10″.
Now, Marcus really outdid himself on this one – a tiramisu that was outstanding!
Hard to see, but this is a close up of the inside of the tiramisu. I have no idea how he did it, but Marcus managed to balance the flavor elements perfectly, creating the best tiramisu that I have ever tasted! Marcus is some kind of culinary genius!
Most of the Dutch oven fare was gone….
Here we see the 10″ with the cake baking. It came out OK. The fire was a tad too hot I think but overall it was pretty good.
Everyone was having a good time, with English, Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese being spoken throughout the day.
Our last photo of this article is Bella posing with Hui-chen. A fitting end to the story of a great day.
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Wow, looks like a fun event. Based on the bread I would suspect that Marcus speaks German. 🙂
Stefan, if you guessed that, you would be correct! everyone is hoping that Marcus opens a bakery nearby! thanks.
The meal looks like it tasted very good, especially since most of it disappeared. It is great to see another food article.
hi Carolyn. yes, we haven’t had a food article in some time, so we were happy to get this one posted recently. it was a great time – wish you could have joined us! take care.
I remember the first time you wrote about this place and I loved the name.
I have to get me a small torch for lighting my charcoal, looks easy that way. Garlic and Australian meat, good combination and made me drool.
Oyster sauce, I never used it much back in Australia but since living in Thailand it goes in many dishes and especially with some green vege with quick fry.
The bacon , onion and beans looked great, but that is a recipe for gas later on in the night for me.
I wish I could find ribs like that here, just can’t get them.
Bootsy BBQ sauce never heard of it until you mentioned it a little while back, when I Googled it very famous.
A real tiramisu, that did look excellent and I have tried a few here in Thailand but not up to scratch.
MJ, it looked like a great party with some good friends and great food.
One thing I couldn’t see was Sangsom. All I saw in the background was beer I think.
Brunty´s last post ..Dinner Time in Isaan Thailand
hi Brunty. torches rule! so you can relate to the oyster sauce. i use it more and more in Western dishes. it adds great flavor and i find that i don’t need additional salt most of the time. and yes, that bean dish was a gasser but it was worth it! lol we got those ribs in Costco, so that explains it! Bootsy is owned by my good friend Danny Brown, and we’ll have more news about it soon. it’s coming to Asia! i’m telling you Brunty, that tiramisu was beyond belief! i do not know how Marcus did it but he is a culinary genius! we missed you Brunty! oh yeah, no Sangsom at this party, but the next one, yes! thanks Brunty and take care.
Garlic and Aussie shins….how can you go wrong, not to mention my saleepbing 😉
It looks heavenly, I wonder if my hotel would mind me setting up kitchen out front? I very much doubt it!
Snap´s last post ..Vietnam – Inside And Out – a pictorial.
hi Snap. well it was a great day and things ended up being perfect. the shin meat was fork-tender and the saleepbing was nice and smoky flavored from the grilling.
i bet if you invited the hotel management to join your party they would go for it! there is a place in my neighborhood (a Thai place actually) that likes it when i BBQ out front because people stop and look, and then get curious about the place and end up going inside. so i have a standing invitation to cook out front anytime i wish! you should be able to get something going like that with your hotel! thanks Snap and take care.