八八六 Taiwanese Cuisine

八八六 Taiwanese Cuisine a celebration of Taiwanese cuisine based in Seattle, WA - 從美國探索台灣菜式
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Pineapple cakes (with quince!). I recently made a batch for some good friends celebrating their baby's first birthday. H...
06/08/2026

Pineapple cakes (with quince!). I recently made a batch for some good friends celebrating their baby's first birthday. Happy birthday, baby Q! Instead of just pineapple, I added quince paste, a little PNW flair to the Taiwanese pineapple cake and found that I really love this version. It got me taking a second look at this dessert I often took for granted.

Fun fact: While it's not the most difficult thing to make, the greatest challenge with pineapple cakes is that it's better after it sits (in an airtight container, after cooling) for a day or two. With the addition of quince, the wait feels even longer.
Also, don't fight me, but when I'm not making my own, which is almost always, I'm Team ChiaTe. What about you?

In Wulai, another example of indigenous foods melding with Taiwanese fare. Flying squirrel was made, brilliantly, three ...
30/07/2026

In Wulai, another example of indigenous foods melding with Taiwanese fare. Flying squirrel was made, brilliantly, three cup style. A native mountain herb called tana with a lemongrass and leek flavors are folded into an omelette, which in Taiwan, was often made with 菜脯 preserved diakon.

I didn't know it then but I was part of the first class taught by 雙口呂 Siang kháu Lū back in 2019 and I've been itching...
14/07/2026

I didn't know it then but I was part of the first class taught by 雙口呂 Siang kháu Lū back in 2019 and I've been itching to go back since. They've built such a beautiful space that evokes an old time experience in ah ma's kitchen that so many of us long for and no longer have, perhaps never had. It's a remarkable tribute to family, cuisine, and the labor of farmers, home cooks, and families that developed and refined Taiwan agriculture.
Today we learned to make one of my long time favorites 米篩目, an extruded rice noodle made by pushing a wet rice based dough through a sieve placed over hot water. This sieve is often made by hammering holes into a sheet of steel and fastening it over a wood frame. It's a simple contraption that became a vital tool in Hakka agrarian society. I'm still hoping to be able to recreate this at home somehow, but first, who in Seattle can make one of these sieves for me? Please and thank you!

Green bamboo is actually tastiest when white like this. Picked when green during mid-summer and cooked in its husk, conc...
09/07/2026

Green bamboo is actually tastiest when white like this. Picked when green during mid-summer and cooked in its husk, concentrating its sugars, these deceptively pale jewels bear a wonderful fresh crunch and sweetness that is exactly what I want during these hot, muggy summers. This dish served so simply is a sign of the highest regard, care, and appreciation for the complexities of bamboo. It's a plant that keeps on giving; with many seasons, textures, ways of use.

Over the years of running this pop up and being on social media, more folks are sharing their family's bah tsang traditi...
21/06/2026

Over the years of running this pop up and being on social media, more folks are sharing their family's bah tsang traditions. While I'm happy to see such a wide embrace of this, a recent post about a Pingtung watermelon festival happening around this time of year really caught my attention. It's a great reflection of the ways Taiwanese identity evolves. Taiwanese Americans cling hard to the old traditions of their parents, ones that connect them to the lost land their parents left behind. That's not to say they're not eating bah tsang in Taiwan, but the sentiment behind these holidays has dampened and instead, Dragon Boat Festival for the folks in Pingtung is now centered around something more important to them - agriculture.
It's watermelon season and they're promoting their crop, their seasons worth of hard work with a watermelon balancing event where they try to balance and stand their melons upright, creating a street full of upright watermelons. I'll share the story so you all can watch. It's an endearing, and potentially more sincere, more updated look at the Taiwanese spirit and a good reminder that these traditions aren't a monolith. It can change and move to include new generations and reflect the stories of those who leave, and those who stay.

Many Buddhist analogies liken the course of our lives to bamboo. Perhaps because bamboo is evergreen, available in many ...
17/04/2026

Many Buddhist analogies liken the course of our lives to bamboo. Perhaps because bamboo is evergreen, available in many different times of year and takes on many forms. In Taiwan during the Spring, you'll see three most celebrated kinds of bamboo: Green (綠竹）, Ma, （麻竹）and Makino （桂竹).
Greens are tender and sweet, often eaten raw with a bit of Kewpie mayo. So sweet in fact it's often treated like dessert and topped with sprinkles. Ma is among the most prevalent and versatile, a bit more coarse than the greens and good in soups and stir fries. Its leaves are also used to wrap zhongzi/bazhang. Makino is the toughest, most resilient, and therefore great for braises. It's also prized by indigenous groups and used in crafts, or to make furniture.
Pictured here you'll see examples of all three: tender green bamboo with its translucent ivory flesh served raw, ma bamboo with a straight cone like appearance in a market in Tainan, and narrow, hollow makino which I've confited in beef fat.
Now your turn. What is your favorite bamboo dish or favorite uses of bamboo?

Spring, when it seems all produce is bursting with sweetness, mustard greens remain a bitter outlier. We more often see ...
11/04/2026

Spring, when it seems all produce is bursting with sweetness, mustard greens remain a bitter outlier. We more often see fermented and pickled mustards, preservation methods that mellow out its bitter and evolves it into an savory ferment with an almost smokey profile.
In soup though, no one is apologizing for it's herbaceous bitter, which brings out the sweet minerality in these tiny clams. It reminds me of one of my favorite phrases 甘甜, used to describe something that isn't overtly sweet get carries a faint, sweet aftertaste. This soup with it's 3 to 4 ingredients has a complexity that is almost wine-like.

A little leftover mix mix. Fulfilled a catering request did the UW Center for Taiwan Studies. Can you guess what they or...
06/04/2026

A little leftover mix mix.
Fulfilled a catering request did the UW Center for Taiwan Studies. Can you guess what they ordered? This is a yuba salad I made with what was left of their 涼麵 chilled noodles order.
In the States, the chilled noodles sauce focuses too strongly on the peanut butter with the peanut often being too rich and the sauce too thick for my liking. In Chiayi, a region in Taiwan known for their chilled noodles, their sauce is heavier on the vinegar, includes mayonnaise, and is also watered down significantly to make an almost soupy texture. I opted for a compromise between the two, a lighter, soupier sauce that's heavier on the garlic and vinegar (shout out to .co brown rice vinegar) that includes sesame but no peanuts. I find that this sauce offers a lot of room for play. When it's summer, a little tomato in there gives it such a warm sweetness.

One way I tried to explain 肉羹 / 肉焿 to folks is to call them boiled nuggets. Not the most appetizing explanation so I'll ...
28/03/2026

One way I tried to explain 肉羹 / 肉焿 to folks is to call them boiled nuggets. Not the most appetizing explanation so I'll elaborate here. 羹 gēng is a unique technique I haven't seen often outside of Taiwan. We take pieces of meat (often pork) and wrap it in more meat farce (usually fish paste) to make a chewy meaty bite reminiscent of chicken nuggets that are boiled and added to soups instead of fried. I suspect it was invented as a way to savor meat when it wasn't as widely available; bulk it up with fish paste. But this resourcefulness really became a way to celebrate and meld different textures.
This old school Taiwanese dish continues to be popular in southern Taiwan, specifically 鹿港 Lukang, where I had this bowl. This one with reconstituted strips of dried squid is my favorite. The squid and 肉羹 nuggies offer two very different types of QQ texture. The broth is thickened just the right amount to be glossy and slippery on the tongue. And always, a hit of white pepper for bite.

Post pop-up reflection on Taiwanese breakfast: I'm always surprised by how passionate people get about Taiwanese breakfa...
23/03/2026

Post pop-up reflection on Taiwanese breakfast:
I'm always surprised by how passionate people get about Taiwanese breakfast. I hear it all the time, "Taiwanese breakfast is the best! Why don't you open a Taiwanese breakfast place?!" Well, never say never.
Truth is that I've never been that into Taiwanese breakfast. At least, not the type that folks typically know it to be. It's a lot of carbs to start the day and the truth is that my body can't hang with that kind of action. But Taiwanese folks love food. They wake up thinking about it, making it, planning to get it. So luckily for me, for this menu, the theme of Taiwanese breakfast, just like the cuisine itself, is much broader than folks imagine it to be. Case in point, these folks in downtown Lukang selling bawan for breakfast for over 50 years. I really had fun with this menu and I'm so thankful to everyone who came out for this one.
Special thanks to hosts .cooperative (IOU two k***s of ginger!), cooks and team members .chris.pratt , sous chef in arms who slayed his own pop-up debut .beur, farmers/producers .

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埔頭街63號
Lukang
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