I Cooked an 8-Course Taiwanese Feast From Scratch 🥢 Dinner at Tiffy’s

Cheers! Eight course meal dinner party. Back from the grocery store. This might be the best one. Absolutely delicious. Good morning everyone! It's been a while since we did one of these videos and I feel like you guys already know based on the title but welcome back to another episode of Dinner at Tiffany's. Today we're hosting a family style Taiwanese dinner party for our friends and family. Luckily it is only day one so today our goal is to just prep as much as possible so hopefully I can enjoy a lot of fun times with my friends and family tomorrow. First things first, we got my coffee. Now let's go figure out what we're making. Okay guys, I think I have the menu figured out. We are going to be doing an eight course meal dinner party. I know it sounds like a lot but all these are my childhood favorite dishes so I feel like it should be okay. First up we got popcorn chicken. This is an iconic Taiwanese dish. It's also the number one thing that my friends and family actually requested. Next up we got ruofan which is a braised pork rice. I really like making this for dinner parties because you can make it ahead of time and honestly tastes better the next day. And because we got the savory pork belly dish of course we have to make my grandma's thinly sliced cucumber salad. I'm also hoping to make that today so tomorrow we don't have to do anything. The fourth dish we got three cup chicken and I want to make this because it's probably going to be using the same chicken as the popcorn chicken which allows me to buy the chicken in bulk which should help us save some money. And obviously it's not an Asian dinner party without soup so I'm gonna be thinking doing a meatball napa cabbage soup. I'm gonna see what they have at the grocery store. And for appetizers we got a cold tofu with century egg and garlic sauce dish and we also have some spicy wontons because I actually wrapped some a few weeks ago so we have that in the freezer ready to go. Last but not least I also want to blanch a veggie with a garlic sauce and I'm just gonna see what they have at the grocery store determine what veggie we're gonna be making. This is the menu for now but honestly a lot of times I change up the menu based on what is in store, what's on sale, what's in season. But hopefully they got everything that I need. Anyways let's head out to grocery shop together. Guys this brand of yogurt is so good especially this one right here. If you ever come to Vancouver try the whiskey hazelnut ice cream. So good. That's a lot of meat. We got chicken wings, lots of chicken thigh with the skin on, meatballs, pork belly and sunfish balls. Okay hello hello guys. As you can see we are officially back from the grocery store. I feel like I was being a little bit ambitious when it comes to the eight course meal but I think we should be okay. I divided the groceries up on the side. Everything here is going to be things that we're going to work on tomorrow and everything on this side are things that we're going to prep today. First things we're going to do is make the roux au fin which is the braised pork belly rice. That dish does take a lot of time but it's so so delicious. In fact I'm actually going to make it in bulk because it's a little perfect for meal prep and freezing as well. If you've been here a while you already know what I'm gonna say. Let's get cooking. If you ask me what is one dish I am most confident cooking for you like I only had one chance to cook something to impress you I would definitely say my Taiwanese braised pork rice roux au fin. I'm confident this will taste better than anything store-bought and honestly I think it really comes down to one thing and that is labor of love. To me a really good bowl of roux au fin is one where you take a bite and your lips are literally a little sticky from all that gelatin. The pork is really tender but still has texture and the sauce has so much layers of flavor you just keep going back for bowls after bowls of rice. And for me that starts with hand chopping the pork belly. It definitely takes a little bit more time but it means that every spoonful gets that perfect mix of fat, lean meat and skin instead of everything becoming one uniform texture. Once everything is chopped I can pan fry the pork belly slowly to render out as much fat as possible. At first you're going to see quite a bit of liquid come out and that is totally normal. The trick is just to be patient and just keep cooking. As the liquid evaporates you start seeing this beautiful rendered pork fat and the pork itself actually slowly turns slightly golden around the edges. I just like to do this in batches so I'm not overcrowding the pan that way every piece actually gets a chance to brown instead of just steaming. And once we get to this stage this is where all the flavor starts happening. I'm adding five spice powder, white pepper, sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine. And trust me at this point your entire house is going to be smelling amazing. But we're not done yet. I'm adding in some water, bring everything to a simmer, covering and let it cook low and slow for around 30 minutes so the pork starts absorbing all that flavor. After 30 minutes I'm adding a very generous amount of fried shallots and please do not be shy with this because this is where we're going to get that classic Ruofan flavor. Mix everything together, cover it back up and let it simmer for another hour. This is definitely not a rush recipe but I promise one of those dishes worth the extra time is so so worth it. Before we move on to the next dish, I know you guys are thinking the same thing as me. How are we going to fit all eight dishes and all my guests on our dining table? And that is why I want to say a big thank you to Transformer Table for partnering with me on today's video. I feel like one of my biggest struggle when it comes to hosting is figuring out how we're going to fit all of our guests and all of our food onto our table. As someone who's always hosting family style, I love having tons of dishes on the table so people can reach in and grab whatever they want and because of that we need a lot a lot of space. The Transformer Table is something I've been eyeing for a very very long time which is why I'm so excited that we finally got it. Let me show you how this table works because it honestly blows my mind every single time. It is basically a four-in-one table so on a normal day we don't have to have this huge giant table taking up the entire room but whenever we are hosting, all you have to do is pull it open and add in the three panels. We end up getting the Transformer round sideboard and we have turned this into our morning coffee station. We have so many compliments on this station. I love looking at it every morning. It is so beautiful and fits to our space so perfectly. You will never guess that this is meant to store all the extra panels. We ended up going with the Royal Walnut finish but they have so many other options as well. There's storage on the side of the table and bench also extends. This table seats up to 10 people which is perfect for hosting and you might be wondering where do all the extra panels go when you're not using them? Don't worry, they thought of that too. As someone who loves hosting and loves having people over, this is honestly my dream set. Anyways, we're gonna properly set everything up tomorrow but for now, I am so happy. I know for sure we have enough space for all of our food and all of our people and when they leave, I still get my space back. We still have a couple dishes to make today before our big day tomorrow so let's get back to cooking. Okay guys, while we wait for the pork belly to simmer, let's work on the cucumber salad. This is actually my grandma's recipe and it's so so delicious and it's perfectly sweet, tangy and it pairs really really perfectly with savory dishes like real fat three cup chicken or even popcorn chicken. The tanginess really helps cut down the fattiness of these savory dishes and I always like to make this in bulk on a weekly basis because it does last in the fridge for up to four days. Okay, so the first thing we're gonna do is slice up the cucumber and we want the cucumber to be really really thin. I know this dinner party seems like an arm workout right now but trust me, it's gonna be so so worth it. By the way, funny story, this time when I went back to Taiwan, me and my grandma ordered rural phan as a takeout and I'm not kidding when they say they literally gave us four thin slices of cucumber salad. I saw the box and I was like, grandma, I'm gonna make you a bunch when I get home. We went to the grocery store, I got five brand new cucumbers and we had so much cucumbers that night for dinner. It was so so satisfying. I was thinking about that story as I was slicing up the cucumber and I just know this is gonna be so worth it and everyone's gonna be so happy when they see this dish at the dinner table. Okay, so next up we're gonna draw as much water as we can from the cucumber. That way it stays nice and crunchy even the next few days. It also soaks up all the seasoning a lot better. I like to use a mixture of sugar as well as salt for this. So we're just gonna do a generous amount of sugar and salt all over the cucumber. Next, we're just gonna massage and toss everything really well together and let it sit for around 20 minutes. Since we sliced the cucumbers really thin, this process is gonna be really fast. Okay, so it's now been 20 minutes. Let me show you how the cucumber has changed. One of the first things you can check if the cucumber is ready is just making sure that the cucumber can actually bend really easily. This is how you know that all liquid has come out. Next, when you squeeze it, there's gonna be lots and lots of liquid that comes out of the cucumber. And finally, when you look into the bottom of the bowl, there's gonna be lots of liquid at the bottom as well. Now, all we're gonna do is squeeze out as much as the liquid as we can and put it into our container. And this is why it is so important to draw the water because look at all this excess water. This is gonna make your cucumbers so soggy if you don't do that step. And we're just gonna keep the marinade super simple with some rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. And that's literally it. You can eat this right away, but I like to let it sit in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight. It gets really tangy. The cucumbers are still really, really crunchy and it pairs honestly so perfectly with everything. Anyways, I'm gonna let the cucumber salad rest in the fridge. But before we work on the next dish, I'm actually gonna head out for dinner right now with my cousin. Let's go get some pho! Are you excited for dinner tomorrow? Yeah. The chicken wings here are really, really good. Whoa, look how big that bowl is. The chicken wings are so good. Mom got bún bò huế. And I got beef bowl as well as some meat. Let's eat! Hi, guys. I just got back from dinner with my cousin and my mom. It was such a nice catch-up session before tomorrow's dinner. It is currently 9.30 p.m. though and I am so tired. Luckily, all we have left to do is to marinate the chicken. So let's get cooking! Okay, so first we're gonna be marinating our popcorn chicken for tomorrow. I'm using boneless chicken thigh with the skin on that I've cut into bite-sized pieces. You can totally also just use chicken thighs on its own as well. But I like to use mine with the skin on because I feel like it makes it extra crispy when we deep-fry it tomorrow. We're gonna season the chicken with some soy sauce, some white pepper, five-spice powder, a splash of Chinese cooking wine, and the most important ingredient, lots and lots of garlic. You can technically marinate the chicken an hour before you deep-fry, but I find that when you marinate it overnight, the chicken gets really, really juicy, soaks up all the flavor. And that way tomorrow, all I have to do is just do the batter as well as the coating and deep-fry it and that's it. Next up, we're gonna marinate the chicken for the three-cup chicken. I'm actually using mini chicken drumlets for this recipe. We're gonna keep the seasoning really, really simple because technically you don't actually have to marinate the chicken for this recipe. But I figured we have time, so why not? We're gonna season with some salt, black pepper, as well as some white pepper, garlic powder, and a splash of Chinese cooking wine. The star of this recipe is really gonna be the sauce tomorrow, but I feel like by marinating the chicken, it's gonna help it become a little bit more tender and just give it a little bit more when you're taking a bite of the chicken. Anyways, I think we did really good today for prep day. I'm very, very excited for our huge Taiwanese family feast tomorrow. I'm gonna put everything in the fridge and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight! Can we take a moment for this creamy, creamy matcha latte? Happy Friday, everyone! This morning, me and Dom actually met up with my cousin to go for a morning run. And afterwards, when we came home, we were starving, which means it was the perfect time for us to try the royal fat in the cucumber salad recipe. Look at that. It's been a while. It's been so long. First bite! Really? I'm good. It's so hot, but I can't stop eating. Hopefully everyone will like it tonight. Perfect. Yay! Safe to say, I feel like the guests will be super, super impressed tonight. Anyways, it is currently 2.30 p.m. Everyone's getting here at 7.30, so we have around five hours to prep. That may seem like a lot of time, but I feel like the key to making sure that we're not rushing and being super hectic later on is to prep as much as possible right now. You already know what I want to say. I got my matcha latte, so let's get cooking. Okay, guys, now that all the vegetables are chopped and washed, and it's time for us to work on our sauces. The first thing we're gonna make is a five-minute chili oil. This is gonna be the one that I'm gonna drizzle on top of our spicy dumplings. And also, I'm gonna serve it on the side in case anyone wants anything spicy to go with their food. First, we're gonna start with some Korean red chili flakes. Next, we're gonna do some ground cumin as well as ground Sichuan peppercorn. Some red chili flakes. You can really customize based on your spice tolerance. A pinch of salt. Some roasted sesame seeds. This is totally optional, but I like to add a little bit of chicken powder. I feel like this gives the chili oil a really nice umami flavor. And of course, we're gonna add in lots and lots of garlic. And finally, the best part. This is literally music to my ears. Hot oil. Look at this chili oil. It looks absolutely delicious. Honestly, I feel like making homemade chili oil is the ultimate life hack when it comes to hosting your friends and family. It takes only five minutes, but it's really gonna help elevate all your dishes. And your guests are gonna be so, so impressed. Anyways, let's move on to sauce number two. Next up, we're gonna work on the garlic oil that's gonna go on top of our century egg and cold tofu. The sauce is really, really easy. Really similar to the ones that you find at Taiwanese night markets. First, we're gonna start with some vegetarian oyster sauce. Next, we're gonna grate in around three cloves of garlic. Your breath is gonna smell like garlic afterwards, but it's so, so worth it. A little drizzle of sesame oil. A pinch of sugar. And some roasted sesame seeds. Now, all we have to do is just mix everything together. Totally optional, but before everyone comes, you can also pour in a little bit of hot water to kind of water down the consistency so it's easier to pour. This sauce is really simple, but super, super delicious. Okay, so the last thing we're gonna make is another garlic sauce. This one's gonna be on top of our blanched veggie. As you guys can tell, I love garlic. This one's also really, really simple. It's really similar to the ones that you find at Taiwanese restaurants. And then whenever you order a blanched veggie, they usually pour the sauce on top. So first, we're gonna start with some vegetarian oyster sauce. By the way, if you guys are looking for vegetarian oyster sauce brands, I highly recommend this one from Wan Jia Sheng. I feel like every Taiwanese person knows this brand. OG for a reason. We're gonna do a splash of soy sauce. And then I'm gonna add in some garlic oil. This is the one that I have from Kaidong that I stocked up. But if you didn't stock up, I also include my garlic oil recipe down below for you guys to make at home. I highly recommend having garlic oil at home. It's gonna save you so much time. And it also adds a lot of flavor into your dish as well. For this garlic sauce, before we serve, I'm actually gonna pour a little bit of the hot water from our blanched veggie into the sauce. That's really gonna help thin out the consistency, also help the veggies soak up all the sauces a little bit better. Okay, so next up, we're gonna get our popcorn chicken coated and ready to deep fry later. I'm actually using sweet potato starch today. This is the brand that I like. You can also use tapioca starch as well. I love using sweet potato starch when it comes to popcorn chicken. It gives it a really nice crunchy texture without being too hard on the outside. It also keeps the chicken super, super juicy. Another thing that I love about it, especially for hosting, is that unlike other batters, you can actually coat everything ahead of time. It actually tastes better after it sits for around 30 minutes to an hour. So that way, you can actually deep fry the chicken as your final step so everything is nice and crispy when it comes out. I feel like this is the messiest part when it comes to deep frying food. So I love that we get to do this ahead of time, cut everything away, clean everything up. By the way, make sure to really, really press in the tapioca starch to make sure that it sticks really nicely to the chicken. Okay, so the last thing we're gonna prep is a soup. If you know, you know you have to have a soup at every Asian family dinner. I always make this soup whenever I'm hosting because it's one of those things that you just throw everything in and that's it. We're gonna first start with some napa cabbage. And napa cabbage really, really shrinks when you cook it. So don't worry. We're gonna add a lot and try to pack it in. It also adds a lot of nice natural sweetness to the soup as well. Next, we're gonna add in our mushrooms. I got shiitake mushroom as well as enoki mushrooms. A few slices of ginger. We're just gonna throw it around. We're gonna add in some chicken meatballs. This is always a crowd pleaser. And I'm also gonna add in some fish balls. I've been obsessed with this brand lately. If you guys can find it at the grocery store, especially their mochi fish roll ball. So, so delicious. Now, all I have to do is 20 minutes before the guests arrive, I'm gonna pour in some dashi stock, cover and let it simmer away for 20 minutes. This is literally the perfect dish to prep when you're hosting because you can assemble everything ahead of time and all you have to do is cover and you got soup ready to go. Okay, I think most of the prep is officially done. It is currently 4.30 p.m. I'm gonna go clean up the kitchen, put everything away, set up the table and when we're back, the real cooking begins. Okay, guys, the table is set. The rice cooker is cooking our rice right now. Everything is prepped. I got my fun drink and we have T-minus one and a half hours before everyone gets here. Anyways, the plan is to cook everything around the same time. That way, everything is hot and ready to go. Not gonna lie, I always feel really calm and like I got everything under control and then an hour before everyone gets here, I get really, really stressed out. But I feel like this time, I do have most of the things prepped so wish me luck. You already know what I'm gonna say. I got my yummy drink so let's officially start cooking. And just like that, the dinner party is right around the corner. Whenever I'm hosting, I always want everything to be ready around the same time and I always think of three things. What can easily be reheated, what needs to be served hot and what can happily sit at room temperature. So first, we're starting with our three cup chicken because this is one of those dishes that reheats so well right before everyone arrives. Three cup chicken is such an iconic Taiwanese dish and the sauce is honestly one of my favorite flavor combination. It's savory, sweet, slightly spicy with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and Chinese cooking wine. And honestly, once you know the sauce, you can use it on pretty much anything. The chicken is obviously a classic but tofu and mushroom also taste delicious as well. And just like that, our dish is ready to go. Okay, one hot dish down. Now let's get our appetizers ready. First up, our spicy dumplings. I'm boiling my homemade dumplings until they're nice and tender and once they're cooked, I'm tossing them with black vinegar, soy sauce and a generous amount of the homemade garlic chili oil that we made earlier. The chili oil gives so much flavor and also helps keeps all the dumplings from sticking together while they're sitting on the table. And just like that, appetizer number one is done. Next, I'm using the same pot of boiling water for our vegetables. Add a little bit of oil to the water, blanch whatever leafy greens you're using until they're just tender and still bright green. And then all we need to do is pour on the garlic sauce that we made earlier. And that is dish number two. And finally, probably the easiest dish of the entire night, our cold tofu and century egg. This is literally no cooking involved. All I'm doing is assembling everything on the plate, adding a little bit of homemade chili oil and drizzling over our garlic sauce and done. Three appetizers assembled in 10 minutes. For the soup, I'm putting in dashi stock over the napa cabbage, mushroom, meatballs and fish cakes that we prepped earlier. Cover that up and let it simmer for around 15 to 20 minutes. At the same time, I'm reheating our ruofan from yesterday and pulling the cucumber salad out from the fridge, which means there's officially only one thing left to cook, our Taiwanese popcorn chicken. And honestly, this is music to my ears. Our chicken has been marinating overnight and now I'm frying everything until it's super crispy and golden. And you know, we're not done until we add a very generous amount of Thai basil. Now listen to that sizzle. And just like that, we officially hosted our eight course meal Taiwanese dinner party. Thank you guys so much for spending the last two days with me. I love you guys all so, so, so much. And let me know if you guys want to see more hosting videos. I'll see you guys next week. Love you.