Attention to detail
"To please your clients, you've got to pull out all the stops," says Ah-Chung. That's the essence of jiu-jia culture. If there's nothing special about the food, you won't have any customers. Jiu-jia restaurants put a higher premium on innovation than regular restaurants. They demonstrate remarkable variety.
The use of unusual ingredients is one way for their food to stand out. Chicken kidneys, coxcombs, duck tongues, duck feet, chicken feet, pig eyeballs, pig gums, pork tripe and so forth all must be exhaustively collected. "When you've got to assemble the tongues of 20 or 30 ducks for one plate of food, how can the dish fail to be precious?" asks Ah-Chung.
Apart from the rarity of the ingredients, jiu-jia cuisine, which is complicated and delicate, also puts an emphasis on technique. "A lot of thought is given to the color, fragrance, aroma, appearance and even utensils," says Ah-Chung. Just as proper Buddhist statues demand gold plating, he explains, culinary dishes likewise want to be dressed up. Take "peacock spreads its tail" or "centipede rainbow crab." Such banquet dishes are a test of a chef's craftsmanship and patience.
"Peacock spreads its tail" is made with shrimp marinated in alcohol, roasted duck, squid, liver, ham, asparagus shoots and other ingredients, which are decoratively sliced, carved and assembled into the beautiful image of a peacock spreading its tail. "Centipede rainbow crab," on the other hand, requires one first to toil at removing the meat of a crab before working with a variety of red, green, black and yellow ingredients, including ham, mustard greens, hair moss and shredded fried egg. Finally, you add the crab meat and crab legs to create a colorful centipede. It looks impressive and is easy for guests to eat.
"Deep-fried ice cube" is a dish that a customer nagged him into making. The showy dish involves taking ice shavings and pressing them into a ball that is stuffed into a mochi (Japanese glutinous rice ball). You then wrap this in a thin, web-like layer of pork organ fat and put three layers of "clothing" on the outside: flour, egg, and bread crumbs. Finally you deep-fry it for two minutes in oil heated to 130?C. When brought to the table, the outside is crispy, the middle portion warm, and the ice in the middle unmelted.
Ah-Chung notes that jiujia customers are affluent and willing to spend money so long as they are shown a good time. The material costs for a deep-fried ice cube probably only run to NT$80-90, but the guests often leave tips amounting to NT$10-20,000.
To make deep-fried ice cubes, first put a clump of ice shavings into a mochi (a Japanese-style sweet glutinous rice ball), wrap it in a webbing of pork organ fat, dip it in flour and beaten egg, and finally deep-fry it.