Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 8 Icy treat)

米苔目 (mi-tai-mu) is a short fat rice noodle usually served in brown-sugar water topped with shaved ice, with or without other ingredients added, such as boiled peanuts, love-jade (see a previous post, here), or grass jelly (see above and below, the black chunks). Supposedly, it can also be prepared as a hot soup dish, or even as fried noodles; perhaps it was a regional thing, or only in the country-side during rice harvests, rarely seen in Tamsui proper where it was always a summertime refreshment.

仙草, Grass jelly extracted from mesona plants

米苔目-making, other than native Taiwanese 在來 rice is used, is identical to that of New Year's Cake, up until the rice-dough part. Then the latter is mixed with sweet-potato starch, placed into a bucket with sieves at the bottom, press on the dough, and the extruded noodles fall into boiling water, wait until they float to the top, fish them out and dunk immediately into ice water to compete the process.

There are some legends associated with 米苔目-eating, for example, partaking it on the 6th day of the 6th month on the lunar calendar* guarantees a forthcoming fortune with so much money made that it would come up to your ankles "六月六呷，賺錢賺到淹腳目". This might have been an old-time ad created by some clever vendors; on the other hand, this is also the day when the Gate of Heaven opens. On this auspicious day, one is supposed to repent for their sins and pray for more good luck at the same time. Indeed, all Taoist temples are crowded with such believers, in the searing summer heat, too. It does then make sense to go down to the local eateries after the prayer session and get some icy-cold 米苔目 for a satisfying follow-through.

In addition to Tamsui Old Street, across Tamsui River in Bali, a place to go to for truly outstanding 米苔目 is in the 下庄市場ShiaZhuan Market on 舊城路JiuChen Road where you can also try their famed chicken smoked with sugarcane.
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*According to 漳州ChanChou tradition, the day of the Gate opening is the first day of the 6th month when bowls of sweetened sticky rice each with a dried 龍眼 longan nut on top are served. Most Tamsui-lang were originally from 泉州ChuanChou, however, hence the differences.

Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 7 Oily noodles)

This is 切仔麵, noodle soup prepared with 油麵oily noodles:

"Oily" noodles are in fact neither oily nor greasy, not at all, so called because canola oil is used during noodle-making. Salt is the other main ingredient. As a result of the salt addition, the noodles can be kept for a long time without the need for refrigeration.

The best way of serving oily noodle soup is (1) put a handful of noodles in a oblong basket (weaved with bamboo strips, left) with a long handle, dip the whole thing in boiling water, and move the basket up and down a few times to ensure even cooking of the noodles, (2) at the same time, melt some lard in a wok, place a teaspoonful of the liquefied lard in a soup bowl, (3) drain cooked noodles and decant into the bowl without disturbing the form, (4) add soup, some bean sprouts, chopped green scallions, slices of lean pork, and (5) dig in.

This noodle soup was typically served on pushcarts, sometimes in a shop. There was one such shop diagonally across the street from 媽祖宮MaZu Temple on the storefront side of the old Fish Market. The Market is now demolished to make way for a public square that allows 媽祖 a direct view of Guan-yin Mountain. Local lore has always tied this divine visual access with the prosperity of Tamsui. Now it is a reality.

This legend was probably started during the Japanese colonial era when the Fish Market was built to revive the sagging town economy. It was an attempt to resuscitate Port Tamsui. Unfortunately, by the 1920s, Tamsui River was choked by the accumulating silts, large steam-engine ships could no longer enter the Port and went to dock in Keelung Harbor instead. Tamsui locals had a different priority, spiritually speaking, hence the legend.

During the Japanese rule, there was also a noodle shop serving udon/soba in Tamsui, operated by a Japanese immigrant. Much like other Taiwanese traditions that had remained intact, these Japanese noodles also had failed to overtake the local favorite, 切仔麵.

As a midnight snack, nothing beats the 油麵 soup, topped with small pieces of salty lean pork. In the winter cold, this is also the snack-meal to go for.

Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 6 New Year's cake)

Fried sweet New Year's cake 甜稞

年糕, or New Year's Rice Cake, was traditionally home-made, Tamsui was no exception. It was a big deal that often required the efforts of women folks of the whole household. The final products came in two flavors, salty and sweet. Each slab measured 3x3 feet and 4 fingers thick. In the winter cold, they last a long long time. You could cut off a little slice and roast it over a hibachi. Ideal snack in the winter time.

To make the cakes, first, sweet/sticky rice was soaked in water overnight. Then came the most labor-intensive part, the grinding, using a 磨 or a two-piece round stone mill with one on top of the other. The larger one at the bottom had an open circular groove carved out with the inner diameter matching the diameter of the top one. For efficiency, usually a woman did the circular pushing and a girl ladled rice-water mixture into a hole at the top portion of the millstone, rice was then crushed between the two stones.

Photo by 礼荷莲 （Lilias Graham） taken in 1893 in 鼓浪屿, Amoy.

The rice slurry was collected through the circular groove and spouted into a flour sac (for its fine meshes), and the opening of the sac tied. It was then laid onto a long wooden bench and a long bamboo pole put on top with both ends tied down to squeeze out the water. The resulting rice-dough was further flavored with sugar or salt (plus other ingredients if desired). The mix was then loaded into a square mold and steamed in a huge wooden/bamboo steamer until done.

During Lunar New Year, not only rice cakes were made, a whole lot of dishes, of chicken, duck, fish, and pork, were also prepared for a New Year's Eve feast. And New Year's Day was, still is, when kids go around collecting red envelops (紅包, with real money inside!) from all family members.

Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 5 Street vendors)

A variety of snack food was available only from traveling street vendors. The b&w photos shown below were taken in the early 1960s or in fact even earlier [photographer(s) unknown]:

(1) Candy plums: These bright red candy plums were made with crunchy 桃接李 (produced from plum twigs grafted onto peach trees), i.e., plums strung on a bamboo stick dipped in melted cane sugar with red dye No 2 added, and let cool to form a hard shell. These plums with orange-colored flesh were a bit on the sour side, usually eaten with grain sugar or after marination in 甘草licorice root flavored juice. Sugar coating similar to that of candy apples in the US was a wonderful idea (tooth decays aside) and certainly a huge hit among the children. Still available in Tamsui now except they are made with cherry tomatoes.

(2) Rice puffs: 爆米香 - This is a two-step process. First the rice-popping part (operated by man with a hat in photo below) and then the cake-making part (man in white at the rear of the cart). You were supposed to bring your own rice. Children with their own rice in a pot queued up to wait for their turns:

Rice-popping was done by using a iron sphere/cylinder with a one-way air-outlet valve. With the rice inside, the sphere was rotated slowly over charcoal fire to create a vacuum inside for the rice grains to pop. A remarkably loud boom was heard from opening the decompressed roaster when it is done. The popped rice would explode into a collecting net. It was then mixed with caramelized sugarcane sugar and molded into a slab. Little rectangles were then cut to make mouth-watering 米香 (pronounced Bi-Pang).

味香 in the making

(3) Little dough figurines:  Strictly speaking, this is more a street art than a snack food. Delicately crafted colorful 小麵人representing famous characters from folklore. The artist-vendors were usually equipped with a mixture of wheat flour and sweet rice, 9 or more different dyes, some bee's wax, and little tools to create life-like figurines. Even though edible, not many kids ate them at all.

A vendor usually peddled his masterpieces at the small Triangular Park in Tamsui

This folk art is still hanging around, not for too long, though (above).

Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 4 Winter melon meat pie)

This delicious winter melon meat pie by 三協成餅舖 SanXieChen Bakeries has retain its popularity for over 70 years:

No 81 Chung Cheng Road

It is actually a wedding cake, Taiwanese style, customarily distributed in batches to friends and families of the bride and groom. Interestingly, it has a British origin. From a great post on the 三協成餅舖 website:

"古早淡水人有一句名諺「娶某不娶八里坌」，這句話提醒年輕人，八里人嫁女兒的風俗是要送喜餅給全村村民的，所以娶他們的女兒要自量其力；而李水清先生就從這句諺語中看到廣大的喜餅市場。為了攻佔喜餅市場，李水清先生首先透過前台大婦產科主任－歐陽培銓先生，認識了英國領事館的主廚－涂彩和先生，然後向他學做英國水果派（派皮較鬆脆）以為改進傳統水晶餅外皮軟趴趴的缺點。而其女婿－林銅洲先生也因為在英國領事館任職商務秘書，從而進口英國老牌子Bush Boake Allen香料，以為改進水晶餅內餡的香味（當時台灣還沒有奶粉、奶精等原料）自此中西合併，改良後的冬瓜肉餅一炮而紅，成為「三協成」維持七十年不墜的招牌餅。"

Translation: "There was a proverb in old Tamsui that went "Never marry a girl from Bali", a warning to the prospective groom on the heavy financial burden since expensive wedding cakes would be required to distribute to ALL the bride's fellow villagers (i.e., easily the whole Bali). The founder of SanXieChen Mr Li Shui-ching, realizing a vast potential market, had, through the introduction of NTU Ob-Gyn chairman Dr AuYang Pei-chuan, got to know and learn from the chief chef of the British Consulate Mr Tu Chai-he on how to make a better pie crust than the old soggy ones. And through his son-in-law, Mr Lin Tung-chou who was Commerce Secretary at the Consulate, Mr Li had imported the famed English Bush Boake Allen spices to improve the flavor of the fillings. Combining East and West, the winter melon meat pie became an instant hit which made SanXieChen Bakeries a well-known brand name since that had lasted for the past 70 years."

At some point in the 50s, winter melon in the cake was replaced with chocolate. For those who disliked the overly sweet, sugar-cured winter melon bits (left, bite-size chunks), Hallelujah! Too bad it was discontinued after a short while. Current owner Mr 李志仁 is too young to remember chocolate meat pie. We'll try to convince him for a revival. Incidentally, Mr Li's aunt was one of the Japanese immigrants who stayed behind in 1946 when everyone else was sent back to Japan. As kids, we were often puzzled by her heavily accented Taiwanese.

Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 3 Fish crisps)

Teng-feng Fish Crisps

淡水魚酥 [Tamsui fish crisps] was invented in Tamsui by Mr 林水木 Lin Shui-Mu & Co of the fishball fame. They are made from fish harvested from Taiwan Strait, such as lizardfish, hairtail, and croaker. It is little known, however, that the choice of the ingredient fish in fact depends on catch of the season and the texture and flavor of the crisps therefore vary with each season.

Also, freshly ground whole fishes (with the heads and guts removed) are used in the manufacturing process. The paste is then mixed thoroughly with potato starch. Unlike cake-making, no baking soda or the like is added, since the fish flesh itself is a natural leavening agent. The fish pastes are mechanically extruded through a sieve to make short sticks which are then fried in palm oil and drained.

For decades, fish crisps have remained popular that have indeed withstood the test of times. Indeed, economically speaking, it was not always smooth sailing in Tamsui, and yet fish crisps have been on the market for nearly 50 years, Modernized by automated production, they are now even more widely available. For example, in addition to local sales and distribution in Taiwan, Mr Lin Shui-Mu's own Teng-feng Tamsui Fish Crisps are also available in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and the US.

The locals usually enjoy them over tea, with Taiwan Beer, or even at breakfast. Of course, one can simply munch on them out of a bag:

Teng-feng Tamsui Fish Crisps

Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 2 Fishball)

魚丸Fishball is made from fish pastes. In the old days, the little white solid spheres were produced, one at a time, by squeezing a handful of fish pastes through the opening between the thumb and the fingers, then scooped off with a spoon and quickly dropped into boiling water. Usually a bucketful was made. Starting in Tamsui in about 60 years ago, fishball became machine-manufactured (see below), hence the ellipsoid shape complete with pork-fillings rarely seen before. [Incidentally, for the misguided few, it has always been 魚丸, not 魚圓, since the beginning of time.]

When the time comes, piping hot clear broth is added to a set of 4 in a shallow porcelain bowl, then sprinkled with chopped celery. In an instant, a satisfying bowl of fishball soup is created. 

Fishball is available throughout Taiwan. It is the ingredient-fish that gives rise to the distinct flavor of each locale.

Four different types of fishball in Taiwan (source: 東森新聞)

In fact, there are 4 major types of fishball in Taiwan, marlin fishball available in Kaohsiung高雄旗魚丸, milkfish in Tainan台南虱目魚丸, mahi mahi in Yi-lan南方澳鬼頭刀魚丸, and shark in Tamsui淡水鯊魚魚丸.

There is an old saying in Tamsui, "六月鯊，狗不拖 [rotten] sharks in June, even dogs spurn". This is a description of the once abundant shark harvests hauled back to port, ship after ship, ca 5-6 decades ago. Refrigeration at that time was reserved for high-value fishes only, not the lowly sharks. By the 6th month on the lunar calendar ("June"), in the summer heat, the surplus sharks began to smell, even hungry stray dogs found them unappetizing indeed.

A Tamsui native, 林水木先生Mr Lin Shui-Mu noticing the wasteful loss, came up with the idea of machine-producing fishball. It was at a time when hand-made fishball was still quite pricey. The machine was a Japanese contraption, originally designed for making 蒟蒻konjak jelly. Mr Lin converted the power supply from electricity to the much less expensive diesel, and a new fishball industry was born. In 1950, together with his business partner 許炳松 (aka 許義)先生Mr Shu Yi, they rented a storefront owned by MaZu Temple, christened it 味香魚丸店 Wei-shiang Fishball Shop and begin selling bagfuls of mass-produced Tamsui Shark Fishball.

Tamsui is no longer a major seaport and its fishing industry has long declined. Even fresh fish must now be imported from Tainan or Yi-lan. So, next time when you visit Tamsui, do enjoy fishball soup knowing that it is actually a symbol of Tamsui's rise and fall of its fishing industry past. Then, go visit Teng-feng Fishball Museum, across the street from MaZu Temple, that came on the scene in 2004. This is the first and only of its kind in Taiwan with central theme on the manufacturing evolution of fishball. The museum, open to the public free of charge, is also where visitors can participate in the do-it-yourself fishball making:

Exhibits at Teng-feng Fishball Museum