IMBB 17: TasteTea Roundup Part I

It was a tea party to remember.  Ninety wonderful participants and over a hundred tasteTea dishes!  As the entries poured in, my eyes were opened to a world I’d never known – cooking with tea?  I barely even knew it existed until this year.  But now there are dozens of tea-based dishes that I can’t wait to try.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s Is My Blog Burning? event.  I was truly amazed by so many of the dishes, and I now wish that I’d asked everyone to send me a sample so I could taste each one.  As I previously mentioned, I’ll be doing the round-up in small segments, and I’ll try to post a new round-up each day until we’ve looked at every entry.

So now without further ado, our first entry comes from Faith from Pasadena, California who just started her food blog, WOG: Without Garnish last week.  She brings to the table a most elegant and delicious Tea and Rose Water Brined Duck Breast with Plum Vanilla-Bean Vinaigrette.  Semi-cured in a Lipton tea-rose water brine for two days before being rendered and roasted, the duck has an almost smoky flavour that’s softened with the subtlety of rose water.  She sauces her succulent duck with a freshly made Plum Vanilla-Bean Vinaigrette.

Across the Pacific and downunder we travel to Sydney, Australia to find Clare of Eat Stuff with her gorgeous Matcha Truffles.  They’re based on a truffle recipe by the legendary Robert Linxes of La Maison du Chocolat, and Clare has added her own touch by incorporating Matcha into the ganache and dusting them with Sencha.  The truffles are luscious and meltingly creamy, and show off tea at its very best.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Babe_KL of Babe in the City presents us with Simmered Chicken in Black Tea.  Despite the name, she actually used a red Puer tea which gave it a different taste, but very nice nonetheless.  She pairs it with a soy sauce gravy to balance the tea’s bitterness.

Travelling west to Birmingham UK, we visit Mel of Hecticium who serves us a sparking Raspberry and Rose Jelly.  Her infusion of Twinings’ Wild Raspberry and Rose tea in apple juice makes for a very refreshing and elegant dish.  Mel also heartily recommends Sara Perry’s The Book of Herbal Teas to anyone who’s interested in making their own herbal teas blends.

Across the channel and down south to Magagnosc in beautiful Cote d'Azur, Fanny of FoodBeam has made a lovely Green and Black Tiramisu made using Matcha from the world renowned Mariage Frères tea salon.  It’d probably be best if I just let Fanny describe how good this was: “at the first bite you feel the mascarpone cream melting in your mouth, a mellow tenderness of the mascarpone and a slight but not over-powering taste of tea, then comes the depth of the chocolate (cake and sauce), which makes a perfect balanced pudding, and finally you re-get the taste of tea that tickles your tongue.”

Now it’s back east to Singapore where J. of Kuidaore has prepared for us a spectacular feast of tea dishes.  I was in complete awe when I first saw her post on Friday, and I’m still in awe looking at it right now.  Our meal starts with marble-like Oolong Tea Eggs that have been sitting in an aromatic Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess oolong) mixture for 12 hours.  We’re then served Roast Tiger Prawns with White Tea Oil & Spiced Tea Salt where J. has used Pai Mu Dan (White Peony) in both the seasoning and salt.  Next it’s a gorgeous Jasmine Tea Smoked Poussin that’s been massaged and marinated with roasted Sichuan pepper-salt and tangerine peel, and stuffed with crushed scallions and ginger.  “Ethereal,” says J. “is the only word to describe the experience of sensuously perfumed skin and melt-in-the-mouth fat melding into silken tender flesh with each bite.”  Succulence is followed by comfort food in the form of Chazuke Tea Rice, where nutty genmai-cha is poured over a mixture of hot japonica rice and preserved fish.  At this point we’re getting pretty full, but there’s always room for dessert – especially when it’s a most elegant and creative Matcha Panna Cotta with Langue du Chat that fuses Western preparations with Japanese ingredients.  Five dishes and five teas, each used in a different way.  Simply amazing.

We journey back to North America and touchdown in Knoxville, Tennessee where Kevin of Seriously Good gives us a taste of true southern cooking.  In his first attempt at tea smoking, he uses oolong tea to make Tea-smoked Salmon, marinated with a pineapple, olive oil and rum mixture.  The result is a gorgeous salmon filet which he’s topped with a colourful pineapple salsa. 

Next it’s down south to sunny Florida to visit Amy of Beauty Joy Food.  Before we eat, she tells us about her switch from coffee to green tea and how she sneaks green tea into her kids’ food for its health benefits. Today she’s prepared for us a plump and juicy Green Tea and Orange-Marinated Chicken that has a fragrant herbal and citrus flavour.  No doubt, this would be delicious!

Across the Atlantic in Switzerland, Dilek of the food blog Dilek’ce has been busy baking a duo of delicious Green Tea with Vanilla Aroma, and Hibiscus Tea Sables inspired by a local tea shop.  Next we’re served colourful Aprico-Green Tea cakes, which are baked in the microwave!  I guess I’m in shock, because I’ve never baked a cake in the microwave before, but Dilek’s cake looks very nice, so I’d love to give it a try.

We end today’s travels with a quick trip to Indonesia where June has made us Tea Pudding.  Since she doesn’t have a blog, I’ve included her recipe here. Looking at the ingredients, it certainly sounds delicious!

Join me tomorrow, when we’ll to feast on:

Earl Grey Mixed Berries Cake
Brussels Sprout Salad with Tea Oil and Walnuts
Prawns in Green Tea with Green Tea Soba Noodles
Peach Tea Granita
Earl Grey Truffles and Gelato
Tea-Brined Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Raspberry Sauce
Peach and Blackberry Pavlova with Tea Infused Cream
Iced Tea Gelatin
Tea-dusted Lamb Chops
Oolong Tea Steeped Quail Egg and Pork Belly
Sugar Cane and Tea-Smoked Pork Ribs, and
Tea-Infused Crème Brulée

All photos belong to their respective blogs.

Comments

[Elise]

Wow Clement, great job on the round-up! Can't wait to see the rest of the entries.

[boo_licious]

Thanks Clement for the round up, everything looks fantastic. Will keep tuning in daily for the rest of the entries.

[chika]

Hi Clement,

wow, 90+ tea dishes and desserts! so gorgeous. thanks for your great work on round-up, can't wait to come back and check more!

[clare eats]

What a great job Clement!

[J]

hi clement, thanks for hosting, your infinite patience, and the terrific round-up!cheers,j

[Amy]

Thanks a bunch for hosting and such an amazing roundup!

[ac]

Clement, you "tea"-se! =P

what a great job you've done so far on the round up! must place napkins near the monitor to wipe off the drools from looking at all the pictures ;) thanks again for hosting this round!

[lyn]

It really is commendable that you are dedicating so much time to detailing everyone's entry in such a thorough and personal way. Especially given the enormous amout of entries. Hats off to you! What a marvellous job!

[Reid]

Hi Clement,

With more than 90 entries, looks like we'll be able to view a few at a time during the week. Great idea!

Thanks again for hosting!

[fanny]

Great job clement.
I can't wait to go on everybody's blog to discover what tea can make...
xoxo
Fanny

[Henry]

My recipe of the perfect Verveine cup apparently didn't make it :(
Check it out at http://www.living-in.blogspot.com/

[soycap]

Hi Clement :)

I'm just here to say thanks like everyone else for the time and care you are taking in this month's IMBB. Awesome job!

[AugustusGloop]

Great round-up. Appreciate the phenomenal effort involved. Hosting these online events is becoming more and more like the Olympics! =)

[McAuliflower]

What a high class grouping of recipes!

Hmmmm... how about a cooking with tea cookbook of the entries...

you just know a publisher or two is looking this over and pitching the idea in-house!