Greetings from Taiwan

Hipanda

Greetings to all the members of the BGE family. I have been a member since last November. Frequent trips to this forum convinced me that with so many happy, enthusiastic egg users, the BGE must be a unit worth having. My egg is serving me well. I am using it to prepare BBQ for a small restaurant that I have started up in southern Taiwan, ROC., called Kona’s. We are small, but our menu is fairly large. In addition to great BBQ, we offer Mexican food and Pizza. I cook turkey, chicken, pork, ribs and burgers, all ahead of time, and serve them to very satisfied customers. Most of my customers are westerners (Canadians and Americans) who are teaching English as a second language. We offer food that is hard to find in this part of the world, and our business is really taking off. This is our sixth week. [p]I have my egg situated on a small porch, adjacent to my kitchen, on the second floor of my building. My gas Baker’s Pride pizza oven is also located here. The plan is to not bake pizza while egging, but as with all good plans, exceptions do occur. It can really be exciting to have ribs smoking away, while pizzas are flying in and out of the oven. The trick is to keep the porch door closed as much as possible, or the kitchen fills with smoke. Fortunately this does not occur very often, and the smoke alarm is not very sensitive.[p]Having lived in Hawaii for several years, I am familiar with Imu style BBQ, but the real knowledge, that I put to use now, I credit to all of you. Thank you for sharing your ideas and helping to make the learning curve a little less steep. Also thanks to Ed Fisher for helping me to get my egg to Taiwan. Let’s don’t mention the cost for air-shipping. I consider it a bargain, as I can feel pride with the quality of food that I serve.[p]Let’s Keep Cooking,
Hipanda (Hawaiian Panda)[p]

Nature Boy

Hipanda,
Greetings back to ya. This certainly is as good as a forum can get. Your adventures sound interesting. I am sure your restaurant has lots of repeat customers! [p]Thanks for updating us on your experiences. Stop back often.[p]Nature Boy

Char-Woody

Hipanda, Very nice of you to share your experience. Now you have the best of both worlds..NatureBoy's Bulgoki rib's should be a real hit there as well. He is quite the expert in the Oriental styles..We are still teaching him real BBQ though!! (Kidding) Keep us posted on your success and perhaps you will be adding more ceramics to your inventory of cookers soon. The small and medium BGE's are nice to help to round out the meals...Cheers..C~W[p]

BluesnBBQ

I think Hipanda wins our forum's distance award! Good to have you aboard! If I ever fo to Taiwan I'll know where to get ribs.[p]-Steve

Bryan

Hipanda,[p]Thank you for sharing your experiences. Your participation in this forum and the sharing of ideas and techniques drives home the fact that this is truly a universal project from which we all can learn. Post back soon with some recipes and techniques of your own for us to enjoy. Good luck in your business and life.[p]Bryan

Unknown

Hipanda,[p]Thanks for sharing your experiences. It sounds like the Egg shines even under the stress of a commercial cooking environment. Hope to hear more from you.[p]Regards,
Jobu[p]

JJ

Hipanda,
Great to have you aboard. If we can help just let us know. This world just keeps getting smaller.

King-O-Coals

Hipanda,
Welcome. My buddy and I have been toying with the idea of opening a restaurant using the egg for most of the cooking. In fact, we are thinking about installing 6 or 8 eggs under a large hood system to remove the smoke. It's hard to get by the health departments over here when cooking outdoors for resale to customers. In fact, I don't think it's allowed anywhere in the states legally. The food is so good, as it appears in your message, the customers will come and business will grow. I live on Dauphin Island just off the south tip of the state of Alabama. If you can get a detailed map of the southeast US, you can find us Summer turnes our little island into a small laid-back beach resort. In the winter, people we refer to as "snow-birds" leave their homes in the northern states and come south for the warm climate. So business should be good year round. Good luck with your restaurant, and thanks to the people on your side of the world for inventing the whole egg idea.

Char-Woody

King-O-Coals, When you get all 6 of em perking I wanna come and smell the aroooooma's. Great idea![p]C~W

Hipanda

King-O-Coals,[p]Dauphin Island sounds like a great place to live. I have always been drawn to areas that are scenic and have a festive atmosphere. I agree with your statement that the health departments are restrictive and that you may find it difficult to satisfy their concerns. Taiwan poses few regulations, which makes it more possible for a person to use common sense and be more creative in their restaurant layout and equipment usage.[p]I have no problem with the one egg for the amount of BBQ that I am now cooking. I do about 20 chickens, 2 turkeys, 4 slabs of ribs, a large pork butt and 40 hamburgers a week (half-pounders). I anticipate that this will escalate in the very near future, and I should be able to handle twice this amount on the one egg with no problem. Six eggs would allow you to cook an enormous amount of grub. I hope that you can pull it together. There will be alot of happy people in Alabama.[p]Keep cookin,
Hipanda

Elder Ward

Hipanda,[p]Glad you joined us and it sounds like a great place to eat.[p]Elder Ward

Hipanda

Elder Ward,[p]Thanks for the welcome. I have a big piece of pork in the egg right now, with your rub all over it. I will pull half of it at about 165 degrees for slicing and let the rest go to about 200 degrees. Great stuff.[p]Thanks again,
Hipanda