Red Cooked Beef With Mandarin Peel 紅燒陳皮牛肉

Red braised (紅燒) is an ancient Chinese cooking technique where meat is braised with soy and aromatics until meltingly tender. Both the technique and ingredients used can't be more simple but the end result is nothing more than spectacular.

A little dried mandarin peel adds an extra dimension to an otherwise faultless dish, simply omit that all together. For non beef eater, pork shoulder can be used with equally stunning result.

P.S 3 hungry tummies turned 2 on the 3rd of October without me knowing..... I would like to thank everyone of you for your support for the last 2 fabulous years!

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 8 people as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
2 kg of gravy/braising beef, cut into 4 cm cubes
oil for cooking
150 g of rock sugar, pounded
5 cm knob of ginger, sliced
1 dried mandarin peel* (陳皮), soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and drained
2 star anise
1 cassia bark
1 tsp of Sichuan peppercorn
1.5 l of stock
3 tbs of dark soy
a slush of Chinese cooking wine
corn flour solution for thickening the sauce
blanched broccoli to serve
*dried mandarin peel can be found at all good Asian grocers.

Cut beef into 4 cm cubes, removing excess fat and sinew. Soak mandarin peel with some boiling water for 10 minutes to remove any bitter taste.

Pound rock sugar into fine powder and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook beef for 10 minutes. Drain and wash under a running tap to remove any impurities.

Heat up some cooking oil in a large pot and add in the pounded rock sugar, stirring constantly until you get a honey like substance. Add in the beef and stir well, cook beef for a minute or 2 or until a light golden.

Add stock, seasonings, spices and aromatic and bring it to a boil. Remove any scum that might surface at this stage to ensure a clean tasting sauce. Lower the heat to a mere simmer, cover and cook until beef is tender (1.5 to 2 hours). 

Check for seasonings before thickening the sauce with some corn flour solution.

I prefer to serve the dish with some lightly blanched broccoli to cut down the richness of the beef.