Sliced Beef in Jiang Marinade [酱牛肉]
Pictured with spicy hand-pulled noodles.
Serves 1-2 | Prep time is 15 + 5 mins | Cook time is 6 hours
Ingredients
1lb of Beef Center Heel (For the beautiful tandon-marbled pattern you see in the picture. Its muscle patterns also allow it to be cut into neat slices without falling apart)
Jiang Marinade
Soy sauce, 5 tbsps.
Hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp.
Ginger, 5 slices
Scallion, 1 stalk
Cooking wine, 3 tbsps.
Star anise, 3 pieces
Bay Leaf, 2 pieces
Fennel seeds, 1/4 tsp.
Dried chili pepper, 2 peppers
Sichuan chili pepper oil, 1 tsp.
Steps:
1. Cut beef into half, place in a pot with cold water and bring to boil. This is to get out the “gunk” floating on the surface.
2. Prepare the stewing marinade in the meantime.
3. Take beef out of the water; Put stewing marinade and beef in a new/cleaned pot, and add 1-2 cups of water.
4. Put in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Or, simmer on low heat for 2 hours in a regular pot.
5. Let sit in the marinade for at least another 3 hours. This is to let the flavor sink in, or else the beef will still be quite bland.
7. Prepare an ice bath and place beef (in a ziploc bag) inside to cool. This is so the beef can be sliced without falling apart.
9. Slice into ¼ inch slices and serve (with rice, in a bun aka “sandwich”, or for noodle recipes below)
To make beef noodle soup:
10. Cook noodles & bok choy quarters (Bring water to boil, put in noodles as instructed on the packaging, put bok choy in for 8 minutes)
11. Pass the beef marinade through a sieve.
12. Per bowl, take 1 ladle of marinade and 2 ladles of water for the beef soup base.
12. Drain the noodles completely.
13. Place noodles and bok choy inside the beef soup base and serve.
To save the marinade for the next stew:
10. Bring it to boil to get rid of any bacteria, and freeze it.
11. Make the spicy hand-pulled noodles instead, and use the sliced beef as protein, which is what I have done.
