Conference turris::cooks

    
    This is a northern Chinese specialty from Ken_Hom's_Chinese_Cookery,
    a new book by the well-known California teacher.  Hom's method uses
    fresh orange rind, instead of the classic dried peel usually used
    by Chinese cooks, and the sauce has just a little heat from dried
    red chilies and Szechwan peppercorns.  Use top round steak or sirloin.
    
    MARINADE
    
    3/4 pound boneless top round or sirloin steak
    2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
    2 teaspoons rice wine or dry sherry
    1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger root
    1 teaspoon cornstarch
    1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
    
    Trim any fat from the beef and cut it against the grain into very
    thin 2-inch-long slices.  In a bowl toss the beef with the soy sauce,
    rice wine or sherry, ginger, cornstarch, and sesame oil.  Stir this
    well and set it aside for 20 minutes.
    
    SAUCE
    
    1/2 cup peanut oil
    2 dried red chili peppers, cut in half
       lengthwise with seeds tapped out 
    1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh orange rind
    2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon sugar
    1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
    
    Set a strainer over a bowl to drain the meat when it is cooked.
    
    Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet.  When it is very hot, add
    the beef and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until it is brown.  Remove
    the meat from the oil and transfer it to the strainer.
    
    Remove all but 1 teaspoon of oil from the wok and reheat the pan.
    Add the chilies and cook them, stirring for 10 seconds.
    
    Add the beef and the orange rind, soy sauce, salt, sugar, and sesame
    oil and stir-fry this mixture for 4 minutes.
    
    Serve at once with rice.
    
                                                                    
    Wendy

I have been making a version of orange flavored beef for some time now.
I will have to get the recipe from home and type it in.

Orange peel alone wont cut it.
The taste (at least in the recipe I use) is derived from the sauce which
consists of:  orange juice concentrate,  soy sauce and (dont gag... it works)
ketchup.   The hardest part is getting the meet crispy.  Even still it is
excellent and always gets raves from my dinner victims.

By the way Yens Wok in Hudson NH makes an excellent orange flavored beef.

Stay tuned,
-Larry Cohen

Out of "More Long-Life Chinese Cooking" by S.T. Ting Wong and Sylvia Shulman.

I highly recommend this book for its easy to follow recipes and use of 
ingredients that are easy to find and do not sacrifice the authentic 
taste of the dishes (at least compared to what you can get at good
chinese restaurants around this area). 

Orange or Tangerine Peel Beef   (a Szechwan dish)

"This version was created by the chef at the Shanghai Winter Garden
Restaurant in Los Angeles."

ingredients:

1 lb  flank steak (I have use other cuts successfully e.g. blade)
1 tbl. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 egg
6 tbl. flour
2-4 cups oil for deep frying
10 dried red chili peppers
.25 cup dried orange or tangerine peel (can be purchase or made at home
		see below for procedure)
1 tbl. cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbl. water


Sauce:

2 tbl. frozen orange juice concentrate.
2 tbl. dark soy sauce
4 tbl. sugar
1 tbl. catsup (you can only buy ketchup these days ;-)  )
4 tbl. water
.25 teaspoon orange extract (optional... I never added this)


1.  Combine sauce ingredients
2.  Cut beef into thick slices and pound until 3/8  inch thick.
    Marinate in soy sauce and sugar 10 minutes.  
    Add egg and flour.
    Mix with hand.
3.  Heat oil for deep-frying.  Slide beef into oil piece by piece to
    prevent sticking together.  Fry until crispy.  Remove.  Fry again.
    Drain.  Remove

	I have had trouble getting the beef as crispy as I would like.
	As suggested in another note, the key may be to keep the oil 
	very hot and only cooking a few pieces at a time to maintain
	the heat level.

4. reheat 2 tbls. oil in wok.  Stir-fry chili peppers and orange peel 
   black.  (I usually remove them now although the recipe does not 
   require you to).  Add sauce.  Bring to boil.  Thicken with dissolved
   cornstarch.   Add beef.  Stir-fry 1 minute more.  Remove chili peppers
   before serving.

	I think the secret to the success of any of these dishes that use
	a sweet sauce that is stir fryed with a meat  (General Tso's chicken
	is another example) is to make sure the sauce has caramelized when
	cooking with the meet.  I will usually stir-fry for more than
	a minute to make sure the sauce has gotten very thick.  


Procedure for orange or tangerine peel:

	Cut orange or tangerine rind in small pieces.  Put in pan in
oven at 250 degrees 1 hour or more.  May be stored in covered jar
indefinitely.

Variations:

	I have used the sauce on a duck dish once and it was great!
Just cook the duck in the oven until done.  Debone as best you can
and cut into small pieces.  Stir-fry with sauce as above.


I'm starting to shake just writing this stuff in.  I had better get
my orange flavored whatever fix very soon.

-Larry

I think you can get the dried hot peppers at most supermarkets 
these days.  There is usually a section that has an assortment of 
Chinese cooking ingredients.   If not there may be an oriental market
near you (Joyce Chen?).   If you can not find any then you could probably
make due with hot pepper flakes or maybe even cayenne powder.
The hot peppers are not for flavor so you could even do without them if
you dont want the dish spicy hot.

Good Luck,
Larry

    RE .3 -- I'd like to see your recipe.  I tried the one in an earlier
    note (.2, I think) and found that the meat was not dark, crispy and
    real orange-y tasting.  It was good, but not what I was looking for.
    I used tangerine peel, but otherwise used the recipe as it reads.  I
    also squirted in some tangerine juice over the beef at the end.
    
    When I get this stuff from Ming Gardens here in Nashua the meat is
    WONDERFUL!  The meat is dark, crispy yet flavorful.  I want to
    replicate that at home, if possible!
    
    Thanks for any help you can offer.....
    
    -sandy