For some reason, Beef Broccoli seems to be the American's favorite stir fry when visiting a Chinese Restaurant, and if you're a Chinese Food afficionado, well, you've eaten your fair share of Beef Broccoli. But, Beef Broccoli is made by different ethnic groups, and they utilize different flavors. The Italian Beef Broccoli, has marinara and parmesean on it. Of course there's beef and broccoli, but I'm just trying to make a point. The point is this, I personally don't think that beef broccoli is a Chinese thing altogether.
Okay, let's take a standard Beef Broccoli recipe in a Cantonese Chinese dig.
10 oz. of thinly sliced flank steak, cut across the grain.
A handful of broccoli florettes.
maybe some sliced onions
Minced garlic and ginger
Oil for stir frying
And a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and in some cases fermented black beans that is incorporated with the liquids just mentioned, added to the stir fry, and thickend with a water and cornstarch mixture.
Some houses blanch the broccoli first before hitting the wok, and the flank steak slices are sometimes marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, and pounded with cornstarch so when the chef fries it, it developes a nice crust, you can tell because some Chinese digs don't do this move, while others... well... they pay attention to detail. You always, always should marinate your meats before stir frying it.
My old friend who died years ago, Lenny, he wasn't a chef, but when we ate out at Chinese places, he'd be the first to critique the chef. He'd say, "Sh..t, they didn't marinate the f... meat!" Or he'd say, "Yeah, they marinated the meat and coated it too." You see my friends, foodies do know their shit, I'm a foodie, you're a foodie, if we eat, we are foodies. A little kid will know if his pancakes suck or not. Your gramma will know if that steak is good or not, you can't fool a foodie I know for sure.
So as far as beef broccoli is concerned there's many types. I saw a guy make beef broccoli and this is how he did it, he roasted a tenderloin of beef, sliced it, sauteed some broccoli in garlic butter and sherry and tossed it on the slices of tenderloin.
I seen a Filipino chef put patis in his, a fish sauce, so that's his version of beef broccoli.
I seen an Indian chef make beef broccoli, well, without beef because beef was against his religion, he called it mock beef and broccoli, made with seasoned tofu slices. Go figure that one out.
So as far as beef broccoli is concerned, it's an international dish really, but made famous by Amercians eating in Americanized Chinese restaurants.
Photo from chopstickhouose.com
Beef Broccoli
Okay, let's take a standard Beef Broccoli recipe in a Cantonese Chinese dig.
10 oz. of thinly sliced flank steak, cut across the grain.
A handful of broccoli florettes.
maybe some sliced onions
Minced garlic and ginger
Oil for stir frying
And a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and in some cases fermented black beans that is incorporated with the liquids just mentioned, added to the stir fry, and thickend with a water and cornstarch mixture.
Some houses blanch the broccoli first before hitting the wok, and the flank steak slices are sometimes marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, and pounded with cornstarch so when the chef fries it, it developes a nice crust, you can tell because some Chinese digs don't do this move, while others... well... they pay attention to detail. You always, always should marinate your meats before stir frying it.
My old friend who died years ago, Lenny, he wasn't a chef, but when we ate out at Chinese places, he'd be the first to critique the chef. He'd say, "Sh..t, they didn't marinate the f... meat!" Or he'd say, "Yeah, they marinated the meat and coated it too." You see my friends, foodies do know their shit, I'm a foodie, you're a foodie, if we eat, we are foodies. A little kid will know if his pancakes suck or not. Your gramma will know if that steak is good or not, you can't fool a foodie I know for sure.
So as far as beef broccoli is concerned there's many types. I saw a guy make beef broccoli and this is how he did it, he roasted a tenderloin of beef, sliced it, sauteed some broccoli in garlic butter and sherry and tossed it on the slices of tenderloin.
I seen a Filipino chef put patis in his, a fish sauce, so that's his version of beef broccoli.
I seen an Indian chef make beef broccoli, well, without beef because beef was against his religion, he called it mock beef and broccoli, made with seasoned tofu slices. Go figure that one out.
So as far as beef broccoli is concerned, it's an international dish really, but made famous by Amercians eating in Americanized Chinese restaurants.
Photo from chopstickhouose.com
Beef Broccoli
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