There's a local chinese restaurant here with this amazing beef, and I'm trying to figure out the recipe. I've been searching the net for similar recipes, but could only find black bean sauce recipes. I'm pretty sure this isn't it, as the black bean beef is a dish on its own. It's served on a hot pan, with lots of onions or shallots, leeks and bell peppers. Oh, and it's not pepper sauce either. The sauce is dark in colour. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Looks like the pic btw
corn starch, msg and ethical irresponsibility
Yeah, I figured out that. But what the hell do they put in the sauce?
>>7563882
If it's a crappy place, MSG.
If it's not so crappy, oyster sauce.
If it's good, probably a little douchi + tienmenjian.
It's a good place. So basically black beans + sweet beans?
>>7563895
Kinda. Tienmenjjian contains sweet beans but don't confuse it with straight-up sweet beans or sweet bean paste. It's a base used in a lot of Chinese stir-fries.
Is the dish spicy at the place you get it? Might have tobanjian in there too. That's another super common base for stir-fries.
You can choose between two options. Spicy and non spicy.
And there's shitloads of garlic in there too.
Anyway, how would you proceed? Marinate beef? If so, in what? And how to do the base/sauce?
>>7563872
I work in a chinese restaurant. i assume everybodys got their own recipes for different places.
I dont know the exact recipes, but take an interest in watching the chefs. Youd be surprised how much of this shit we go through.
>>7563935
>>marinade the beef
yes. The processed used by chinese restaurants is called "Velveting". google it.
>>base/sauce
Oil in wok/pan. Cook the garlic, tienmenjan and tobanjan first. Once it's good and aromatic then add the beef and the veggies and stir-fry. When they are nearly cooked thicken the sauce with a mixture of cornstarch and water.
There may well be other ingredients in there too; it's kinda hard for me to give you an exact recipe without being able to taste what you are trying to recreate. But the basic process is the same: start by cooking your aromatic base, then add the meats and veg. finish the sauce with the starch right at the end.
Yeah, I know. Kinda hard to describe, never tasted something like this before. I tried recreating it with soy sauce, oyster sauce, shao xing wine and black winegar, but it was nowhere close.
Could, you know, just go ask the restaurant? Ive never had problems with cooks not wanting to give away their recipes. Especially Asian cooks.
Heh, if they could speak anything else than chinese I would.
>>7563970
I hate that you don't link to who you're replying to, what the fuck
>>7563999
Hard to keep up?
>>7563942
Anyway, got what I needed. Thx for the help.
>>7563970
Heck, ask a waitress or the manager or someone to help you then. There must be someone there who can speak the language of the cooks as well as English. They can ask the cooks for you.
>>7564013
Nah mate, you don't get it. It's a family business. The men cook and the women wait. Any language they speak besides chinese is really really poor.
>>7564059
Someone has to speak English at least sorta-well, otherwise they couldn't take your order. So ask that person what's in the food, and they will ask the cooks.
Or, if you feel like spending a little effort on it, whip out your smartphone and use google translate to facilitate communication.
