Chinese Braised Beef - Cook's Illustrated

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
This was a winner!

They made theirs with beef short ribs, but said cross-cut beef shanks would be even better and long-cut beef shanks would be ideal. Since my Asian supermarket carries long-cut beef shanks, I figured I'd try it.

I only had 1 1/2 pounds of shank - next time, I will double it.

And next time I'll use my cast iron Dutch oven, since I think too much of the sauce evaporated from my Copper Chef pan , even though I used the heavy duty foil under the cover. Five hours at 300 degrees.

Served with my homemade fried rice and roasted bok choy.

Delicious!

Lee

Chinese Braised Beef – Cook’s Illustrated https://myyearwithchris.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/chinese-braised-beef/

2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons molasses
3 scallions, cut on bias, whites separated from greens
2″ piece ginger, peeled and smashed
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 teaspoons five-spice powder (I used half a teas.)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 pounds beef short ribs (I used 1 ½ pounds beef shank, long cut – cut into 1 inch sections)
1 teaspoon cornstarch


  1. Add 2-1/2 cups water to Dutch oven. Sprinkle gelatin over water and allow gelatin to soften for 5 minutes (omit this step if using long cut beef shank). Set a rack to the middle of your oven and pre-heat oven to 300-degrees. Prepare the scallions by separating the white and green parts. Slice the green parts thinly on a bias, and smash the white part. Peeled the ginger, cut in half lengthwise, and crushed. Peel the garlic and smash.
  2. Set Dutch oven over medium-high burner and heat for 2 to 3 minutes until the gelatin has melted. Add sherry, soy sauce, hoisin, molasses, scallion whites, ginger, garlic, five-spice powder, and pepper flakes. Then add beef, stir, and bring up to simmer.
  3. Remove Dutch oven from heat. Cover tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil, then top with the lid. Put in pre-heated oven and cook until beef becomes tender; between 2 and 5 hours (5 hours if using long-cut beef shank). Stir halfway through cooking time.
  4. Use a slotted spoon to remove beef to a cutting board. Strain sauce through fine-mesh strainer into a fat separator. Use paper towels to wipe out Dutch oven. Allow liquid to settle for 5 minutes, then return defatted juices to now-empty pot. Reduce liquid over medium-high burner, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 1 cup ; 20 to 25 minutes; stirring constantly (I only had 1 cup of liquid, so I skipped this step).
  5. Meanwhile while the sauce reduces, break beef into 1 1/2-inch pieces using two forks. In a small bowl, add cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water and whisk until combined.
  6. Turn down burner to medium-low, re-whisk cornstarch, add into pot and cook for 1 minutes. Add beef back to pot, stir to cover beef. Cover and allow to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is hot. Serve sprinkled with scallion greens.

Beef shank 1.JPG
Chinese beef.JPG
Fried rice.JPG
Roasted bok choy.JPG
Chinese beef plated.JPG
 
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Johnny West

Well-known member
Wow, that looks good. I've not seen that particular cut before.
I'll check H-Mart next time I'm in Lakewood.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
That looks like something I'd really like, right down to the fried rice and bok choy.
 
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