Beef and Broccoli

"When the oil is hot and shimmering,"... add a slab of ginger and a smashed garlic clove.

Anna Kao, a locally famous chef and restaurateur in Pittsburgh taught me that freezing the beef for half an hour makes it much easier to slice thinly.

Ah yes, the Chinese diaspora produced some interesting variations. My Chinese parents escaped the advancing Japanese army in the late 30's and took the Peter Maersk merchant ship to Guatemala. My mother had to adapt her Chinese cooking to the locally available ingredients. Instead of rice wine, for example, she used rum. She would stir-fry the broccoli with julienned ginger. It's really good with ginger! A variation is to use chicken instead of beef, and omit the oyster sauce.

Made this tonight with some modifications. Added 2 cloves of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons minced ginger to the beef marinade. Added 1 additional teaspoon of chili paste to the sauce. And added some chicken broth to the sauce—about 1/4 a cup. It was delicious—spicy and fresh tasting.

I do a lot of Chinese cooking. I've found it impossible to get Shaoxing wine even in Minneapolis. You can only find versions with salt added and you don't want that. Tip: get a good bottle of Manzanilla sherry at the wine store; it's the closest thing to authentic Chinese Shaoxing wine.

Pour sesame oil over at the end rather than butter. I learned this i. Hong Kong.p

Definitely add a little ginger, a pinch of 5 spice powder, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and use FLANK STEAK! Cut in half lengthwise and then cut against the grain, into very thin slices. SOOOO GOOD.

Curious as to why you need a full half cup of oil to fry the beef. Next time I will use much less, it isn’t as though you’re getting something crispy in the end. Also note to self: drain the beef well or you will end up with oil splattered all over your kitchen. The broccoli took somewhat longer than advised and I ended up adding an additional 4 tablespoons of water in 2 stages before adding beef and sauce and finishing the dish. We enjoyed it with sides of brown rice.

Not really....the Chinese version of wok fry then add a tiny bit of water, cover and steam is about as simple and quick/no fuss as possible. And you get that wok flavor, crisp on the outside, barely tender inside quality, and you've only used 1 pan. Growing up with a Chinese Mom, I learned to do this and cook all my veggies this way, even broccoli rabe, zucchini, kale, etc. You can do the same in a regular saute' pan and crushed garlic/ginger or onions in the oil.

I've been stir frying broccoli and tofu for decades. It really helps the texture if you blanche the broccoli for a few minutes before adding it to the wok. Along with the oyster sauce and soy sauce, add a bit of fish sauce as well. Instead of chili oil, I just throw in a couple dried cayenne chilis with the garlic and oil at the beginning. Sprinkle a bit of five spice powder while the broccoli and tofu are cooking. Done in 15 minutes or less.

I have to agree with the note above, this sounds quite bland. You're not going to get much ginger or garlic accents with a 20 minute marinade. I always add 2 large cloves of garlic and 2 teaspoons of finely diced ginger, along with some thinly sliced scallions; and maybe more than a "pinch" of red pepper flakes. Also, instead of adding butter at the end, consider a drizzle of sesame oil.

I haven't cooked this dish because the amount of oyster sauce and soy sauce in this recipe scared me off. Using my simple calculation, that's about 5000 mg of sodium. I read many cookbooks in Chinese and no recipe calls for that amount of oyster sauce. It seems many "Chinese" American recipes call for a large amount of these sauces, such as hoisin in some stir fries. This would give you a too dominating flavor rather than just subtle flavoring.

My Chinese cooking instructor taught us to use flank steak. She also instructed us to rinse the flank steak in cold water and wring dry before slicing to remove as much blood as possible. Flank steak was the preferred beef as there is almost no fat keeping in mind that fat splatters when it hits the hot oil. And because of its high heat tolerance, and flavor, peanut oil is the preferred cooking oil used in a high quality carbon steel wok.

I agree with a few others here, any beef & broccoli recipe must have ginger.

I beg to differ sir. I'm on this site once or twice every day, and I'm blown away by the great energy and creativity Sam and his crew put in to make this one of the best food sites around. I didn't take away that this was "authentic," just one more take on an old stand-by. And, frankly, I like the fact that Sam has the weight to get the attention of any chef that he queries.