Dry-Fried Beef

Flavor: Unique — Meal: Easy, Made in Advance

This is one of the most famous Szechwanese dishes of all, and one of the few that actually require beef. We were first introduced to it by an ancient Chinese bookseller in Hong Kong who took us out to lunch at a marvelously old-fashioned Szechwanese restaurant that looked as shabby and worn as some of the secondhand books he was selling. Yellowing calligraphy covered the walls, and the waiters, genuine antiques themselves, treated the pat