Name: Beef in a Spicy Soup-Sauce
Yield: Serves 4 with 2 Other Dishes
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 2.5 ml (½ tsp) Sichuan peppercorns; 4 spring onions, trimmed and cut diagonally at 2.5 cm (1 in) intervals; 30 ml (2 tbsp) Shaoxing wine or medium dry sherry; 300 ml (10 fl oz/1¼ cups) prime stock; 2.5 ml (½ tsp) ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns; 1.5 ml (¼ tsp) chilli powder, optional; 5 ml (1 tsp) finely chopped ginger; 15 ml (1 tbsp) hot broadbean or soy bean paste; 15 ml (1 tbsp) black beans, rinsed and mashed; 60 ml (4 tbsp) peanut or vegetable oil; 5 ml (1 tsp) salt; 20 ml (4 tsp) potato or tapioca flour; 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and cut into slivers; 4 large dried red chillies, topped; 1 large egg, size 1; 450–500 g (1–1 lb 2 oz) rump steak

Preparation info

Serves
4
with 2 Other Dishes

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Classic Food of China

By Yan-Kit So

Published 1992

About

Apparently, this dish originated in the south of Sichuan, where salt wells abounded, and domestic cattle were used to push the carts which brought the water up from the wells. When these cattle became exhausted within six months, they were slaughtered and their meat was used as part payment to the labourers who worked for the salt-producing industry. At first, the labourers could do little more than slice the tough meat as thinly as possible and cook it in water seasoned with plenty of salt