cantonese noodle with oyster sauce 蚝油撈麵 - part 2

This is a continuation of my recent post on Cantonese noodle with oyster sauce 蚝油撈麵.

Having been on a diet of Western dishes recently I begun to crave some Asian food. Most of the Asian dishes I like to make tends to provide a lighter diet. I actually dislike the word diet (to DIE with a Tease) for it's common connotations. I believe if you eat real food and eat sensible proportions cuisines from different cultures prepared from fresh ingredients can be equally healthy.

For the past few weeks I have not been to grocery shopping for Asian ingredients owing much to making smoked sausages and smoked salmon. I went to An Dong Market this weekend because I crave some good Asian dishes, especially Chinese noodles. An Dong Market on the East side of Portland is always been my favorite store ever since I came to this town. Over the years it had its ups and downs. It adapted and persevered and their selections continues to improve despite of the moderate size. Except seafood I generally can find everything I fancy there and the staff is always friendly and helpful. If you look carefully in the store you can always find some gems you are not expecting.
in this trip I didn't buy that much

 i bought a lot of noodles - the string beans is in season and they just arrived

i bought a few pound of untrimmed flank steaks to make braised beef - note the whitish lining; you can only find untrimmed cuts like these in Asian grocery stores; i picked the package with the most lining

For years I have given up buying dry shrimp roe noodles like these but I decide to give these two a try. They claim that are made in Hong Kong but I am skeptical (very likely they are made in China but packaged in Hong Kong). Also nowadays the one made with real shrimp roes are all but nonexistent. These dry noodles are good for making a quick soup noodle snack.

dry shrimp roe noodles 蝦子麵 from Hong Kong

 if available I always like to use some daikon to the braised beef flank steak; i like to keep quite a bit of the skin for their texture; i do this by lightly scrap off a bit of the skin with the back of a knife

I taught myself how to make very good braised beef flank steak that is universally enjoyed by everyone in Hong Kong. In yesteryear some of the best best ones are found in Chiuchow stores that specially in it. These days finding a good place that serves it is very difficult, even in Hong Kong. Being in Portland my solution to address my craving is to make it myself. Like a lot of celebrated Chinese specialty dishes the stores that make a living with it guard the ingredients and method zealously. You can look on the web and find a lot of recipes but most are not that good. I learnt how to make it by reading and watching observantly a lot as well as reverse-engineered the process and ingredients by taste. While I am getting quite good at it I still continue to learn and improve on the techniques. For example, I learnt to pare back on the variety of spices. More does not mean more as too much spices clouds the delicate flavors I am after.

The ingredients I use are very simple and few (and you can get all these at An Dong Market):

• untrimmed beef flank "steak" 生牛腩
• water 水
• sea salt 海鹽
• light soy sauce 生抽
• sugar 糖
• garlic 蒜
• daikon 蘿蔔 (optional)
• black peppers 黑胡椒
• anise 八角
• cloves 丁香
• chinese cinnamon bark 桂皮
• coriander seed (optional)
• black cardamom 草果
• ginger 老薑

For Hong Kong style braised flank steak (and very often  cow entrails are also used), there are two types - one with a dark and rich broth and one with a light and clear broth. I like both. I do think making the one with light and clear broth is more difficult because you cannot add much ingredients to make up for the flavors if you start with poor quality or less than fresh meat. In the other words you cannot hide it.

i decide to make braised beef flank steak in clear broth 青湯牛腩 - the image below is an intermediate step; the photo was taken with flash hence the bad yellow cast

this took a total of about 8 hours under very low heat; the big chunks are daikon; the daikon adds the subtle sweetness as well as unique flavors

this is the best machine made 銀絲幼麵 (noodles for making wonton soup noodles) I can find in Portland - you can get it at An Dong 

 there are six in a bag - it is amazing how cheap this is

 you want to loosen it up before blanching it

here i prepared a serving of noodle with oyster sauce 蚝油撈麵 to accompany the braised flank steak with baby bokchoy on the side

 i like to add a few drops of my homemade habanero chili pepper oil

 the best part of the Hong Kong style braised flank steak 牛腩 is the crunchy lining

 serving with a plate of noodles you only need very small amount of beef

I am very happy with the result. Everything is spot on. The beef is very fragrant (from the spices) as well as beefy, It is tasty 入味 while very light in appearance as well as having a subtle taste profile wanting in the clear broth 青湯 style. One of the most elusive quality is to cook the beef just right. The meat should be a bit chewy and the lining should be crunchy. More often than not by trying to keep the beef from overcooked, the result is it fails to absorb the flavor, seasoning, and fragrance of the spices and seasoning. Also it is all too easy to over boil the spices and loses the desired fragrance.

For reference, below are some photos from my trips to Hong Kong:

this place specialize in braised beef flank steak 牛腩 and there is a constant long line outside the store with locals and visitors from all over the world; sat next to me was a tourist from Japan because this place is in his travel guidebook

 a very small menu

this store is very popular but their food is really not that great (but everything is relative) - mine beat their's any day; p.s. that is not my coke on the table :-)