Stir-Fried Beef, Onion, and String Beans 牛肉、タマネギ、インゲンの炒め物

Stir fried beef, onion, and string beans 牛肉、タマネギ、インゲンの炒め物, a photo by naotakem on Flickr.

Part of a series of attempts to replicate typical Chinese restaurant fare without using any mass produced pre-mixed sauces. Those sauces do make cooking easy and I'm not too squeamish about using them, but I just wanted to see if I could do without them.

中華料理店で良く出るメニューを既製品の調合済みソースを使わずに作ったものの一つです。そうした既製品を使うのは楽で良いし、特に抵抗も無いので、使わずに作ってみたらどうなるか、というだけの試みです。

It goes without saying that stir-fry dishes like these are all about prep - the ingredients should be flavored and cooked separately and assembled for a quick mix and heat-through with the finishing flavors and oil in a well-heated wok (which I didn't have so I used a large frying pan). This ensures that the vegetables are crisp, not oily and soggy, and the protein is flavored and cooked thoroughly, not bland and raw.

今さらですが、こうした炒め物は下ごしらえが全て、と言っても良いでしょう。個々の素材をまずそれぞれ味付け・調理した上で、最後に十分に熱した中華鍋（持っていないので大きなフライパンで代用しましたが）で仕上げの味付けと加熱をすることによって、野菜が油まみれでどろっとなったり、肉類が生のままで味が十分に付いていない、といった事態を回避するわけです。

Prep:

• Beef - slice into strips, place into bowl and add small amounts of soy sauce, sake, garlic and ginger (both grated), sugar, salt, black pepper, and a bit of potato or corn starch, massage thoroughly, let marinate for 10-15 minutes
• String beans - remove inedible parts, blanch in boiling water with a pinch of salt for 2-3 minutes (adjust according to thickness of beans), drain, cool with cold water, drain well - watch out for overcooking, you want some crispness in the beans after cooling
• Onions - slice into thin wedges
• Sauce - mix Chinese oyster sauce, Chinese hot chili paste, chicken broth (again, used a powder dissolved in water), rice wine (ideally Chinese, but sake will do), salt, and black pepper to taste
• Dissolve a small amount of cornstarch or potato starch in cold water - this is added at the end to give the dish a nice, thick consistency

下ごしらえ：

• 牛肉は細切りにし、ボウルに入れて醤油、日本酒、下しニンニクとショウガ、砂糖、塩、黒コショウ、そしてコーンスターチか片栗粉をそれぞれ少量加え、良く揉み込んで10分から15分寝かせておく
• インゲンはへたや筋を取り、軽く塩を効かせた沸騰するお湯で２〜３分（インゲンの太さ次第で加減）茹で、ざるに空けたら冷水で冷ます（しゃきっとした感触を残したいので茹で過ぎに注意）
• タマネギは細めのくし形に切っておく
• オイスターソース、豆板醤、中華鶏ガラスープ（「素」を溶かしたもので十分）、酒（紹興酒があれば良し、無ければ日本酒）、塩コショウを好みの量混ぜて合わせ調味料は作る
• 「とろみ付け」用にコーンスターチ、あるいは片栗粉を少量水で溶いておく

Cooking:

• In a large wok or frying pan heat a good amount of of sesame oil (enough to coat the entire inside of the pan) until smoking, add the marinated beef and cook until browned, remove and set aside
• Add some more oil into the pan, heat well, add a whole dried red chili pepper if you want extra heat, add the onions, cook briefly (this should get rid of any brown bits at the bottom of the pan) until slightly soft
• Add the cooked beef, string beans, and sauce, toss well and heat through; be careful not to put in too much sauce - you don't want the beef and vegetables swimming in a watery mess
• Add the starch water in small amounts and continue to toss until you see some overall thickness in the sauce glazing the meat and vegetables
• Transfer to serving platter

調理：

• 中華鍋か大きなフライパンを熱し、ごま油を鍋全体に行き渡らせ、十分熱くなったら下味をつけた牛肉を投入してしっかりと炒め、別の器に移しておく
• 同じ鍋に油を足し、再度加熱したら（辛味を増したい場合はここで赤唐辛子を丸ごと一本加える）タマネギを入れてさっと炒める（この過程で鍋底の残滓が取れるはず）
• 牛肉とインゲン、合わせ調味料を入れ（入れ過ぎてびたびたにならぬよう注意）、加熱しながら良く馴染ませる
• 水溶きコーンスターチ（片栗粉）を少量ずつ加えながら肉と野菜の表面にとろみが付くまで炒める
• 盛り皿に移す

When executed successfully, you'll have something that's pretty close to what your local Chinese restaurant or takeout joint serves - don't expect perfect replication, though.

上手く行けば近所の中華料理店で出てくる炒め物に「近い」ものが出来る筈です。決して「同じ」ものになることは期待しない方が良いですが（笑）。

Roast pork with rice and bok choy 叉焼飯(風)

Roast pork with rice and bok choy 叉焼飯(風), a photo by naotakem on Flickr.

チャイナタウンか中華スーパーで出来合いの叉焼を買ってご飯に添えて簡単に、と思っていたら売り切れだったり店が閉まっていたりで、結局豚バラ肉を買って翌日に自作してしまった、という一品です。（当日は外食しました）

The initial idea was to buy some roasted pork belly at a Chinese supermarket or a shop in Chinatown and just have it with some rice for an easy dinner - but by the time we got to the stores they were either sold out or closed. So instead, we bought a pound of pork belly and roasted the pork at home on the next day. (We ended up eating some noodles that day)

豚バラ肉は上の写真のように皮に格子状に切れ目を入れ、そこにニンニクの薄切りを挟んだら全体に塩コショウをたっぷり擦り込み、低温（250°F＝121℃）のオーブンで時々醤油と酒、ハチミツを合わせたものを塗りながら１時間〜１時間半ほど焼きます。油を落としながら焼くのでグリルパン等を使えばひっくり返す必要もなく出来ます。

To prep the pork belly, cut the skin and fat into a cross hatch and inserted thin slivers of garlic into the incisions, then rubbed in plenty of salt and black pepper all over the meat. Placed it into a 250F oven to roast it slowly at low temperatures for about an hour to an hour and a half. The idea is to slowly render the fat on the top out and baste the flesh so if you use a grilling pan there's no need to flip the meat over. For flavor, occasionally basted the meat while cooking with a mix of soy sauce, sake, and honey.  

上のようにいい焼き色がついて、中の温度が150℉（66℃）になったら出来上がり。オーブンから出してアルミホイルに包み、寝かしておきます。その間に白米を炊き、チンゲンサイをさっと塩ゆでしたものを用意します。冒頭の写真のように、ちょっと厚めに切った豚肉とチンゲンサイを添えて叉焼飯の出来上がり。

Once you achieve a nice, glazed color on the outside and an internal temperature of 150F, the pork is done - remove from the oven, wrap it with foil and set aside to rest. Used that time to cook the rice and blanch some bok choy (in lightly salted water). Serve thickly sliced pork with the rice and bok choy like the photo the beginning for a satisfying one-plate dish.