Sichuan Boiled Beef (水煮牛肉）

I love 水煮牛肉. However, the authentic version we eat at restaurants is too spicy for me, even after I asked for little spicy or mild 😅.

So here is the recipe I adapted to make tasty 水煮牛肉 at home that is really little spicy or no spicy at all.

🎨Ingredients:

• 🥩beef: ~0.5lb, buy pre-sliced or cut to thin slices yourself (lion top, ribeye, new york, etc. all good)
• 🥗vegetables: very flexible, you can use cabbage, bean sprouts, potatoes, or what ever you like. This time I used cucumbers and common beans （芸豆）as I happen to have them.
• 🧄garlic, ginger, shallot cut to slices.
• 🌶️chili crush, minced garlic, sichuan pepper (花椒, optional), adjust based on how spicy you like.

🧑‍🍳Recipe

• 🥣Rinse beef with cold water a few times to remove blood.
• Marinate beef slices with a little bit (1/6 tsb) baking soda, 1tsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsb corn starch
• 🧄In a fry wok, add oil, garlic, ginger, shallot, and a few sichuan pepper (optional), cook for 1~2 minutes. Take the pepper out, and add 1tsp bean paste (豆瓣酱或者豆豉酱），cook for another minute or so.
• Add ~2tbsp soy sauce, half cup of water, boil for 1minute, then add ~4cups of water.
• 🥗After the water boil, add the vegetables, cook for a few minutes. 🧂Season with sugar, salt and sesame oil.
• 🍲Take the vegetables out, put them into the bowl to serve. Also take ~half of the soup out to the serving bowl.
• 🥩Add 1tsp oil to the beef to separate the pieces. Boil the beef slices, about 2 minutes. Take the beef out to the serving bowl, with a few tbsp of the soup.
• 🌶️Put the chili crush, minced garlic, sichuan pepper (optional) on top of the beef. Fry 2tbsp of oil to very hot, and pour on the chili, garlic.
• 🥂Enjoy!

Tomato Beef Pot（ 番茄牛肉锅）

This is my go-to scoops of comfort. It’s very delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes (4), beef steak ~1lb, mushrooms, celery (opt) , garlic, ginger, shallot

Recipe:

• 🍅Wash the mushrooms, cut tamatoes, celery (opt)
• 🧄Cut garlic, ginger, shallot.
• 🥩Cut the steak to thin slices. I used ribeyes, other types will work too. Rinse with cold water a few times to remove blood.
• 🥣Put beef in a bowl, add 1/4 tsb baking soda, 1tbsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsb corn starch, mix well
• 🍅add oil to a pot, fry the tomatoes to fully cooked, and put it in a bowl to use later.
• 🧄Fry garlic, ginger, shallot, add a bit of the mushrooms, fry for ~1min
• 🍲Add a cup of water, let it boil, then add the cooked tomatoes, add ~3cups of water. Let it boil.
• 🥩Add 1 tbsp oil to the beef, to avoid sticking together. Put the beef slices to the boiling soup, piece by piece. It should only take ~2mins to cook, during this time, add the following:
• 🥗Add the rest of the mushrooms, and celery (if you use).
• 🧂Add salt, sugar, 1tbsp rice wine (or whatever you have, or skip), 1tbsp sesame oil.
• 🥂Enjoy!

A small tip:

If you like to rinse out the blood in the meat more completely, you can use a bit starch to rub the meat and then rinse well.

Braised Beef Noodle Soup (红烧牛肉面)

山珍海味，都不如一碗红烧牛肉面让人满足😋

显摆一下，今天这碗牛肉面，连对菜很挑剔的某个同学（就不点名批评了😾）都说“哟，你这碗面有水平”。我个人也觉得是很久以来我吃过最好吃的面了。

在家里做牛肉面呢，是很考验耐心的一道功夫菜，倒不是费力，就是熬汤要很久。但我保证，你如果试过一次，肯定觉得值🙂

食材：
牛大骨（熬汤），牛腱（beef shank)，beef stew meat (可省）, 牛排（ribeye 或者类似，可省，但有的话很有特点，后面会说），酸菜或者泡菜，青菜，葱，姜，蒜，香菜。

话说现在要凑齐这些食材也不容易，大家灵活掌握。

流程：
🍲熬汤：牛骨头用水汆一下，洗净，加一大锅水，姜，葱，几粒花椒，大火煮开，小火煮4个小时左右。你如果有时间煮更久点也没问题。

🧑‍💻趁着熬汤的时候，我去干了点正事。两个半小时回来，接着做。

🥘红烧牛肉：

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• 牛腱切大块，beef stew也切大块，泡水15分钟去血水。
• 锅里放一点油，把牛肉煎一下，倒入高压锅里
• 红烧汁：锅里放一点油，把葱姜炒香，加入糖（ ~4tbsp) 炒化，加入酱油 (~4tbsp)，然后加水烧开，倒入高压锅里。- – 可以吃辣的同学可以在炒葱姜的时候加入几个辣椒，我没有加，因为娃不能吃辣。
• 调料包：我没有现成的，而且特殊时期，家里调料也不全，所以只放了八角（2），香叶（2）和桂皮（1），实践证明也OK。
• 高压锅meat/stew档，35分钟。喜欢肉有嚼劲的可以适当缩短时间。

⏳肉红烧着的时候，我们来做些其它准备工作。

• 炒酸菜：酸菜可是牛肉面的好伴侣，增味，解腻。可惜，特殊时期，家里没有酸菜，怎么办呢🤔？我在冰箱里找到一盒韩国泡菜，冲泡掉泡菜的辣味，切碎，加蒜末，一点酱油，糖炒了一下，居然也可以👍

• 牛排肉：切薄片，冲去血水，加一点酱油上色。放一边，等下拿牛肉汤烫一下就可以。
• 葱和香菜切粒，备用
• 青菜汆烫一下，备用。

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⌛牛骨头汤熬好了。哇，一开盖子，香叶扑鼻。红烧牛肉也好了，捞出来放一边。

🍜现在开始准备乘面：

• 锅里烧上水，准备煮面
• 另外找一个锅，加入4汤勺牛骨汤, 4汤勺红烧牛肉汤, 烧开，把牛排肉快速烫熟。
• 准备装牛肉面的大碗，3汤勺牛骨汤 + 4 or 5汤勺红烧牛肉汤。
• 加入煮好的面，放青菜，葱末，香菜末，摆上红烧的牛肉和烫熟的牛排肉，加一勺炒酸菜和辣椒油（可省）。就好了！

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注：烫牛肉嫌麻烦可以省略，而且一般店里是不这么做的。我自己觉得是一个亮点，可以体会不同风味和口感的牛肉，还有很重要一点是我们家娃很喜欢这种牛肉。

注2：喜欢吃辣的同学，做红烧牛肉汁还有炒酸菜的时候都可以加入辣椒炒香，吃面的时候加入辣椒酱也不错。我的做法里尽量省去了辣椒，因为要照顾到娃的口味。话说娃每次去面店最纠结的就是牛肉面，想吃又太辣吃不了🤭

Salmon Gravlax

This recipe takes 2~3 days to cure the salmon, but it’s quite simple to make. If you like cured salmon, it’s worth giving it a try.

⏳Day 1

• 1 lemon, half a grapefruit (opt), squize out the juice and put aside
• sugar: salt 2:1, I used 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4cup salt, a bit lemon zest, a bit grapefruit zest, 1/2 tsp grounded black pepper, half of the juice from the first step, mix well
• salmon pat dry
• put the remaining half portion of the juice on a plate first, then place the salmon, rub the mixture in step 2 on the salmon.
• if you like, you can also cut the lemon and grapefruit skin to small pieces and spread on top (opt)
• wrap it with food wrap, put something heavy on top, and let it chill in the fridge for 1~2 days

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⏳Day 2 or 3

• take the salmon out, remove the marinade, wash slightly and pat dry.
• brush honey mustard on top
• chop dill and spread on top
• let it chill in the fridge for one more day

⌛ Day 3 or 4

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Ready to enjoy 😋

• slice the salmon to thin slices. Wow, what a beautiful color😍
• you can enjoy it alone, with a cup of wine, make hand sushi roll, put it on bagels, … Your choice 👍

BBQ Pork (叉烧肉）

One very popular Chinese dish BBQ Pork (叉烧肉). It’s actually quite easy to make 🙂

Choose pork with a bit more fat, such as pork shoulder。I happen to have a piece of pork presa(松阪肉) at home. I know, its too good for bbq 🙂, but special time, use whatever you have 👍

Easy Recipe:

• 3tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1.5tbsp rose wine or rice wine or regular cooking wine, 2~3tbsp honey, 2tsp red yeast rice powder (if you don’t have, can skip), 1/2 tsp black pepper, mix well
• cut pork to 2~3 inch wide chunks, put them in a freezer bag, add the sauce, add some garlic and ginger slices
• close the bag. Refrigerat for 1~2 days

I took it out after one day. Now, let’s cook it:

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• preheat oven to 400F
• put the pork on a bbq rack, and make sure you protect the baking pan well with foil for easy clean (picture 1)
• mix 2tbsp honey, 2tbsp oil and 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1tsp red yeast rice powder (picture 2)
• brush the pork with the sauce
• bake for ~10 minutes, take out, flip, brush sauce on the other side, bake for another ~10 minutes (picture 3)
• take out, let it cool, cut to thin slices.
• enjoy!

仙气十足的桃花酥

自己在家里也可以做仙气十足的桃花酥，菊花酥。

大晚上做的，没有来得及拍视频，下次补上:)

下面是简单的配方（24个量）：
水油皮：
1.5 cup flour, ~4tbsp lard, 110g water

油酥：
11/4cup flour, 6tbsp lard

取一半油酥，加red food coloring调成粉红色. If you care, you can buy natural plants based food coloring.

把水油皮和油酥分成24等分。水油皮擀圆，把油酥包在里面。

制作层次：两次擀长，卷起。

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包馅：对折，擀成圆形，包入喜欢的馅料。

造型：压成扁圆形，剪开，整理成各种花型。

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! Love is you pick up beautiful flowers and I cook delicious food 🙂

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顺便取笑一下对“你耕田来我织布”的各种不靠谱的翻译[憨笑]

贡献一个砂锅粉丝煲的菜谱，我自己改良过的，非常简单又美味：
– 砂锅放油，葱，蒜
– 虾子两面煎熟，放少量白胡椒去腥
– 放粉丝，泡发的香菇，加入半杯泡发香菇的水（记着，别丢掉）
– 酱油，香油，少许糖调味
– 中火煮至水干就好了。

我们中学的语文课本里，最有用的一篇课文是什么？我觉得是华老的统筹安排。用在做饭上，就是先把砂锅煮上，然后干炒菜花，趁着这个间隙把莴笋绰水。这样你就可以半个小时搞定 🙂