What's up everyone?
Today, Chef Daddy Lau is going to teach us
How to make Moo Shu Pork, Cantonese Style
Moo Shu Pork is a quick and healthy dish
That was a popular appetizer at my dad’s old restaurant
Some believe the recipe first appeared in
Shandong Province
Home to one of the 8 major Chinese cuisines
It was originally called Moo Shi Pork
Or "muhksāi" in Cantonese
Named after the famous Sweet Osmanthus tree
Which produces beautiful blossoms of gwai fā
A Chinese symbol of nobility, status, love, and peace
China even named a city in the tree's honor, Guilin
Which literally means "Forest of Sweet Osmanthus"
And which also happens to be where my parents
Went for their honeymoon in the 1980s
After the dish spread to American Chinese restaurants
In the 1960s, somewhere along the way
We started calling it "Moo Shu Pork"
Or "muhk sēui" in Cantonese
This is a nod to some of its core ingredients
Wood ear fungus, (“muhk yíh”)
And scrambled eggs, which resemble
The white and yellow blossoms of the Osmanthus tree
Teaching us how to make this will be my dad
Who's been cooking Chinese food for over 50 years
And who also happens to be playing
The flute that you're listening to right now
Be sure to stay tuned at the end to eat with
My family and learn more about the dish
Check out our blog post for a printable
Adjustable list of ingredients, as well as
Step-by-step videos and instructions on
How to make this dish
Hope you guys enjoy!
Hope you're all doing well!
Today I'll be explaining how to make Moo Shu Pork
The first thing we'll want to do is to
Rehydrate our wood ear fungus
Soak the wood ear fungus in water for 5-10 minutes
To speed up the hydration process
Soak it in warm water (about 40C / 100F)
For 4 to 5 minutes
If you don't live near an Asian supermarket
I've included a few links to buy
Dried wood ear fungus on Amazon
Now, we’ll cut our pork
We only need about 2 ounces - not too much
Cut into thin slices
Thin and small pieces are ideal
After cutting slices, we'll cut the pork into strips
After we've cut our pork, place it in a bowl
Next, we'll prepare a marinade for the pork
To help keep it tender and juicy
Push the pork to one side of the bowl
And add 1.5 tsp cornstarch, 0.25 tsp salt, 0.5 tsp water
Stir the mixture with your finger for a few seconds
Then mix and massage the entire bowl around
With your hands for about 20-30 seconds
Great, now the pork is done
Let’s cut our cabbage (8 oz) into thin strips
Let's set it aside for later
Let’s use about 2 oz of carrot
First, cut into thin slices
Then, cut into thin strips
Place the carrot to the side
Let's cut our celery into slices
These are wood ear fungi - cut into slices
Now - let’s use an egg
Maybe 1 egg isn't enough, we can use 2 eggs
We don't have to use all of it
Let's add a little bit of salt
Mix the eggs
Quickly mix with your fork until bubbles form
Great, now we'll start cooking
As with most Chinese recipes
We need our wok to be piping hot before we cook
Heat the wok for 3-5 minutes on high heat
When the wok is hot enough, add 1 tbsp oil
Spread it around to coat the wok
And slowly pour the eggs in
We're aiming for a soft, omelette-like consistency with the eggs
We'll cook the eggs for about 2-3 minutes in total
Occasionally lift the wok from the heat
And rotate and tilt the pan around in the air
To spread the eggs around
About 1 minute in, carefully flip the eggs
And cook for another minute
Remove the eggs onto a plate
Being careful not to break apart the eggs too much
Then we'll 1 tbsp oil to the wok
And wait about another 1-2 minutes
As the wok reheats
Once the wok gets hot, let’s add our pork
If you don't like pork, you can also use chicken
Shrimp works too
It's up to you for this dish
See the pork?
When the pork starts turning more white, it’s cooked enough
Let's set aside our pork
Since there's already oil in the wok
We don't need to add more when we cook our vegetables
We don't need to cook our vegetables for too long
Cook until they’re a bit softer
10 minutes should be enough time
Cook it slowly, no need to rush
When cooking these vegetables, we don't need to
Be fast with our hands, go gently and slowly
We're not adding any water
Cook until the vegetables are soft
Hear that sizzling sound?
See the steam coming out?
We're almost there, the vegetables have softened up
We don't need to add too much salt to the vegetables
Because we'll be using hoisin sauce to spread on our wraps
After about 4-5 minutes of cooking the vegetables
Add 0.5 tsp chicken bouillon and 1 tbsp oyster sauce for flavor
Stir the flavors around the wok
Good, now let's mix the pork into the wok
Good, we're just about done with the dish
Let's transfer this to a plate
Let's cut our eggs into slices
Okay
Isn't it beautiful?
The last step is to warm up the tortillas
Traditionally, Mushu Pork is meant to be an appetizer
So we'll heat up 1-2 tortillas per person
But feel free to do more
You can either heat them in the wok for 60-90 seconds
Or you can microwave them for 30 seconds
When you're ready to eat, spread the hoisin sauce around the tortilla
And load the the tortilla with your pork and veggies
Thank you so much!
It looks very good, huh?
Yeah, it looks good, smells great
It's like a Chinese taco
Yeah, exactly like a Chinese taco
Okay!
We fold it -
Like a little burrito? Like a little spring roll?
Cheers!
Mushu! Mushu Mushu Mushu!
Cheers!
Hi friends!
Mmmm!
Is that good?
Mmhmm
Oh that's good huh?
The hoisin sauce
It makes the dish
It makes this Mushu Pork taste very good
I love hoisin sauce
You like hoisin sauce?
Hoisin sauce is good for a lot of things
We should get this one
We have a different one
I like this one
It's good, huh?
So wait, in China, do they use tortillas like this?
That they make from flour?
They don't call it a tortilla, but it’s similar
The same thing
What do they call it?
bohk béng
bohk means thin
béng means cake
Hehehe
He wants to try!
In China, are they (the wraps) like this?
Nowadays, many restaurants use tortillas. Not in the past though.
They used to use Mushu wraps
They were really thin, and very expensive
These are tasty. Everyone uses these now.
muhk so, what does that mean?
"muhk yíh”, wood ear fungus
Mushu Pork has to have wood ear fungus - the black ones on the plate
You have to have -
Restaurants definitely will use wood ear fungus
If you don't use wood ear fungus, customers will complain
But if you're cooking for yourself, no matter. Who can complain?
Muhk means dried fungus in Chinese
What's in a Mushu wrap?
It's just like this, but more thin
Isn't it like paper thin, right? You can see through it.
Very, very thin.
That's why I was confused
I was like, “I didn’t know they used tortillas.”
But it tastes good
At home, we don't have to follow the restaurants’ recipes
You can use it or not - all up to you.
But you can't do it at a restaurant
At restaurants, it's all written on the menu which ingredients are used
It's so good huh, Cam Cam?
Yes!
Cam Cam, say hi!
I'm a very good boy
Continue, don't stop
Yeah, yeah. More, more, more.
I like sauce, you know?
You like sauce?
Always.
Little bit more, little bit more. Yeah, yeah, yeah
Okay, okay.
Daddy, is this considered a Northern or Southern dish?
Nowadays, there isn't as much of a distinction between North and South
Today, a lot of Northern dishes have Cantonese influence
Cantonese dishes also have Northern influence
Nowadays, there's less of a difference.
In the past?
In the past, this was a Northern dish
If you're interested in a Moo Shu Pork recipe
That's closer to the original Northern style
Check out Chris and Steph's awesome video over at
Chinese Cooking Demystified
Their videos are always top notch and super informative
And I've included a link to their Moo Shu Pork
Video in our description
(Cam Cam coos)
Yes?
This Mushu Pork is bigger than your head
In the restaurants, you'd only get one wrap per dish
Because, this dish is supposed to be an appetizer
How much is a wrap?
This wrap? It'd cost you 50 cents
50 cents a wrap!
It might even be more expensive, maybe $1 per wrap
This a Chinese burrito
That's a good name for it.
Easy name is "Chinese burrito"
In restaurants, when you finished eating Mushu Pork,
You'd eat the other dishes
You'd eat one, maybe two wraps
Any more and you'd be too full for the rest of the meal, right?
They don't want you to just eat Mushu Pork
To make you full, then you wouldn’t eat the rest of the food
I'm gonna have one more
Do it
You surprised?
Yeah
You eat, you eat
You guys thought I wasn't gonna do it, huh?
I don't eat pork, but when it's concealed with hoisin sauce
There's not much (pork) inside
Hoisin sauce and veggies
And a lot of veggies
Now, a lot of people like this dish, son
Because it doesn't have a lot of meat
Lots of vegetables
At home we use a lot of meat, but at restaurants they don't give as much
You can go without the meat too, son
Nowadays, they skip the meat for vegetarians
You can use all vegetables if you want
You can use mushrooms
You just need these wraps and hoisin sauce
Do you feel like you make it better, or restaurants do it better?
Of course I do it better.
Definitely me.
I asked him if he thinks he does it better or restaurants
He's like, "Obviously me."
Hahaha
C'mon, better questions, Randy
See, when we're done eating, there's no water at the bottom
For this dish, do we have to make sure the wok is really hot before cooking?
Yes, at the highest heat setting
What if you don't set it to the highest heat?
It'll take much longer to cook, and it will be watery
I don't need to cover the wok, nor do I add water
Cook until the vegetables are soft, don’t cook it too long
The more well-done the vegetables, the more water comes out
The vegetables don't taste as good, they won’t be as crunchy
It won't be crunchy, and also a lot of water will come out
Now, the vegetables are really tasty and crunchy
So if you cook it at a lower heat, then water's going to come out?
The longer you cook, the more water comes out
When the power is too low, your cooking time is longer
When your cooking time is long, the water from the vegetables will come out
Ohhhhh...
Higher power leads to a faster cook time, and less water
Hong Doy!
Grandpa washed his hands
Hi baby!
Hong Doy
Let's eat Mushu Pork
Where's my smile?
Awwww
(Cam Cam cries)
It's okay...
Hi everyone! Hi Cam Cam!
Our grandson, say “Hi” to everyone!
Say "Hi" to our friends!
Say, “Thank you for watching our video!”
Baby says, "Please subscribe to our channel and thumbs up!”