What's up everyone?
Today we are making
Stir-fried beef with broccoli
Beef and broccoli, a dish my dad has made thousands of times.
Hi friends, today I will be cooking stir-fried beef with broccoli.
Today I will be using flank steak.
We have about 12oz of beef
And about a pound of broccoli.
Let's cut the beef first.
When cutting meat, pay attention to the grain.
Cut against the grain of the meat.
Do not slice the beef too thinly.
If it's too thin, it will fall apart when you cook it.
This is how we slice the meat.
This is about the right size.
A lot of people asked, including Belinda from Patreon
'How do you pick good beef?'
We normally use flank steak for stir-fries.
Of course, other steaks are good too!
I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our
Wonderful Patreon supporters to help bring this video to life.
If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly,
Head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more!
We‘ve finished slicing our beef.
So what's next?
We will wash the beef with some water.
After we wash away the blood from the meat
It'll cook up more beautifully.
The meat would turn black if we didn't wash away the blood
But the meat won't turn black if we wash away the blood.
Next, we will drain away the water.
This is the blood from the meat.
Put the meat aside to drain a bit more.
Now we'll prepare the marinade.
Some of you have asked about using baking soda for marinating meat.
I will demonstrate it for you now
It depends on the amount of meat, this is about 12oz
So I will use 1 tsp of baking soda.
Using baking soda with meat is a common technique in Chinese cooking.
We'll also be mixing 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
2 tbsp of water, 1 tbsp of cornstarch, 1/4 tsp of white pepper
1 tsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of cooking wine.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
Along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
To guide you as you make this recipe at home.
That's basically all we need for the marinade.
What does the baking soda do?
It tenderizes the meat and helps it absorb the marinade.
The meat will be more tender.
Some people ask how restaurants make their beef so tender.
This is the trick, by using baking soda and water in the marinade.
You have to add enough water, or the beef won't marinate properly.
The marinade is done.
We've drained the beef, do you see the blood?
Press out any excess water, and add the beef to the marinade.
Let it marinate for about half an hour.
By then, the meat will have absorbed all the marinade.
Leave the meat aside to marinate.
Now we'll cut the broccoli.
This is about 1 pound, cut off the florets.
Can you get this dish in China?
When we were in China, before 1980, I never had broccoli.
We only had gaai laan (Chinese broccoli), not broccoli.
Broccoli in Cantonese is sai gaai laan, which ironically in English
Means Western Chinese broccoli.
Since early Chinese immigrants couldn't find gaai laan in US
Broccoli became an easy substitute.
It's believed that the first versions of broccoli beef
Were prepared by Chinese immigrants who had settled in San Francisco.
Nowadays, this dish is a staple of Chinese cuisine around the world.
Cut the broccoli into smaller pieces.
With broccoli, if somebody wanted to make it vegetarian
What else would you add to this besides the broccoli or carrots?
You can add fresh mushrooms, carrots, onions or dried tofu.
You can add whatever vegetables that you like.
Pretty much any vegetables that you like that have minimal water content.
We've finished cutting the broccoli.
We also need to prepare the aromatics
In restaurants, these are all prepared ahead of time for stir-frying.
Cut it into slices, this will make for a more colorful dish.
Slice them like this, or use patterned cutters if you have them
Slice ginger into angled pieces
A few slices is enough.
Cut the scallions into small pieces at an angle.
Two pieces of garlic
Mince the garlic.
These are all the ingredients you'll need.
What about the sauce?
For the sauce, we'll be mixing 1 tbsp of oyster sauce,
1 tsp of light soy sauce, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce,
1 tbsp of water, 1 tbsp of cooking wine,
1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of cornstarch and 1/4 tsp of white pepper.
Let's check the taste first.
That's perfect.
We have everything that we need now.
We can start cooking the broccoli.
First boil some water.
Make sure the water is boiling before adding broccoli.
Add some oil into the water, so the broccoli will cook beautifully.
Add a little salt, so the broccoli will stay bright green.
Put the broccoli in the boiling water.
Cook the broccoli to your preference.
Do not cook it for too long if you like it crunchy.
If you like softer broccoli, you can cook it for longer.
For example, cook it softer if you're making it for the elderly.
If you have elderly relatives at home, you should cook according to their needs, right?
The broccoli looks good, let it boil for a while.
They're cooked now, we can scoop them out now.
If you are not going to stir-fry it immediately, cool it down with running water.
Otherwise, you don't have to rinse it with cold water.
Add some cooking oil into the marinated beef.
Add about 1 tbsp of oil and mix it into the meat.
This will seal in the juices of the meat.
The meat looks good.
Heat up the wok, and add 2 tbsp of cooking oil.
We're going to heat the wok for about a minute before adding oil
The wok is ready when it starts to smoke.
Add 2 tbsp of cooking oil.
Swirl it around.
Is it at the highest heat?
Keep it at the highest heat, pour out the excess oil.
Slowly lower the heat and put in the meat.
Turn the heat back up
We're gonna cook the beef for around 30-60 seconds
Or when it turns brown before flipping it.
Cook one side of the meat first before flipping it.
Now, we're gonna flip the beef and cook it for 60-90 seconds
Or until it's mostly brown.
It's fine that it's a little red, because we're gonna cook it more later.
Add a little more cooking oil.
The meat's ready, so turn off the heat and take it out.
We're going to fry the aromatics.
Put in garlic and ginger.
We're gonna cook the garlic and ginger for about 20-30 seconds.
Put in the scallions and carrots.
Cook the carrots and scallions for another 20-30 seconds.
When the aromatics are ready, put in the broccoli
Cook the broccoli for 30-45 seconds.
Put in the cooked beef.
Before adding the sauce,
We're gonna cook everything together for 30-45 seconds.
Because the broccoli absorbs lots of sauce, add 1 tbsp of water.
Add the sauce into the wok.
We're gonna stir-fry everything for about 1 more minute.
We're also gonna add 1 tsp of sesame oil.
Finally, we will add just a little bit more oil.
The broccoli will look very appetizing
This last bit of finishing oil is called 'mei jau'.
Restaurants usually add finishing oil.
Son, come and have a taste!
Is it tender enough?
It tastes so good!
I want another piece!
Another one? Here's a good piece for you!
Good?
Is it tender enough?
Let's plate it up now.
Beef with broccoli is done!
The beef is tender, the broccoli is fresh, hope you all like it!
Hong Doi, let's eat!
Cheers!!
Is it good? I'll try the beef first.
It's so tender.
When I worked in the restaurant, Daddy always cooked this for me.
I don't really like beef, but every time he cooks this, I will eat it
Because I will forget that I don't like beef.
Because it's tender and the flavor is good.
When was the first time you ate this?
For me, it was when I first came to US, in California
In the US! I had broccoli here.
When you both tried it, did you think 'that's weird' or 'I like it'?
I didn't really like it.
Even now, I still don't like broccoli that much.
We shouldn't put this up on YouTube, right?
I mean, that's honest!
Everyone is different, I like Chinese broccoli more than this.
I'll eat it, but it's just not my favorite
What about you? Do you feel like it's weird?
I don't hate it, but I don't really love it either.
I'll eat it for nutrition's sake.
It has good fiber content and it's very nutritious.