It rose like a column I've never seen that

Roasted carrots

A caress

These are vegetables, not shotguns.

YOU FOLD IN THE CHEESE!

Mouth-watering

They’re traditional somewhere, sure. Just not with THIS dish.

Uhhhh noooooooo.....

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That beef is perfection. Yumm.

So this recipe was ~2 years in the works for me, constantly making small tweaks/adjustments to the ingredients until the balance of flavours was where I wanted it. In its current state there are no changes or improvements I can think of making. If anyone here makes some up I hope they agree! Some of the flavours can be a little polarizing though so I'll drop a few notes at the bottom as well. This recipe makes around 6 serves.

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Prepare the beef...

• Use 600 grams (100 grams/serve) of a flavourful/fatty cut such as brisket or deboned short rib, preferably dry brined in the fridge overnight or minimum 3 hours with 1.5% salt by weight (for 600 grams use 9 grams salt)
• Remove beef from fridge 2 hours before cooking, cut into ~1" cubes
• Sear beef in a ripping hot skillet or wok with 1 tbsp oil until all sides are browned
• Set the beef aside, but don't clean out the skillet/wok just yet

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Prepare the broth...

• In a large pot, add
• 5 cups water
• 6 slices ginger
• 2 spring onions chopped in half
• Handful of dried chillis ^(note 1)
• 3 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
• 1/4 cup soy ^(note 2)
• 4 tbsp MSG ^(note 3)
• Beef from earlier

Bring to boil and reduce to a light simmer with the lid on

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Bloom the aromatics...

In the skillet/wok from earlier, add

• 1 tbsp chilli oil (store bought or I've got a recipe here)
• 1 tbsp red Sichuan peppercorns ^(note 4)
• 1/2 tbsp green Sichuan peppercorns ^(note 4)
• 4 cloves of chopped garlic
• 6 star anise ^(note 5)
• 2 bay leaves

Bring skillet back up to temp until fragrant, then stir in

• 1 1/2 tbsp spicy bean paste (la doubanjian, 辣豆瓣酱)
• 1 chopped small onion
• 1 chopped tomato
• 2 tbsp sugar

Stir to combine and bring to a simmer

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Bring everything together...

• Pour aromatics into broth
• Deglaze skillet with 1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine over heat and pour into broth
• Give broth a quick stir and simmer with lid on for ~90 minutes.

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After broth has simmered for 90mins, pull out all the bits you don't want to serve in your bowls. There are two basic schools of though on this, dependant entirely on whether you want a clear very liquidy broth or don't mind keeping the chunky bits. Either way has no (or very little) impact on flavour, this is purely a decison based on aesthetics or if you do/don't want the protein...

• The first school of thought would be to remove only the beef chunks into a seperate pot, then pour the broth through a fine mesh strainer and discard whatever remained in the strainer.
• The second school of thought is to pour everything through a strainer and using tongs pick out and discard the stuff you don't want to keep, then empty the strainer back into the broth. Things you probably don't want to keep include;
  • Star anise
  • Ginger slices
  • Bay leaves
  • Dried chilli pods (the texture is never great in the mouth)
  • Spring onion (long slimey spring onions also aren't great in the mouth)

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To serve...

• Cook noodles in boiling water (~150 grams/serve, Chinese white flour noodles are ideal for soups)
• Blanch Shanghai/baby bok choy
• Arrange noodles & bok choy into bowls, add beef chunks and pour in broth
• Top with fresh spring onion, cilantro, and more chilli oil to taste!

Enjoy :)

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Notes...

(1) I use tien tsin chillis because they're the "correct" chilli variant for Sichuanese cuisine, but they're also similar in heat and flavour to cayennes so if that's what you have, that will do just fine. I'm also told Chili Japones are very similar in flavour too, but a little less spicy if that's what you want. If you don't like spice much at all you can just leave this step out completely too.

(2) Yes, 1/4 cup of soy. it might seem like a lot but in this recipe I've utilised the soy and Shaoxing wine to season the broth instead of salt so that 1/4 cup is very intentional and important. Also, Chinese and Japanese styles of soy are labelled differently and it can get a little confusing, so I'll just keep it simple and say "use the salty kind". Think Kikkoman or a tamari soy.

(3) Yes, 4 tablespoons of MSG. If you're the ill-informed type who still thinks MSG is bad for you then fine you can use less of it or none at all; it's your loss and I feel sorry for your soul

(4) Sichuan peppercorns are one of those polarizing flavours/sensations, and the two variants (red/green) are quite different too. The red ones have a very fragrant/floral smell and taste to them which can become kind of soapy when too much of them are used. The green ones have a much milder/palatable flavour. Both give a similar numbing/tingling sensation which goes so well with spicy food, and the salivation they cause tends to accentuate other flavours too. I've used both variants in this recipe because I personally love the flavour the red ones bring when used appropriately and have thrown in some green ones to add to the numbing/tingling sensation (it is very characteristic of Sichuanese cuisine after all!) If you don't want to buy both types, I'd recommend using only 1 tbsp of the red and leave out the green ones completely. If you find the flavour a bit much, try 1/2 tbsp of each or stick with 1 1/2 tbsp of only the green ones.

(5) Star anise is another of those polarizing flavours. Again I personally love it but some people might think 6 stars is too much, do what you want. I've found using 6 stars in the recipe makes the anise quite prominent on the nose but barely noticable in the mouth so it's a good balance and helps give the broth a complex texture of flavours.

Stewed carrots are the absolute best though!

When you make a ragu, or an all day pasta sauce, you stew carrots in the tomato sauce. I taught my kids that the carrots are actually the best part. I'll retrieve the carrots after a few hours and serve the carrots with lunch since they're kinda weird with pasta for dinner, but damn they're good and very filling!

Looking good

Y’all are all missing the fucking TOASTED LETTUCE?!?!?!?

Every days a school day.

Grilled cabbage is great, vegetables can be cooked in ways other than boiling and steaming.

What kind of cabbage is grilled bruh?

Do you not see the rest of the entity?

The top of the entity looks like a seared chicken breast

I get how you could confuse cabbage for lettuce but how are you seeing chicken?

Day 23: they still think I’m a carrot.

Traditional Chinese-British roast?

Good Mornin, Julia

While I love everything about the donut, I hate it when they leave the crowns on the strawberry. It's a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless.

Bro thought we were just gonna ignore the egg roll lmao