Black Pepper Beef

Weekend's here with another simple dish that prolly be perfect for a longer lunch time. Still using the worcester sauce as a reference, here it is the all time favorite black pepper beef. Pardon my ugly garnishing touch, am so bad at it.

Similar with other stir-fry meat dishes, the cooking method comprises of 3 sections: (i) marinating, (ii) preparing the entire ingredients (veggies), (iii) saucing. Marinate: meat, oysters sauce, and fish sauce. Veggies: garlic, onion, green and big red chili, scallion, baby corn, crushed black pepper. Sauce: oyster sauce, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, worcester sauce, cornstarch with water.

Highlighted issues: the meat selection. I've been trying several beef cut for this dish like tenderloin, topside, shin-shank etc. My preference is the tenderloin (indeed) and surprisingly the shank. I don't really know whether the shank I bought was from a very good quality of meat (perhaps an original wagyu or US Prime or a black angus) or I was just lucky (for like a dozen times with a super cheap price). So I always bought the shank for any kind of dishes, because it's tender and so cheap. However, recently (in this black pepper beef dish) I got a tough shank (just the way a shank should be), that I need to pound it not with a meat mallet but with a big stone pestle until tender. Perhaps, the butcher just realized that he's been selling the wrong meat labeled with "shank" wkwk. Me, with all the biggie muscles inside, need a real stone to tenderize a meat. Well, I couldn't throw away the shank it's the only meat left in my fridge LOL. Turned out, my so-called "resistance training" was successful. The shank was tender enough for this menu and delicious. Based on this experience tbh, I still couldn't find the best meat for a stir-fry dishes. Stir-fry is simple but involving a slow-cook process isn't. I'm gonna learn more about the cuts of beef and try everything haha. A stir-fry with meat dish is not as simple as it seen LOL. There is a chef that recommend using a baking soda to tenderize the meat in 24 hour. Still don't have the stomach to do that due to my latest experience with baking soda in my carrot cake. Well, maybe one day.

300gr of shanks and various veggies inside required a big wok/pan. I used my biggest wok here (it's very big) but still, it looks full right. I recommend you to check on your cooking ware first, when you decide to cook something. Because once you prepare the ingredients, you can't undo it just because you don't have a big wok for cooking hehe.

Okay, gotta go for a weekend worship. For the love of food, happy cooking and eating.