Jade Garden

the jade garden

[Jade Garden Chinese Characters]

"A man cannot be too serious about his eating,
for food is the force which binds
society together."

-Confucius

Jade Garden owner and chef Chu-Tsai Sun has prepared Chinese cuisine in Asia and on the West Coast for more than twenty years.

Like everything, I suppose Chinese cuisine is an acquired taste. I was introduced to it gradually after an aunt waitressed at a local restaurant, the Golden Dragon. Since I was used to eating strictly Americanized fare, developing a taste for the new grub was slow going. At first I would just get the egg drop soup. Then I moved onto the egg roll, fried rice, and hot tea, until finally got the courage to order a main entree. My first favorite was Beef & Vegetables, but I quickly moved on to my current all-time favorite, Mongolian Beef.

After the Golden Dragon closed, another restaurant opened in the same location. The Forbidden City served entrees similar to what I had come to expect from the Golden Dragon, but apparently other GD customers didn't think so and the new place closed within a year. Yet another Chinese restaurant was born in the same location, but I haven't been back since the first time. It's just not the same.

The Jade Garden opened a few months later, and it quickly became my new haunt. The food wasn't quite the same as what I had come to know at the Golden Dragon, but it was close. Up until a year or so ago, I would eat lunch at the Jade Garden every Saturday. But I still go back from time to time though.

Mongolian Beef

This is not a complex dish but it uses both the Jow and Chow cooking method, and all of this for beef. In Jow, the food is quickly deep-fried in peanut oil. This seals the food and offers a wonderful crusty coating. Chowing, or stir-frying, is a basic method in the Chinese kitchen. Generally a wok is used, but you can also do this in a frying pan. The food is tossed about in the wok over high heat in a process not unlike sauteing. Little oil is needed and the heat is kept high, thus sealing in the flavors of the ingredients. You would think that after the meat is cooked twice, it would be dead. It is not, and you will love the flavors that these two cooking methods create.

Ingredients

1 pound of beef flank steak, sliced thin across the grain

Marinade

1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 table spoon dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
(This is actually a small amount of marinade. You may want to increase the portions depending on how much beef you plan to marinate).

For Jow (Deep-frying)

4 cups of peanut oil for deep frying

For Chow (Stir-frying)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
4 green onions, sliced Chinese style
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
Pinch of MSG [monosodium glutamate] (Optional)
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

Marinate the cut beef in the soy, wine, and ginger. Mix well and let sit for 15 minutes or longer. Drain the marinade well. Separate the beef into individual pieces.

In a wok or deep pan heat the deep-frying oil to 375°. Add the beef all at once and stir a bit to separate. Remove after 1 minute and allow the beef to drain in a colander.

Heat the wok again and add the oil for Chowing. Add the garlic and green onions and Chow for just a moment. Add the hoisin, optional MSG, and the pepper. Add the beef. Stir-fry until all is hot, and then serve over deep-fried cellophane (sai fun or mai fun) noodles, with steamed or fried rice, and your favorite Chinese hot tea.

Glossary

Wondering what some of these ingredients are or where to find them? Here a few that this recipe calls for with a description of each one. Unfortunately, some ingredients may not be available in all areas. We have several Asian markets here in Terre Haute, but sometimes I go to Indianapolis or Chinatown in Chicago to find some the more elusive ingredients.

Light soy sauce: Light Chinese soy sauce is used when you don't want to sweeten the flavor or color a dish with caramel sugar, which is what dark soy contains. Not to be confused with 'Lite' soy sauce, which is lower in salt and ironically, flavor.

Chinese rice wine: Called shao hsing in Chinese markets. Basic to Chinese cooking. A good dry sherry is fine for a substitute.

Freshy grated ginger: Very common in Chinese dishes. Buy by the 'hand,' or whole stem, at the supermarket. Keep in the refridgerator, uncovered and unwrapped. Grate when needed.

Cellophane noodles: Noodles from China made from the mung bean, the same bean from which bean sprouts grow. When deep-fried, the noodles expand and become light and fluffy. Find in Oriental markets. Also called glass noodles, sai fun, or bean threads.

Tea: Oolong, a dark tea from China; or Jasmine (my favorite), a lighter tea with a flower-blossom flavor.

Cloves garlic: Fresh bulbs work the best.

Hoisin Sauce: A soybean and pepper sauce common to Chinese recipes. Find in some supermarkets and in any Oriental market.

MSG [monosodium glutamate]: Although optional, this powder is made from seaweed and soybeans. Used as a natural flavor enhancer. Should be used sparingly, as with salt.

Ground white pepper: White peppercorns in the powder form. Important ingredient in good Chinese cooking.

Green onions, sliced Chinese style: To sliver green onions, simply cut the onions in half the long way. Lay the halves flat side down on the cutting board and cut lengthwise into long thin strands. Cut these strands, on an angle, into 1-inch-long pieces.

Source:
Jeff Smith: The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China-Greece-Rome. New York: Morrow, 1989.