Receta Chinese-Russian Fusion
So, here I am, sitting at
my desk and typing merrily away on my computer’s keyboard. It is just going on 6:30am, and I have
already experienced many joys of nature.
First and foremost is the backyard neighbor’s “elephant rooster” waking
up the household at 5am. I call it an
“elephant rooster” as it trumpets like one from around 5am, sometimes even 4am,
and continues throughout the day. I do
not understand rooster language, but obviously this one has much to inform the
neighborhood about.
Letting out the dogs to do
their morning absolutions, I prepare the food for the indoor pets, as well as
the outdoor kitty family. The kittens
are already up, jumping and playing, while Mama Callie looks on with sleepy
eyes. Putting down their food dish, the
kittens will not eat until I pick up each one, give kisses and a belly rub,
which earns me some very loud purr action.
About an hour later, the
coffee, vanilla caramel flavor this morning, is brewing and the food dishes are
being washed up. Gazing out the kitchen
window, I am greeted by the lovely sight of a hummingbird at the water
feeder. It enjoys sipping at the sugar
water (only natural cane sugar, no red food dye); its wings beating furiously,
yet I can still make out the iridescent colors of its plumage. Oh, now I have just shocked myself as I have
spelled “iridescent” correctly, and not even had my first cup of coffee as yet.
While the temperature
outside is still cool, a slight breeze swaying the tree branches, I know it
will be another hot, dry day. After
experiencing such joy from nature this morning, I remember the fires burning in
our forests, and my heart aches. The
trees, plant life, the wild life; spring saw the birthing of animal babies;
were their parents able to get them away in time? Whether by nature’s own doing (lightning), or
the sheer stupidity of man (abandoned camp fire), fire destroys, and the loss
is heart breaking.
…and now to thoughts on
food.
Pepper steak, a stir-fried
Chinese American dish consisting of sliced beef steak cooked with sliced green
and/or red bell peppers plus seasonings of soy sauce and ginger. Sliced onions area common addition; bean
sprouts for a little more texture. The
dish originated from Fujian cuisine, where it was known as qingjiao ròusi, the
meat of choice being pork. A similar
dish, called chin-jao rosu is found in Japanese Chinese cuisine. As Chinese restaurants began to expand
throughout the United States, around 1948, diners were introduced to pepper
steak. However, due to religious, or
health, reasons, many could, or would, not eat pork, and beef is definitely
all-American.
While researching the
origin, I came upon a definition of pepper steak which simply is, “strips of
steak sautéed with green peppers and onions”.
However, a second definition gives this dish a French twist, “steak
covered with crushed peppercorns, pan-broiled, and served with
brandy-and-butter sauce”. This refers more
to Steak au Poivre. In 1961, Julia Child
introduced this recipe to America when it was published in the New York
Times. It is featured in her cookbook, Mastering
the Art of French Cooking, and now it is bragging time. She actually put out two books, Part 1 and
Part 2, and I happily found a first edition of each at an antique shop, of
all places. In 2002, food blogger, Julie
Powell challenged herself to cook, daily for an entire one year, a recipe from
these Julie Child cookbooks. The movie, Julie
and Julia depicts the adventure, and while a well done movie, there is no
way I personally would ever take up a challenge like this.
However, I do challenge
myself to come up with new ways of cooking up an “old” recipe. Did you ever get in the mood for a dish, but
wanted another one as well? Do you cook
up both, pick just one, or do something unique like combining? Well I ended up combining ingredients that
would fit pepper steak, but also Russian stroganoff; and all due to not having
any fresh, or canned, mushrooms!
Basically I fused a Chinese dish, pepper steak, with a Russian one, stroganoff,
and came up with…oh, the smell, the taste, it was all intoxicating!
I have written up
stroganoff before, but as a reminder, credit for the recipe has been given to
three people. The history behind this dish is vague: #1 – 1850s created by a chef
for Count Grigory Stroganov who had rotten teeth and needed the meat to be very
soft. #2 – 1891 created by French Chef
Briere for Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov; using shallots. #3 – 1871 Elena Molokhovets writes a cookbook
for young housewives; her recipe uses mushrooms, onions, bouillon, allspice and
mustard.
My recipe calls for the
dish to be cooked in a crock pot for eight hours; the beef becoming so tender,
it simply melts in the mouth. So now, I
present to you, Pepper Steak Stroganoff.
Pepper Steak Stroganoff
Ingredients:
2 lbs. lean beef roast,
cut into one inch cubes
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. each red wine
vinegar and Worcestershire sauce
1 cup each green and red
bell peppers, cut into half inch slices
1 large red onion, cut into
half inch slices
2 cups beef stock
½ tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 lb. wide egg noodles
4 Tbsp. butter
12 oz. sour cream
Preparation:
Spray 4-quart crock pot
with nonstick cooking spray. Add in
beef, sprinkle flour over cubes, vinegar, Worcestershire, bell peppers, onions;
in that order. Mix together stock, black
pepper and garlic; pour over all in the pot.
Cover, set on low, and cook for 8 hours.
At the 7 hour mark, cook
the egg noodles according to package directions, drain, and place in bowl; gently
mix in butter until melted and noodles coated.
At the 8 hour mark, add sour cream to crock pot, mix well, and serve
over egg noodles.
Makes 8 servings.
Mary Cokenour