The Great Recipe Book Challenge of 2013 - April

What is constructive criticism? Is it like getting a slap to the face with a velvet glove? Or perhaps a very helpful push when already jumping from a train? It is only in these very private pages that I can suggest that perhaps I don't take criticism very well. It is only here that I can admit that while totally necessary, I can't always see that people are trying to help. However, as you can see from these previous pages, I don't seem to have the same reservations when offering my own opinions!!

With that self deprecating vision firmly in mind I come to Aprils Great Recipe Challenge. What happens when you follow a recipe and you don't really like the result? Do you blame yourself? Did you do everything right? Perhaps you didn't follow the instructions correctly? Let's find out.

I've had Ken Hom's principle foray into the British kitchen for donkeys years. His Hot Wok has mocked me with it's talk of instant deliciousness and authentic Chinese flavours. Now, Ken the joke is on you, we get to see what you're really made of!

The random number generator gave me Savoury Beef with Asparagus, or in the words of any Chinese Takeaway: Beef in black bean sauce (and added asparagus). And this, I thought, looked pretty tasty. I've already been put off dodgy takeaway Sweet and Sour sauce by experiencing how easy and tasty the home made version can be. This, I thought would be another classic I could add to that stable.

There were a few new ingredients, the black beans were bought as was the rice wine and oyster sauce. While we have Thai food regularly at home, we usually leave Chinese for dinners out which meant I now have enough of the above to make dinners for the next week and little chance of fulfilling that promise. I also splashed out and bought some nice expensive beef. I don't normally buy beef because I'm too much of a tight arse to get the good stuff and the bad stuff is, well, bad.

I soaked the beans as directed that morning and, as is my want when following recipes, prepped everything so we are ready to go. It all started so well; the marinade smelled lovely, the ginger was supermarket fresh and the glass of wine I had on the go was already making life that little bit easier to suffer. Then something went wrong - the recipe stopped making sense, why would you put the beef back in to the wok? Hang-on, one and a half tablespoons of garlic? Even when serving four that is a hell of a lot.

The end result suffered from a few problems, the black beans needed a much more soaking than the back of the packet would have you believe, they were in there for 11 hours but they were still crunchy.  The beef was also ruined. By returning the beef to the wok to add the sauce, it tipped over the edge from meltingly beautiful to chewy and unpleasant. Finally the salt level was off the scale, I know that authentic Chinese cooking often suffers from serious saltiness (I'll tell you my "Hot Pot' story one day), but in this case, 'savoury' clearly meant 'salty'. The soy in the veg alongside the added salt and the salt in the marinade and the final oyster sauce was just too much.

So, the question is. Are these problems resultant from the execution (i.e. me) or does the recipe have a fundamental flaw (i.e. Ken)? I'm going to hedge my bets and say a bit of both. I'm sure that if Ken whipped this up in my kitchen he would be able to balance the sweet rice wine togeather with the salty soy and oyster sauce like the master he undoubtedly is, but I'd be prepared to bet that he wouldn't do it by following the quantities and instructions in this recipe.

Serves 4

Savoury Beef with Asparagus

450g lean beef steak

450g fresh asparagus sliced on the diagonal

3 tablespoons groundnut oil

100g thinly sliced onions

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped black beans

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 teaspoons chopped root ginger

3 tablespoons chicken stock

1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons  black pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

Marinade:

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

2 teaspoons Shaoxing rice wine

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons  black pepper

2 teaspoons corn flour

Cut the beef into thin slices, put in a bowl and add the marinade. Mix well and leave to steep.

Heat the oil in the wok until slightly smoking, add the beef and stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove the meat and drain. Pour off all but 1 and a half tablespoons of the oil and re heat. When very hot, add the onions, black beans, garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for 1 minute then add the asparagus and continue to cook for 1 minute the add the stock, rice wine, salt, pepper and sugar. Fry for a further 3 minutes and add water if it goes dry. Quickly returnt he meat to the wok, add the oyster sauce and stir well. Turn the mixture onto a platter and serve at once.