[Book] Flavor Profile # 9: Ginger and scallion

Ginger and scallion, a classic combo from the Chinese cooking trinity (姜葱)

Introduction

Scallion, ginger, garlic are the trinity in Chinese cooking in general. Each of these aromatics have their own distinct feature and aroma, from which certain flavor profiles are born out of either using only one or a combination of these fragrant plants.

In Cantonese cooking, the combo of “ginger + scallion” is a classic and basic flavor profile that can be used almost everywhere, from the most basic home cook’s mixed noodle, to pork, beef, tofu, or even high-end steamed fish, white cut chicken, and seafood.

The basic idea is flavoring peanut oil with ginger and scallion, then use soy sauce + sugar (and sometimes oyster sauce as well) as the major seasoning component.

Here we want to show you a basic formula on how to use this flavor profile as a base to create dishes that’re quintessentially Cantonese – which follows a general idea of “pre-cook the main ingredient (e.g. meat or noodle) + whip up a sauce + fry ginger and scallion in oil to flavor + add the sauce + mix in main ingredient + combine and finish with fresh ginger + scallion”.

Recipe #1 Ginger and scallion squid pot 姜葱鱿鱼煲

This is a class way to cook squid as ginger and scallion are excellent in getting rid of the “fishiness” of seafood. It follows the general formula above and it’s generally a simple dish that can be done in half an hour. The trickiest part is probably how to handle the squid so that it stays plump and juicy, which shares the same idea of marinating meat with starch to create a thin gelatinized coating for a tender texture.

Ingredients:

• Squid, fresh ones preferably (鲜鱿), 300g

For aromatics:

• Ginger (姜), 2-inch knob, about 30g peeled and thinly sliced
• Scallion, (葱), 3 big sprigs, about 50g, separate the white and the green, both cut into 1-inch sections

For the sauce:

• Oyster sauce, (蚝油), 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce, (生抽), 2 tsp
• Liaojiu, aka Shaoxing wine (料酒) 2 tsp
• Sugar, 1/2 tsp
• Salt, 1/4 tsp
• Water, 1/4 cup

Process:

Clean the squids, take out the guts, soft bones, teeth, and eyes. Cut the body into rings and halve the tentacle by cutting at the mouth.

After the squid is cleaned and cut. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boiling, toss in the squid, let it cook for 30 seconds. Heat off, strain and rinse under running right away to stop the cooking process.

Gently squeeze out some water and strain well. Take a couple paper towels and gently pat them dry. Dust it with 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch to create a “protection coat” so that they don’t shrink that much in the final cooking process. Then set aside.

Mix all the seasonings together, set aside.

Now we can start cooking. Heat up your serving pot on medium, add in the oil, here about 2 tbsp, give it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface. Toss in all of the ginger and scallion white, fry it for a couple minutes till the edges turns brown.

Then heat on high, put in the squid, fry it for 2 minutes, then toss in the seasoning sauce.

Bring everything to a big boil, shut off the heat, immediately toss in the rest of the scallion green, cover, and bring the whole pot to the table and serve directly.

Note:

Ginger and scallion are a classic combo for squid in Cantonese cooking. Besides making a sizzling pot, you can also make a stir fry.

Just follow the same order in prepping, only add in 2 tbsp water to the sauce and use a wok instead. When stir frying, give the precooked squids a quick 1-minute pan sear on both sides to brown the edge (oil will pop and splash because it’s still seafood) → then take out the squids → fry the aromatics → add in the sauce → the squid → the final fresh scallion → and out.

Same method of making the pot and stir-frying can also be used to cook other seafood, like shrimp, scallop, oyster, and meaty fish slices.

Recipe #2 Blanched beef with ginger and scallion sauce 白灼牛肉

Ginger and scallion being this almost all-purpose flavor profile, you’ll often see it shows up in the menu with stir fried beef. While that’s awesome and classic, in this recipe, we want to show you an alternative route to approach this timeless best-buds in a slightly different way by blanching the beef, or as some may call this method – “water-velveting”.

Now, water velveting is a legit technique in prepping protein in Chinese kitchen, it’s just not a “one-fits-all” method when it comes to cooking meat. It has its distinct strength and weakness: (a). It usually requires a thicker coating and often involves egg white, giving a smoother final texture with a more obvious “coat”. (b). The heat medium is water, which max at 100C and things are cooked more slowly. (c). The meat would contain more liquid on the surface afterwards, which would not be in favor when trying to get that “wok-hei” dryness in the final stir-frying stage.

So water-velveting is a good way for preparing seafood like shrimp, oyster, or scallops to retain a juicy tender bite. When it comes to meat like pork or beef, it’s often used in soup, non-stir-fried cold mixing dishes, and dishes with a heavy sauce, like the Sichuanese “huarou/滑肉” (smooth meat) soups, Quanzhou beef soup from Hokkien area (泉州牛肉羹), Hakka mixed beef (客家腌牛肉), or the one we’re making here, Cantonese style blanched/white cut beef (白灼牛肉) with a simple ginger and scallion sauce.

Ingredients:

• Beef loin (牛脊肉), 300g

For aromatics:

• Ginger (姜), 1 inch knob, about 15g, half of which peeled and thinly julienne, and the other half thinly slice 
• Scallion, (葱), 2 sprigs, about 30g, separate the white and the green, both cut into 1-inch sections, and thinly slit the green part, then soak it in cool water to curl up

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce, (生抽), 1 tbsp
• Oyster sauce, (蚝油), 1 tbsp
• Water, 1 tbsp
• Sugar, 1/2 tsp
• Salt, 1/4 tsp
• White pepper, (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp
• Chicken bouillon, (鸡精), 1/8 tsp
• MSG, (味精), 1/8 tsp

For the marinate:

• Light soy sauce, (生抽), 2 tsp
• Dark soy sauce, (老抽), 1/2 tsp
• Sugar, 1/8 tsp
• White pepper (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp
• Liaojiu, aka Shaoxing wine, (料酒), 1 tsp
• Potato starch slurry, (or other root vegetable starch like sweet potato/tapioca/arrowroot), (土豆淀粉), 3 tbsp starch
• Water, 3 tbsp
• Oil for coating, 1 tbsp

Process:

Julienne half of the ginger, and slice the other half. Seperate the scallion whites and greens,  cut into 1 inch sections, then cut the green length wise, soak it in water to curl up.

Slice the beef into 2-inch by 1-inch sized and 2mm-ish thick pieces. Then marinate the beef with the marinate except the water, starch, and oil, mix it well and stir till it gets a bit sticky.

Then add in the water 1 tbsp at a time, stirring in one direction till the water’s absorbed, then add in another tbsp till finish all three tbsp.

Mix the potato starch with equal amount of water (3 tbsp) to make a slurry, add it to the meat, give it a good stir to coat it well, add the oil to coat, quick mix and set aside.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, then turn the heat to medium high with small bubbles coming out, gently put the meat in, piece by piece. Don’t stir and let it sit inside for 1 minute and let the starch coating form first.

Then gently stir to break up the pieces. Let it poach for another two to three minutes depends on the thickness of your beef slices. Ladle it out, put it under a smaller stream of tap water, gently rinse off the small bits of protein so that it doesn’t cloud the sauce. And set aside to strain.

In a heat resistant bowl, mix everything listed for the sauce, set aside.

Long yau and heat up 2 tbsp of oil, peanut preferably, fry the scallion whites and ginger slices for 3-4 minutes on medium low, or till the edge browns. Then take out the aromatics.

Add the julienne ginger and curled up scallions into the sauce bowl (gently squeeze the water out before adding the scallion).

Heat up the aromatic oil in the wok to 180C or till you start to see smoke coming out, then immediately pour the hot oil onto into the sauce bowl. Then give it a mix.

Then mix the sauce and beef together, top it with a couple extra scallion on top, and serve.

Note:

In this one, I didn’t include egg white in the marinate to go for an easier (and lazier) route. The coating is less thick and obvious, which is intended for this style of Cantonese cold mixed dish since the meat should be tender and smooth but you should barely notice the coating.

If you want to use egg white, just swap the water with an egg white when making the potato starch slurry. It’ll be a bit difficult to mix, just be patient and make sure it becomes a smooth slurry with no clumps left.

You can also use pork in this recipe.

In soups that use this style of velveted meat, the starch coating is thicker and mostly includes egg white.