Red-Cooked Lamb Recipe - Cooking Index
Red-Cooked Lamb Recipe - Cooking Index
Red-cooking, a technique from eastern China, gets its name from the beautiful red-brown color of meats simmered in a highly seasoned soy sauce. You can use the cooking liquid, or "master sauce," over and over again, and it gets richer each time you use it. Add a little water, broth, or fresh soy sauce and a bit of the seasoning each time you re-use the sauce to maintain the color and flavor.
Type: Lamb| Sauce | ||
| 2 tablespoons | 30ml | Vegetable oil |
| 4 | Garlic cloves - crushed | |
| 6 | Thin slices ginger | |
| 2 | Star anise | |
| 1 | Deied tangerine peel | |
| = (or 2 pieces fresh orange peel, white | ||
| Part removed, each abt 1 1/2" square) | ||
| 4 cups | 948ml | Chicken broth |
| 1/4 cup | 59ml | Regular soy sauce |
| 1/4 cup | 59ml | Dry sherry or Chinese rice wine |
| 1/3 cup | 78ml | Dark soy sauce |
| 3 tablespoons | 45ml | Sugar |
| Lamb | ||
| 3 lbs | 1362g / 48oz | Lamb shoulder piece |
| 1/4 teaspoon | 1.3ml | Cornstarch - dissolved in |
| 1 1/2 teaspoons | 7.5ml | Water |
| Thinly-sliced cucumber - for garnish |
Place a medium saucepan over high heat until hot. Add the oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the lamb in a pot just large enough to hold it snugly; cover it with cold water. Bring to a boil, cook for 4 minutes, and drain. Remove the lamb and rinse the pot. Return the lamb to the pot and add the sauce. (If necessary, add just enough chicken broth or water so the lamb is barely covered.) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the lamb is tender when pierced, about 2 hours.
Pour off the sauce and strain it. Bring 1/2 cup of the sauce to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens. To serve, cut the lamb into very thin slices. Arrange them on a serving plate and garnish with sliced cucumber. Serve with the thickened sauce.
This recipe yields 4 servings.
Tips: Refrigerate the remaining sauce to use again. Lift any congealed fat off the sauce before using.
If you wish to serve the lamb thinly sliced as part of an appetizer cold plate, let it cool in the sauce.
Source:
Everybody's Wokking by Martin Yan, (Harlow & Ratner, 1991)
Average rating:
5 (3 votes)
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