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Chinese Five-Spice Braised Beef with Daikon
22 JanI had asked my mum for her Chinese five-spice braised beef recipe probably a good ten years ago if not longer. I used to make it a lot but eased up the past few years as I tried to eat more healthy. I had a craving for it the other day so marched on down to my favorite butcher shop Drewes Bros. Meats (which also happens to be around the corner from me – how convenient!) to buy some meat. They offer high-quality meats and seafood.
In the past, I’d buy all my meat at Ranch 99, Costco, and Safeway since it was so cheap. However, a number of years ago, I started to educate myself on grass-fed vs corn-fed and antibiotic vs antibiotic-free and factory feedlots vs pasture. Can we say yikes! At that point, I realized that I needed to pick and choose the type of meat I bought.
Since I cook a lot of Chinese food, I preferred going to the Chinese market for a lot of my meats because the cuts I need can be slightly different at an Asian versus non-Asian market. For example, I make this “1-2-3-4-5″ ribs dish (I”ll blog about it in a future post) but I like to use ribs that are cut into much smaller bite sized pieces. Or the non-Asian market may not offer what I’m looking for (e.g. beef tendon). The great thing about a butcher shop such as Drewes is the owner has told me that he can basically get anything I need usually within a day or two depending on when I request it. And they can cut the meat any way I want.
At Drewes, I told what I was making and asked them what cut I should use. I tried to explain the cut I usually got at the Asian market (“it’s cut relatively thin, long, can have this casing on it, and they roll it up“, fully admitting I didn’t know what it was called. They called out a few different cuts and I just gave them a blank stare. I guess I was hoping they’d magically know what I meant. They were polite and suggested I find out what the cut was and let them know. I ended up choosing the beef brisket and got 3lbs worth.
I also had bought a daikon from the San Rafael farmers market the previous weekend so decided to add that to the mix.
The brisket was a bit larger than I’d normally use but thought if I was going to have this braise for over 2 hours, I’d like to have some leftovers for lunch.
Ingredients
2-3lb beef brisket
3-4 large slices of ginger
1 C water
1 large daikon
marinade
2 tsp five-spice powder
2 anise
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce
Boil water in a pot. This will be used to blanch the meat to remove excess fat.
Prepare marinade. In a small bowl, add 2tsp five-spice powder.
Add 2 pieces of anise.
Next comes 1 tsp Chinese cooking wine.
Add 2 tsp each light and dark soy sauces.
Add 1 tsp sugar.
Add 1 tsp oyster sauce. Psst, this is my go-to brand.
Mix all marinade ingredients together. Set aside.
Peel the daikon and cut into thick discs. Set aside.
Cut the meat into 2″x2″ chunks.
Once the water is boiling, drop the beefs chunks into the water. Leave for about 30 seconds then remove to a separate plate. You will probably have to do this in batches unless you have a huge pot.
Take another pot (or wok) and heat it up over high. Add a bit of canola oil. Cut 3-4 large slices of ginger and add to the pot. Brown the beef. Do in batches if necessary. Don’t try to cram it all in the pot.
Add marinade to the pot and mix together.
Add approximately 1 C of water to the pot and stir.
Add daikon to pot.
Bring to a slow simmer and cover pot. Check periodically and give meat a quick stir. If it looks like the water is evaporating too fast (fast simmer happening?), adjust your temperature down (make sure to maintain slow simmer) and add a bit of water. Braise for at least 2 hours.
Once done, separate the meat from the sauce. Once cooled, place the sauce in the fridge for a few hours to harden. Scrape off the layer of fat. Re-add sauce to the meat.
Here are the results.
The meat was tender and not dry which was my biggest concern. Anna thought it could a bit more salt so I added 1 tbsp each light and dark soy sauce to the pot after it was cooked and mixed in. That seemed to work. I felt it needed to have another texture other than pure meat with every bite so next time I’ll add beef tendon . I also would like to experiment and maybe use a blend of meat like brisket, cheek, and/or shank and see how that works. I also think I could add the daikon in towards the end; maybe at the 1 or 1 1/2 hour mark. They were good but a little too soft and broke up too easily. Finally I think I will adjust the marinade ingredient measurements and see how the taste changes.
Overall, I’d make this dish again as I prepared it but will be experimenting as outlined above.
Aphrodite’s Organic Café and Pie Shop
17 Jan
Towards the end of our trip in Vancouver we were finally able to arrange a get together with our family friends (brother and sister and their respective spouses) for breakfast. It was difficult finding an open day since between their families and ours we had eight kids all with different schedules that we had to work around. There was school, skiing at Cypress, dim sum with the grandparents, naps, The Nutcracker Ballet – the list went on and on. Then there was the matter of who would take care of them. Luckily we had two sets of grandparents who were willing and able. Problem solved!
Even though our friends live in Vancouver, I was tasked with providing breakfast restaurant suggestions. I ended up with a list of five places: Aphrodite’s Organic Cafe and Pie Shop, The Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe, Twisted Fork Bistro, Deacon’s Corner, and La Brasserie. I had a few more in mind but thought they might not be appropriate (e.g. one is a bar that added food which got good reviews). In the end, the consensus was Aphrodite’s and that one won more because it was close to the friends place which made it easier to arrange babysitting. I hope to try the others later this year when I’m up again.
What attracted me to this place was the pie. I love pie. Especially strawberry-rhubarb pie which is not very common in the States (or at least California) but is found everywhere in Canada so I like to get my fix when home. It didn’t hurt that this place tried to use local organic food.
We were running a bit late but so were our friends so it all worked out. After sitting down, I ordered a coffee which was great. Forgot to ask what it was but I liked it. A lot.
Besides the regular menu, they had a brunch menu which had a variety of items from bennys to a standard “eggs and bacon with a side of toast” type of option. Mark ended up getting the Aprhodite’s Stuffed French Toast which was described like this: Stuffed with seasonal fruit cream cheese, served with maple syrup and organic chantilly whipped cream.
Marie and I got the Aphrodite’s breakfast which was three organic eggs with your choice of bacon, sausage, tofurkey sausage, ham or tofu. Served with home fries, multigrain toast and garden greens. They had all the standard type of sausages like turkey and pork but what caught my eye was the elk. If I remember correctly I think Marie had the same. The cafe sources all its sausages from Oyama Sausage Company. Marie vouched for the company and said it’s the best. I must admit the sausage was great. Not too salty and great taste. The bread was only ok for me but it was a multigrain bread which tends to be more dry when compared to the unhealthy white bread. Overall, I enjoyed my meal a lot.
James ordered the tourtière which was my other choice but hesitated because nothing beats an authentic tourtière from Quebec and was worried I’d be disappointed. However, he liked his dish so I’ll consider giving it a try next time.
Finally, Anna ordered the Smoked Sockeye Salmon & Fresh Basil Benny. She didn’t enjoy the meal as much. Thought it was only ok and wouldn’t make a special trip back here.
For some reason, I think I forgot to get a picture of Serena’s dish. Darn it.
I can’t forget that they brought some raspberry jam, peanut butter and butter for our toast.
Even though we were all stuffed, we had to try the pie.
We ordered an apple pie with whipped cream and a strawberry (or was it raspberry?)-rhubarb pie and four forks. Everyone loved the apple pie while people were only ok on the other one.
The service was friendly and attentive. All in all I liked this place and would come back here. However, given the number of new breakfast places popping up in Vancouver, it’ll probably be awhile before I get back here.
Aphrodite’s Organic Cafe and Pie Shop
3598 4th Ave W
Vancouver, BC
Tags: aphrodite's organic cafe and pie shop, breakfast, breakfast vancouver, organic pie, vancouver pie
Dynasty Seafood Restaurant
14 JanI’m back! It’s taken a good week to get settled back into a routine and still not quite there yet. We had no food in the house so had to go to Rainbow Grocery to restock all our pastas, rice, flour, cereals, and oils. Unfortunately I found out that they don’t offer the 20% discount off entire bill anymore. Bummers.
I started reviewing my Vancouver/Honolulu notes and photos and decided to start off with one of the last restaurants we went to while in Vancouver. My parents wanted to treat Anna to a king crab birthday dinner and the plan was to go to Kirin. My mum called to book a table for eight for Saturday December 18th evening and pre-order the king crab but was told that there was a banquet reserved for that night and they might run out of crab. My first thought was, can’t they just order more?
Anyways, we decided to call Dynasty on W. Broadway to see if they could accommodate us. Although they were busy that night, they were able to reserve a table for us and pre-order the king crab. I’d only been to Dynasty for dim sum but never for dinner so was looking forward to trying something new.
Dynasty was hopping the night of the dinner. We got a good table near the window which had a view of the mountains. All the tables were full with a small banquet on one end of the restaurant occupying a good portion of the tables. If I remember correctly, it was for an wedding anniversary.
My mom said to look in the tank for our king crab. It was pretty easy to find. See it?
My parents told me the crab was going for $33 per pound which was up significantly from last year ($25 per pound I think). This mean this puppy cost TWO-HUNDRED and SEVENTY DOLLARS! Let’s just say I ate every morsel of meat and then some.
The waiter brought the crab over to our table before bringing it to the kitchen.
We started off dinner with a clear broth soup. It was good.
The soup’s meat and vegetables were spooned out into a separate plate for us to eat. I drank the soup but didn’t touch the rest to save my appetite for the crab.
Next came out the first crab dish which was steamed crab legs in garlic and green onions.
It was pretty good. Here are a few other shots of this dish. Drooling yet?
Here’s the second way they cooked the crab. Although it had the chili peppers it wasn’t too spicy. Pretty well made. Batter wasn’t too thick, good taste, and not too salty.
Then came the pan-fry black cod which was excellent.
We had a Shun Tak Sparerib dish which was very tasty.
Then came the final crab dish which was fried rice with crab.
And finally I think this was snow pea shoot leafs with some strips of ham on top.
For dessert, they offered Malaysian red bean soup which I’ve never had. I forgot to take a picture of it. But basically it was similar (kind of) to the typical red bean soup you normally get at the end of a Chinese meal except it had peanuts in it. Not my thing. My cousin Julie made a cake for Anna which we had at dinner.
Dynasty Seafood Restaurant
777 West Broadway, #108
Vancouver, BC
Cafe Gloucester
6 JanThis place has been around forever it seems. It’s supposed to be one of the better HK-style places in Vancouver. I’m guessing Richmond has better? Can anyone tell me where?
We headed to this restaurant after checking out Bright Nights in Stanley Park which was pretty good. There’s a train ride you can book online (or at the site itself but better to book online since it sells out quickly especially times between 5pm-9pm) which also gets you into the petting zoo and farm animals. The farm animal barn has two rooms – one with the animals and this other room that is decorated with Christmas scenes.
I kind of question the set up of one particular scene. It had this little boy kneeling beside a bed praying but reminded me of a scene from a horror film! What do you think?
The cafe was pretty empty when we got there maybe a table or two occupied. We got situated and took a look at the menu. A bit of everything.
I always love the Baked Pork Chop with Fried Rice but since my mum was getting that (meaning I could sample) I decided to get the Spaghetti Milan. What is that you ask? I didn’t know either until I asked. Ox tongue was the reply. I’ll have one of those please.
Anna got the Baked Pork Chop with Curry over Fried Rice and my brother and Dad got this special to share which consisted of beef tenderloin, giant prawn and Japanese eel. It came with a bowl of clam chowder.
The ox tongue dish was disappointing. Strips of ox tongue but mainly strips of ham filler mixed in with mushrooms in this sweet tomato sauce. It was topped off with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
The baked pork chop dish was better than any I’ve had in San Francisco. Yum.
The baked pork chop with curry dish was good. I haven’t seen this in other places before (at least not in San Francisco).
I asked my dad and brother how their dish was. They said it was ok. From what I could tell the beef was cooked as they had requested – medium rare. I don’t think this is a standard dish you’d order in a HK-style cafe? The clam chowder was good according to them.
I liked this place and would come back here next time I’m in town. However, I’d probably stick to my favorites like baked pork chop over fried rice.
Cafe Gloucester
3338 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC
