Shadow Play Beef

Shadow Play Beef

This spicy snack is actually a type of jerky. It’s said that its intriguing name was given by Yuan Zhen (779-831), an investigating censor in the central government and a prolific poet of the Tang Dynasty. After offending certain conservative officials and the eunuchs that held much political sway at the time, Yuan was exiled to today’s Dazhou City in Sichuan Province. There, in a nondescript tavern, he came across a dish of thinly sliced beef that locals liked to snack on when having a drink. The beef was succulent and full of flavor thanks to its long and elaborate marination. Yuan Zhen was particularly taken with its fine translucence, which reminded him of the leather puppets used in shadow plays, and began calling it dengying niurou, or “shadow play” beef.

The thin beef slices did not become popular until the reign of Qing Emperor Guangxu (1875-1909), when a man named Liu opened a delicatessen in Dazhou. He gradually improved the old recipe to produce beef jerky with a better taste and a texture that wouldn’t get stuck in teeth, and the customers started rolling in. Other jerky makers soon adopted his recipe, and the new variety of jerky became popular across the nation.

To Prepare: Cut topside beef into wide, thin slices, sprinkle with salt, sugar, prickly ash and five-spice powder. Put aside until the meat turns bright red. Roast it in an oven until dry, cut into smaller pieces and steam. When fully cooked, deep fry the slices over a low flame, season them with Shaoxing rice wine. Leave to cool, and enjoy the crisp, succulent, spicy result.

Source: China Today