Five-spice beef
8 servings
45 minutes
Beef in five spices is a refined dish that combines the depth of flavors and aromas of Eastern cuisine. The '5 spices' mix, consisting of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel, gives the meat a rich, slightly sweet, spicy, and warm taste. Cooking beef in a rich broth made from chicken and pork bones makes it incredibly tender, juicy, and infused with complex aromas of spices and alcohol. This dish can be served as an independent delicacy with sauces and herbs or as a broth that warms and nourishes. The recipe's origins trace back to Chinese traditions of cooking meat with aromatic spices but is well adapted for European cuisine. It is suitable for cozy home dinners or festive tables where you want to impress guests with sophisticated flavor.
1
Pour boiling water (5 liters) over chicken and pork bones, add ginger, sherry, and five stalks of green onion, place on fire, and simmer for three hours, occasionally skimming off the foam and fat.
- Chicken bones (carcass): 1 kg
- Pork bones: 1 kg
- Ginger: 100 g
- Sherry: 100 ml
- Spring onion: 7 stems
2
Cut the beef (better to take pieces from the rear, called rump in English) into thin slices.
- Beef: 800 g
3
Chop two stalks of green onion finely. In a pot, add the chopped onion, meat, pour in the cognac, two liters of broth from pork and chicken bones, and boil for twenty-five minutes after it starts boiling.
- Spring onion: 7 stems
- Cognac (brandy): 50 g
- Chicken bones (carcass): 1 kg
- Pork bones: 1 kg
4
After that, add a pinch of salt, soy sauce, the '5 spices' mix, and sugar, and cook for another twenty minutes.
- Salt: pinch
- Soy sauce: 50 ml
- Chinese five-spice powder: 10 g
- Sugar: 125 g
5
Remove the meat, cool it down, and serve either with broth or with chopped green onions, sesame oil, and lemon juice.
