Title: Keith Vong's Orange-Flavored Beef
Categories: Meat
Yield: 4 Servings

4 -(up to)
6 Scallions; green part only,
-coarsely chopped
4 sl Fresh ginger; thin
1/2 Orange peel; dried, cut
-into 3 to 4 pieces
5 Dried red peppers; more or
-less (they're extremely
-fiery!)
8 -(up to)
10 oz Flank steak
1 Egg
Salt and black pepper to
-taste
3 -(up to)
4 tb Cornstarch
Chili pepper paste
1/2 c Soy sauce
1/2 c Chicken broth
4 tb Sugar
2 ts Vinegar
1 tb Cornstarch
Water
Deep-fried rice noodles or
-boiled rice

NOTE: Vong dries his own orange peel. You can do so by simply leaving the
orange peel exposed to air overnight.

Slice flank steak into pieces about the size of a half-dollar and about
1/4-inch thick or slightly thicker.

Put the scallion, fresh ginger, dried orange peel and red peppers in a
bowl and set aside.

Break the egg into the meat. Add salt and pepper and mix well. (Vong uses
his hand.) Add enough cornstarch. (Here you'll just have to guess; Vong
appears to scoop 3-4 tablespoons into the meat.) Mix thoroughly to coat
each piece.

Pour enough vegetable oil into a deep pan to cover the meat well. Heat it
at least to 375-400 degrees, and add the meat, one piece at a time, so that
two or more pieces don't adhere during the cooking. Cook, stirring, until
the beef begins to brown lightly and becomes crisp. Vong removes a piece
and checke the crispness with his fingers. With a strainer he removes all
the meat from the fat to check it, returning it to brown a bit more as
needed.

When it's light brown and crisp, remove and drain the meat.

Pour the oil into another container, returning 2-3 tablespoons of oil to
the pan in which you've cooked the meat. Add the ingredients from the first
bowl (green onion mixture) and a pinch of monosodium glutamate if you wish.

At this point Vong also adds a paste-like chili pepper (available in
Chinese groceries), a small ladle of equal amounts of soy sauce and chicken
broth, probably about 1/2 cup of each; about 4 tablespoons sugar, 2
teaspoons vinegar and a tablespoon or so of cornstarch that has been
dampened in water to form a thick paste.

Cook and stir this mixture well, until sugar is melted and almost
caramelized and the sauce is thick. It should take no more that 3-4
minutes.

Add the cooked beef, stir to coat, and serve over deep-fried rice noodles
or, if preferred, plain boiled rice.

From a collection of my mother's (Judy Hosey) recipe box which contained
lots of her favorite recipes, clippings, etc. Downloaded from Glen's MM
Recipe Archive, http://www.erols.com/hosey.