Chilled beef shank and tendon with leeks and chili oil
This spicy “salad” of thinly sliced beef and beef tendon is a great addition to a larger family-style meal. If you like cold spicy Sichuan dishes like husband and wife beef and pork belly in garlic sauce, you will definitely enjoy this dish. The overall method is simple and doesn’t involve too much active cooking time: Beef shanks and tendons are simmered in seasoned water until tender. They are then cooled, sliced, and tossed with leeks and a simple dressing made with chili oil.
Ingredients
The beef that I use in this dish is boneless beef shank, sometimes called beef shin. If your grocery store doesn’t have boneless beef shanks you could ask your butcher to remove the bone from the more common bone-in beef shanks, or just use beef brisket instead of shank (also delicious). The idea is to use a cut of beef with a good amount of connective tissue, which will have a pleasant texture when cooked.
The beef tendon may be a bit harder to find. I am able to buy them frozen from my local Asian grocery store. If you don’t have access to beef tendon, don’t worry, you can omit the tendon and still have a very tasty dish with just the beef shank. Omitting the beef tendon will also greatly reduce the cooking time as the tendon takes about 3.5 hours to simmer and the beef shank only takes about 1. If you really love tendon, you could also make this dish using ALL tendon instead of beef shanks.
Good Sichuan-style chili oil is very important as it forms the backbone of this dish. I like to make my own as it keeps for a long time in the fridge, but you could also use a high-quality store-bought chili oil. I like to use chili oil that has lots of “sediment” mixed in with the oil.
Method
Simmering the beef and beef tendon is very simple but you need to keep a few things in mind while cooking…
The beef shank will go through a few phases as it cooks. for the first 10-60 minutes of simmering the beef shank will tighten up and feel very firm and bouncy to the touch. After about 60-90 minutes you will notice that the beef begins to slightly soften. After about 90-120 minutes the beef shank will start to become fall-apart tender. Because you are slicing the beef thinly for this dish, you do not want the beef to move into the fall-apart tender stage. If you let it cook this far, the finished sliced beef will become soft and mushy. The trick is to cook the beef until it just starts to soften up but is still firm, about 1 hour. If you like your beef to have a more bouncy texture (which is also delicious), cook it for only 45 minutes. Once the beef is done it will be cooled in ice water before slicing.
Once the beef shank is cooked and removed from the pot, the tendon will need to continue cooking for about 2.5 more hours. Unlike the beef shank, you want the beef tendon to get very soft and gelatinous before you stop the cooking process. The reason for this is that cooked beef tendon will firm up considerably once cooled down. If the tendon is not cooked enough, the tendon will be almost impossible to slice and have the texture of hard rubber or plastic once it is cooled.
The dressing is very simple to make as long as you have some good chili oil on hand. Sichuan peppercorn, garlic, ginger, and Thai bird chili are pounded in a mortar and pestle to make a paste. This paste is then mixed with chili oil, Chinkiang vinegar, sugar, salt, and MSG. Feel free to adjust the sauce to your tastes by adding more chili oil, vinegar, sugar, salt….
Goes well with:
- Steamed white rice
- Stir-fried shredded pork with hot peppers
- Twice cooked pork
- Stir-fried romaine with chili and garlic
Needed to make this recipe:
- Sichuan style chili oil (you could also use a good quality store-bought Sichuan chili oil)
Chilled beef shank and tendon with leeks and chili oil
Equipment
- Mortar and Pestle
Ingredients
Simmered beef shank and tendon
- 150 grams beef tendon (if omitting tendon, use 150 grams additional beef shank)
- 350 grams boneless beef shank (shin) or brisket
- 2 inch chunk of ginger, smashed with the side of a knife
- 2 scallions, lightly crushed with the side of a knife
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine (optional)
- 12 cups water
Dressing
- 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn (lightly toasted if possible)
- 10 grams garlic (3 cloves)
- 10 grams peeled ginger
- 5 grams red Thai bird chili (3 chilies)
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp MSG (optional but recommended)
- 3 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
- 4 Tbsp Sichuan chili oil, with some sediment (store-bought or home-made, recipe linked above)
Final assembly
- 75 grams leek bottoms (white part)
- reserved simmered beef shank and tendon
- reserved dressing
Instructions
Simmered beef shank and tendon
- Place the beef shank, tendon, ginger, scallion, salt, Shaoxing wine, and water into a pot and bring to an active simmer.
- Once the water starts to simmer a bit of scum may form on top, skim it off with a spoon or ladle. Cover the pot and maintain at an active simmer
- After approximately 1 hour, the shank will be finished cooking. The shank should still be quite firm and just starting to soften slightly. Do not allow the shank to cook until fully soft and tender. Remove the shank from the pot and place it in a bowl of cool water. Allow the tendon to keep cooking at an active simmer for 2-3 more hours, covered.
- After the beef shank has been in the bowl of cool water for 10 minutes, add plenty of ice to the bowl and allow the shank to cool in the ice water for 20 minutes. Remove the shank from the ice water and place it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- The beef tendon should be done after about 2-3 hours of additional cooking time (3 to 4 hours of total cooking time). Unlike the beef shank, the tendon should be very soft and gelatinous when it is done. It will firm up considerably when cooled.
- Cool the beef tendon by submerging it directly into a bowl of ice water until totally firm, about 30-40 minutes. Both the shank and tendon can be cooked ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days.
Dressing
- Grind the Sichuan peppercorn in a mortar and pestle and set aside
- Pound the salt, garlic, ginger, and Thai bird chili in the mortar and pestle to form a paste.
- Combine the paste, Sichuan peppercorn, sugar, MSG, vinegar, and chili oil in a small bowl. Stir to combine and set aside
Final assembly
- Slice the leek very thinly on a diagonal. Rinse the sliced leeks with cold water and dry with a kitchen towel or salad spinner. Place in a mixing bowl.
- Slice the chilled beef shank thinly (1/8th inch) and add to the mixing bowl with the leeks.
- Discard any soft fat attached to the chilled tendon and slice the tendon a bit thinner than the shank. Add the sliced tendon to the mixing bowl with the leeks and shanks. (if the tendon is too hard to cut when it is very cold, place it in the microwave and heat in 5-second bursts to soften it slightly)
- Add the dressing to the mixing bowl and toss everything to combine. Adjust seasoning if desired. Serve
