QUICK-BRAISED BEEF TENDON RICE

(Food Theory Blog #1)

This week, I visited my local Chinese grocer. While I was there, I tried to find a cut of meat that I could best utilize to create a dish with optimum return on my investment. It took a bit of thinking, but I finally came to my conclusion.

This cut not only allows me to cook two products with it, but you don't lose much of it's quantity through the process of cooking too! This cut of meat is one of the best cuts to work with! ....... it's BEEF TENDON!

This cut is very popular in asian dishes, I've seen it in Japanese ramen, it's in Vietnamese pho, in Chinese beef noodles, it's braised, stewed, served as a Dim Sum dish, you name it!

Beef Tendon, the band of tissue that connects muscle to bone, is very tough and fibrous before cooked. Its almost seems inedible at first, however the longer you cook it, the softer it gets. It contains a large amount of collagen and gelatine. Eating this will benefit to healthier skin, hair, joints, bones, and nails. Although it may taste similar to fatty cuts of beef, it's fat content is significantly low. The texture after cooked down to the right state has the mouthfeel of firm jello, and it has pleasant elasticity to it. It's quite the delicacy if you ask me. Such the marvellous cut, requires little effort to cook, just patience.

The cut of the meat is not too expensive. At WinCo Supermarket in Markham, you can buy a pound of beef tendon for approximately $6-10 depending on whether it's prepackaged or straight from the butcher.

For the best way to utilize this cut:

Use it to simmer in your stocks to collect some of that collagen first! That alone spikes up the value of your stock already; 10 points for that

After all that simmering, the beef tendon will begin to soften down. There should still be elasticity left to it after around 2-3 hours of simmering. It should still be quite firm to the touch. After this step, the rest of the cooking process to a fork-tender state is a lot quicker.

Other methods of cooking beef tendon include stewing, braising, steaming, or even longer simmering! All these methods are suitable because beef tendon just needs time, and of course the right seasonings.

For the purpose of this blog, I'll be demonstrating a Quick Braised Beef Tendon dish that can be put into noodle soup or rice. This recipe can be used after 2-3 hours of simmering in stock.

R E C I P E

Ingredients:

Beef Tendon 1LB

Sake 50ml

Light Soya Sauce 50ml

Mirin 30ml

Ginger, minced 25g

Leeks, rough chop 30g

Green Onions Garnish

Method:

1. Rough cut the tendon into tiny pieces, they do not need to be perfect because they will cook down and blend together with the liquids. Prepare the minced ginger and leeks, and have all the other ingredients measured out.

2. Add all the ingredients except the leeks into a sauce pot. Stir occasionally on low-medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until the braise has reduced about halfway, and is tender to your liking.

3. Lastly, add in the leeks, and cook down until tender, about 5-7 more minutes.

4. Top on rice or noodles, garnish with sliced green onions. Enjoy!

If you have a lazy weekend to yourself, leave the stock to simmer on the stove, and reserve another 30 minutes out of the day to cook this super simple and delicious Beef Tendon Braise. It's the perfect comfort food to share with your family or to enjoy it alone!

Have fun! 😁🍜🥡