One of the things is the beef. It tends to be very chewy particularly as the dish cools down. I always wondered why they don’t use the baking soda technique that is used in every other beef dish. But I think you have the solution in using a tender cut. I think the restaurants use something cheaper. Actually, I think a fair number of the cheaper places use a battered and par-fried, frozen product which is just never going to to be that good. All of it here is battered and fried. It can be good, but I think the dredge, or double dredge, is better. This is the least of my concerns about making the dish since I use the dredge and shallow fry technique a lot.

There are two things that I find make for far better ginger beef. One is the veggies, and one is the sauce. Here we invariably get julienne onion, carrot and bell peppers. It’s exactly the same as the veg for salt and pepper seafood. You can always tell who cares about what they are doing if the julienne is done well, not unevenly, and the veg is finished with some salt. There is just something fantastic about a decent quantity of this julienne that’s been properly chowed and finished with a bit of salt and pepper.

While I’m at it I may as well mention that all of the salt and pepper here is battered and fried like tempura. The only reason I know it is sometimes done with a dredge instead is because I used to eat a lot at a place called Lily’s Lok Tao that did it that way. (I asked once and she said it is a style of Cantonese food. They never used chili in anything. The salt and pepper was always done with white pepper. Everywhere here sprinkles on crushed chili though.)

The last thing is the sauce, and this is where I may have to depart from you. Here we get two styles of sauce that, I guess, may be just the result of a better and a worse way of handling the same thing. The better one in my opinion is made like a very thick syrup, and you don’t need that much. The worse one depends on the starch more and can get too runny on the plate. I’ve always thought that it depends on the reduction of a sauce that doesn’t have that much liquid in relation to the amount of sugar, like the sauce for Kung pao and ‘chicken with cashew in yellow bean sauce’ which is a perennial favorite in my family. (The better cooks up here can make that almost into a candy before it comes out. I had General Tso’s chicken once it Toronto that was miles ahead of anything else I have ever tasted partly because of this reduction.)

I will let you know how mine turns out. And thank you all for maintaining a fabulous website!

So anxious totry your recipes, Thanks

The beef is shallow-fried, but you could pan-fry it in less oil if you like!

Is the beef pan-fried or deep-fried? Our guts cannot handle too much oil or any deep-fried food.

The marinade does it!

Hi Cheryl, you can double or triple the amount if using young ginger (depending on how sweet/mild it is. if it’s milder, you can use more). I would julienne it a bit thicker, and then stir-fry it so it stays a little more crisp rather than frizzling it in the oil.

Oooh, interesting to hear that you’ve had it as a spicy dish! Will have to try adding some dried chili next time I make it!

You’re very welcome Verna!

Arrowroot starch could work. Potato starch might work better! It fries up very crispy.

You’ll love it Judy!