To add to my American Chinese culinary arsenal, I have mastered Shrimp in Lobster Sauce.
It starts with the freshest Shrimp and you want to process them right away for maximum snappiness, while succulent and juicy on the inside. Start by peeling and deveining 1 lb Jumbo Shrimp, then submerge them in cold ice water, add 1 tbspn baking soda and give them a good swishing around and let set until the ice melts . drain and rinse the shrimp and pat dry, place in a bowl and add 2tblspn Eggwhites, and 1 1/2 tblspn Corn Starch. Cover and set in the refrigerator up to 12 hours, or at least 1 hour if you don't have time.
Tale 1/3 lb ground pork and brown it in the wok, as soon as it stops being pink, add 1 tblspn Soy Sauce, and 1 tspn dark soy sauce. Continue browning it until it has absorbed all liquid, and all of the ground pork is in tiny pearls. Put in a bowl and set aside.
I remember seeing Master Chef where the fat Judge chastised someone for mixing pork with shrimp. I thought that was odd, as that's the basis of Wonton dumplings. But the thing here is, the pork is less about adding pork or flavor, the pork does two things that not putting wont do. First it adds texture, to the finished dish, and second it's s wonderful Soy Sauce delivery mechanism without making the Lobster Sauce dark, dirty brown or beige.
Next put 2/3rd cup peas and carrots in the wok add 1 tblspn grapeseed Oil, and 1/8tspn Chinese 5 spice, no more than that, it should just add a hint to the vegetables only. Stir fry peas and carrots for 4 to 5 minutes on med high. Put in bowl with pork, it's all going to the same place.
Next take shrimp out of fridge and toss in woc and toss around until the vein slice opens up and you don't see any translucent meat on the shrimp. Don't worry if it isn't cooked through at this point, it's going back in the drink. Put the shrimp in another bowl, or add it to the pork and veggies if you're not put out by that sorta thing. Thus avoiding the cross contamination Karens.
In a cup of Chicken stock add 1 tblspn Chinese Cooking wine, 1/2 tspn White Pepper, a couple shakey shakey of Sesame Oil. and 1/8th cup Sugar. Reserve 2 tblspn of this broth, add to a cup with a heaping round tspn corn starch(You shouldn't need more if your shrimp are still nice starchy after the stir fry) Beat two egg whites and set aside. Chop 4 to 5 Chinese Chives(garlic greens) in 1 inch long strips, and set aside.
In the wok with 2 tblspn Grapeseed Oil, add 1 tblspn minced garlic and 1tblspn minced ginger, let it get aromatic but don't let it burn or get pungent and oxidize. Dump the cup of broth, not the reserved broth with the cornstarch yet. Let it boil away in the wok for a few minutes, then add the cornstarch liquid, and stir until thick. stir in the beaten eggwhite slowly making sure to stir the egg white in, to make long ribbons, rather than letting it coagulate in a lump where you dump it. After you've got a nice thick slury of cornstarch and eggwhite, dump the other ingredients in the wok and start mixing together. Be sure the add the chopped Chinese Chives(garlic greens). Continue string the contents into the woc, it should have a very nice texture and consistency by now. Keep folding until the chives have wilted nicely and are cooked and no longer just fresh sliced. That's about how much the shrimp needed to cook in the broth.
Tip for the thickening the sauce with cornstarch and eggwhite step.
(Take off heat as needed and put back on to keep the heat up but don't let boil too rapidly)
If you don't mind a darker dirty looking version, put some soy sauce in with the chicken stock step, also use 1 whole beaten egg, rather than 2 eggwhites. The lighter dish is more how it should look and taste, but the other way has more umami.
Nice write-up. It was only 2020 that I learned there is NO lobster in lobster sauce. The white pepper and cornstarch are key. I've been gearing up to try this myself so I'll probably just borrow your recipe as it's similar (but has more detail) than what I was looking at.
Meanwhile, I made apple fritters 1st time this week:
It starts with the freshest Shrimp and you want to process them right away for maximum snappiness, while succulent and juicy on the inside.
Start by peeling and deveining 1 lb Jumbo Shrimp, then submerge them in cold ice water, add 1 tbspn baking soda and give them a good swishing around and let set until the ice melts .
drain and rinse the shrimp and pat dry, place in a bowl and add 2tblspn Eggwhites, and 1 1/2 tblspn Corn Starch. Cover and set in the refrigerator up to 12 hours, or at least 1 hour if you don't have time.
Tale 1/3 lb ground pork and brown it in the wok, as soon as it stops being pink, add 1 tblspn Soy Sauce, and 1 tspn dark soy sauce. Continue browning it until it has absorbed all liquid, and all of the ground pork is in tiny pearls. Put in a bowl and set aside.
I remember seeing Master Chef where the fat Judge chastised someone for mixing pork with shrimp. I thought that was odd, as that's the basis of Wonton dumplings.
But the thing here is, the pork is less about adding pork or flavor, the pork does two things that not putting wont do. First it adds texture, to the finished dish, and second it's s wonderful Soy Sauce delivery mechanism without making the Lobster Sauce dark, dirty brown or beige.
Next put 2/3rd cup peas and carrots in the wok add 1 tblspn grapeseed Oil, and 1/8tspn Chinese 5 spice, no more than that, it should just add a hint to the vegetables only.
Stir fry peas and carrots for 4 to 5 minutes on med high. Put in bowl with pork, it's all going to the same place.
Next take shrimp out of fridge and toss in woc and toss around until the vein slice opens up and you don't see any translucent meat on the shrimp. Don't worry if it isn't cooked through at this point, it's going back in the drink. Put the shrimp in another bowl, or add it to the pork and veggies if you're not put out by that sorta thing. Thus avoiding the cross contamination Karens.
In a cup of Chicken stock add 1 tblspn Chinese Cooking wine, 1/2 tspn White Pepper, a couple shakey shakey of Sesame Oil. and 1/8th cup Sugar.
Reserve 2 tblspn of this broth, add to a cup with a heaping round tspn corn starch(You shouldn't need more if your shrimp are still nice starchy after the stir fry)
Beat two egg whites and set aside. Chop 4 to 5 Chinese Chives(garlic greens) in 1 inch long strips, and set aside.
In the wok with 2 tblspn Grapeseed Oil, add 1 tblspn minced garlic and 1tblspn minced ginger, let it get aromatic but don't let it burn or get pungent and oxidize. Dump the cup of broth, not the reserved broth with the cornstarch yet. Let it boil away in the wok for a few minutes, then add the cornstarch liquid, and stir until thick. stir in the beaten eggwhite slowly making sure to stir the egg white in, to make long ribbons, rather than letting it coagulate in a lump where you dump it. After you've got a nice thick slury of cornstarch and eggwhite, dump the other ingredients in the wok and start mixing together. Be sure the add the chopped Chinese Chives(garlic greens). Continue string the contents into the woc, it should have a very nice texture and consistency by now. Keep folding until the chives have wilted nicely and are cooked and no longer just fresh sliced. That's about how much the shrimp needed to cook in the broth.
Tip for the thickening the sauce with cornstarch and eggwhite step.
(Take off heat as needed and put back on to keep the heat up but don't let boil too rapidly)
If you don't mind a darker dirty looking version, put some soy sauce in with the chicken stock step, also use 1 whole beaten egg, rather than 2 eggwhites.
The lighter dish is more how it should look and taste, but the other way has more umami.
Serve over White Rice