Soy Sauce Beef Tripe with Sour Mustard (酸菜豉油牛柏葉, Syun1 Coi3 Si6 Jau4 Ngau4 Paak3 Jip6)

 

This recipe was updated on 15 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I have to admit that this dish is more involved to make than some of my other recipes. It’s really a two-step process to make this dish. First you have to poach the beef tripe in a soy sauce mixture, and then you can cook the dish. For those not familiar with honeycomb tripe, it’s (one of the) cow’s stomach, so called because of the tripe’s honeycomb pattern. The salty and slightly sweet poaching liquid also forms the basis of the sauce, which contrasts nicely with the sour mustard.

The tripe can be prepared and refrigerated the day before you make this dish. Baking soda is required to clean and remove any unwanted smells from the tripe, unlike the other recipes where the baking soda is optionally used to tenderize the meat. Poaching will shrink the tripe, so poach the whole tripe and don’t cut it up into pieces beforehand; otherwise you’ll end up with itsy-bitsy tiny pieces of tripe (I made that mistake once before!).

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 lb.	1 kg.	Whole honeycomb beef tripe (牛柏葉, ngau4 paak3 jip6)
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), lightly crushed
2 slices	2 slices	Ginger (薑, goeng1), lightly crushed
1	1	Dried date (蜜棗, mat6 zou2)
1	1	Dried tangerine peel (陳皮, can4 pei4)
2 whole	2 whole	Star anise (八角, baat3 gok3)
1 stick	1 stick	Cassia bark (桂皮, gwai3 pei4) or cinnamon
¾ oz.	20 g.	One piece rock sugar (冰糖, bing1 tong4)
½ cup	125 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
½ cup	125 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
4 cups	1 l.	Water
8 oz.	227 g.	One package sour mustard (酸菜, syun1 coi3), cut into 1-inch (2.5 mm.) pieces
1	1	Fuzzy melon (節瓜, zit3 gwaa1, or毛瓜, mou4 gwaa1), quartered and each quarter cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
1-2	1-2	Fresh red chili peppers (紅番椒, hung4 faan1 ziu1), cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces; optional and to taste
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

1 cup	250 ml.	Poaching liquid
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Water

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
4 qt.	3.8 L.	Covered bowl
8 qt.	7.5 L.	Pot
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan
3.5 in.	9 cm.	Soak-out cooker to hold the spices

 

Preparation Instructions (One Day Before Cooking)

The whole honeycomb beef tripe can be poached in the soy sauce mixture one day ahead of time, refrigerated, and then cut into pieces before cooking. I once made the mistake of cutting the tripe before poaching and ended up with miniscule pieces of tripe because the tripe shrinks when poached, so cut the tripe into pieces after poaching.

3.5 in. (9 cm.) Soak Out Cooker

1. Clean the whole beef honeycomb tripe by removing any excess fat from the back (non-honeycomb side) under cold running water. Spread the baking soda over both sides of the tripe and leave the baking soda on the tripe for at least 30 minutes to clean and remove any unwanted smells. Wash the tripe under cold running water to remove the baking soda.
2. Put the lightly crushed garlic and ginger, star anise, cassia bark or cinnamon stick, dried date, and dried tangerine peel into a soak out cooker. Place the soak out cooker and the rock sugar into a large pot. Add the soy sauce, Shaoxing Rice Wine or dry sherry, and water to the pot. Finally add the tripe to the pot.
3. Cover the pot and bring the contents of the pot to a boil over high heat before reducing the heat to low to simmer the tripe for 45 minutes.
4. Remove the tripe from the pot and place into a covered bowl for refrigeration. Save at least one cup of the poaching liquid (separate from the tripe) in the refrigerator for later use in the sauce. Discard the contents of the soak out cooker.

All steps up to this point can be done the day before cooking.

Sour Mustard (酸菜, syun1 coi3)

Preparation Instructions (Cooking Day)

1. Remove the tripe and saved poaching liquid from the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. Cut the tripe into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces.
2. Remove the sour mustard from its packaging and discard any liquids. Cut the sour mustard into 1-inch (2.5 mm.) pieces.
3. Scrape off the “fuzz” from the fuzzy melon by holding the melon in one hand and scraping a cleaver or knife in reverse over the skin of the fuzzy melon under running water. This means putting the cleaver at the half way point of the melon with the blade of the cleaver pointing towards you and while holding the cleaver almost parallel to the surface of the fuzzy melon, moving the cleaver away from you, scraping the skin of the fuzz. Reverse the fuzzy melon and repeat the procedure, scraping the fuzz off the other half. Cut the fuzzy melon into quarters lengthwise and then cut each melon quarter into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces.
4. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
5. Remove any stems from the red chili peppers, cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces, and place into the bowl with the crushed ginger and garlic. The amount of red chili peppers to use in this dish depends upon personal taste, so feel free to reduce or increase the amount.
6. Wash and cut the green onions into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces.
7. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the poaching liquid, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. In another small bowl, prepare the corn starch slurry by mixing the corn starch and water together.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil and then the already cooked beef tripe. Stir fry the tripe until brown by forming one layer of tripe in the wok and leaving the tripe alone for a while before flipping it over to brown the other side. You may have to stir fry the tripe in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the browned tripe to a bowl.
2. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the sour mustard. Stir fry the sour mustard and then transfer them to the bowl with the tripe.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the fuzzy melon. Stir fry the fuzzy melon to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the tripe back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together.
4. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and stir fry the ingredients together. If more sauce is desired, add some liquid (stock or water) to the wok. Add the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce and mix all the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve with steamed rice.