-We have our own chili oil
at the restaurant.
We make it every week.
So, that's my face on it,
actually.
I am the Sze Daddy.
This is the most narcissistic
thing somebody has thought of.
I didn't think of this,
by the way.
Andy Chuang did.
♪♪
What's up everybody?
My name is Eric Sze.
I am from 886
Taiwanese restaurant,
and today I'm going to show you
how to make the scallion pancake
beef wrap.
So first, we're going to make
the scallion pancake.
Here we have 50% bread flour,
50% all-purpose flour.
The bread flour kind of gives it
a nice structure,
a very nice QQ texture,
chewiness.
And all-purpose flour
is all purpose.
Add some sugar, some salt.
My personal preference,
a little black pepper.
Mix it up a little bit,
you know,
get it well incorporated,
the seasoning.
And so, the secret
to a good scallion pancake
is actually doing hot water
and cold water.
Hot water helps kind of cook
the flour a little bit.
Mix it real well.
Well, the dough for a scallion
pancake is over-hydrated.
So don't be alarmed
when it looks like
it's super, super wet
and sticking to my fingers.
So, once the hot water
has been incorporated,
we add in room-temp water.
As you can see, it's very wet.
Super sticky.
Don't be alarmed.
I've made this many times,
and every time at this step,
I question myself.
But as long as it's not
sticking to the bowl
and just, like, your hand,
it's fine.
So this guy rests
for about 40 minutes or so
just to let the glutens relax.
And I think we'll
move onto the beef.
We're going to toast
our spices.
We will begin
with our star anise.
Angelica root.
Citron pepper.
And a few cinnamon sticks.
Angelica root is a very
traditional Chinese herb.
It is very strong, though.
It's kind of like cinnamon.
A little bit goes a long way.
So, we're toasting the spices
dry, without any oil.
It becomes a lot more aromatic.
It kind of activates
all the flavors.
Now these are done toasting.
We're going to pop those
into this pan.
I'm going to cut up
some of this ginger.
Ginger in.
Garlic.
Any of this, you can
kind of just eyeball.
We have beef shanks here,
boneless.
We're just going to add
these guys in cold.
Do not be alarmed that we
are not browning them at all,
because this is a braised beef.
It's just going to go into
the scallion pancake.
You have a bunch of different
condiments that'll help it.
Here, we have rice wine.
I'm just going to add it
all generously in.
We have soy sauce, water.
This is doubanjiang,
which is a bean paste.
Very fermenty, pungent.
It's the main ingredient,
actually,
in most
of the citron-style cuisine.
So this is a very
citron ingredient.
Rock sugar.
White pepper.
Scallions in.
Again, very rough,
'cause you're not going
to need this anyway later.
So, the flavor profile
of the beef
should be very soy-sauce-centric
because it's supposed to be
part of the seasoning
of the entire scallion pancake.
I'd say this a is very
traditional beef shank recipe
found throughout
Chinese cooking.
It eventually made its way
into Taiwan.
This guy's just got to go
for about 2 1/2, 3 hours.
So these scallions,
fresh from the Munchies garden,
best in America.
They might actually
be best in America.
I've never seen such beautiful
scallions here stateside.
We are going to roll them
into the pancake.
They are called
scallion pancakes.
The key is to not have them
too thick,
because if it's too thick,
then it's over-hydrated,
then it leaks water
into your beautiful layers,
flaky layers,
of your scallion pancake.
A lot of recipes in Taiwan
call for just the green part
or the root part.
I like both.
The green part obviously
has great color.
The root part has great flavor.
Scallion pancake is everywhere
to be found in Taiwan.
You have street stalls
that specialize in it.
There are so many different
types of scallion pancake.
You have the yeasted kind.
The one I'm used to eating
is probably from Shanghai.
It's thinner. It's flakier.
It's non-yeasted.
And then you roll shit in it.
In Taiwan, you would literally
go up to a street cart,
and they would be like,
"Oh, one scallion pancake.
Egg or no egg?
Do you want ham, SPAM, bacon?"
Stuff like that.
Frankly, you can add anything
into a scallion pancake.
This is my favorite version.
My grandma is from Sichuan,
so this braised beef
is very Sichuanese.
Just a nice, little homage
to my grandma.
Alright.
So, now the dough has rested.
We're going to take it out
and start rolling it.
You can see it's still
kind of sticky,
but it's not really
sticking to my hands,
which means it's nice
and elastic.
You can pull it like this.
You're going to want
to oil your surface.
Dough goes on.
Kind of roll it.
Pull it a little bit.
Give it a nice, little help.
And this makes three.
So, one, two.
So just roll this guy out.
If it springs back a little bit,
don't worry about it.
You don't have to be
super even with it, either,
because you're just trying
to create the layers.
Alright.
This is good enough for me.
Here, we have lard.
Lard, if you don't know,
is fat from a pig.
I rendered this myself
at the restaurant.
I don't understand why Americans
have such a thing against lard.
It's the most natural form
of fat.
It's better for you.
It creates the best
puff pastries.
So I think lard should really
make a comeback.
Lard is always better,
in my opinion.
That's how it's done
in Taiwan, so...
Spread the lard evenly
onto the pancake.
And then we sprinkle a very
generous amount of scallions.
You want to also make sure
that it's even,
or else you'll get,
like, dough bits.
Those are never good.
And here, what you want to do
is roll this guy up
as tight as you can
so you don't leave out
any of the scallions.
Roll it up, up, up, up.
Here we are.
You'll see these two ends.
Just kind of close it
like this.
And here we're going
to roll it up again.
Twirl it up.
So I like to do one, two, three.
And then one, two.
Stack it together,
and then press it down.
This guy just needs to rest,
and then it can be rolled out.
So, the cucumbers,
we're going to julienne.
And it's for when we wrap it in
with the beef.
Gives it a nice crunch
and refreshing flavor,
because the scallion pancake
is going to be slightly oily,
on the greasier side.
And this gives it that balance
that everybody likes and needs.
So, the beef has been braising
for about 3 hours.
Take this guy out.
So, this guy is very hot.
It's going to be
a little hard to chop.
If you want to be fancy,
you can chill them.
It's nice and tender.
You can tell how tender it is.
This little knife test again --
Oh!
Super tender.
So, we want large chunks.
When we assemble
the scallion pancake beef wrap,
we are going
to kind of form them
into the long shape
for the scallion pancake.
When you bite into it,
you get beef and everything
instead of just scallion pancake
and cucumbers.
So, the scallion pancake
should rest at room temperature
for a minimum of 40 minutes,
up to 3 hours.
And if you want to do it
overnight, refrigerate it.
Now you can see all the layers
have kind of come into one.
We're just going to roll it out
into one nice sheet.
I'm going to be very delicate
with it, or else --
There are air bubbles inside
that will kind of
eventually pop.
Thickness is really
up to your personal preference.
But you don't want
to get it too thin,
or else it doesn't flake up.
I'm just going to add a little
bit of oil to this frying pan.
We want the oil to be hot.
Just want to press it
just so it's got even cooking.
And the scallion pancake
is beautiful.
Nice and golden, crusty, GDB.
It's going to be nice and flaky
once we cut into it.
The scallion pancake
should be done at this point.
You can see it's nice
golden brown overall.
It's not overcooked.
It's very important
that you let it rest, though,
or else is going to be super,
super greasy.
Okay. So now
we're going to assemble.
I'm going to take
a scallion pancake.
[ Scraping ]
Nice and crispy.
Here we have some
sweet bean paste.
It's called tianmianjiang
in Chinese.
Add it. It's kind of like
a hoisin sauce,
like a Peking duck sauce.
And we're going to add
Kewpie mayonnaise.
This isn't super traditional,
but I think the creaminess
brings it up a notch.
Going to add a little bit
of chili oil.
Just a drizzle.
And here, you kind of
just mix it all up.
You want it to be very,
very well incorporated.
So, we have our cucumbers.
We're going to lay it out
in two sections.
I'm going to break up the beef
a little bit.
See how tender it is?
Going to add it right here.
So, you bring over one layer,
like this,
and then you roll it over
again, like this.
You press it down...
and voilà.
You go one...
two, three.
It can be as big or as small
as you want to it to be.
Here you have it --
scallion pancake beef wrap.
Can I just comment on
how beautiful the layers are?
Just look at the layers
in this scallion pancake.
I'm going to dig in.
It's crunchy.
It's crispy, flaky, spicy.
And then you get that fresh
crunch from the cucumbers.
It's just -- It's incredible.
Alright. That's my recipe for
the scallion pancake beef wrap.
If you'd like to know the
recipe, click the link below.
If you're too lazy,
just come to 886, man.
