Sichuan1 Tangerine Peel Beef

Recipe from Lawrence C.C. Ch



Preserved tangerine peel, with its citrus-like, almost sweet aroma and distinctive taste, transforms an ordinary stir-fried beef dish into something spectacular. We receive many requests for it at Chef Chu's.

Yields:

6-8 servings

Time Required:

Ingredients:

Marinade



Sauce

Preparation:

Soak tangerine peel in warm water for 20 mins. until soft. Slice flank steak against the grain into ⅛ by 1 by 1 ½" (3x25x38 mm) thick. Combine with MARINADE ingredients in the order listed, mixing well after each addition. Let stand for about 10 mins. Combine SAUCE ingredients, and set aside.

To oil-blanch, set wok over high heat for about 1 min. Add 2 cups (475 mL) oil, and heat to 350°F (175°C). Blanch beef, stirring to separate, for 2-3 mins. or until well done but not overcooked.

To stir-fry, remove all but 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) oil from wok, swirling pan to coat sides. Using medium heat, stir in peppercorns quickly; then remove wok from heat for 1 min. Remove and discard peppercorns. Return wok to heat, and brown chilli pods for about 30 secs. or until dark but not burnt. Add garlic and green onion, stirring for 10 secs. Return beef along with tangerine peel and SAUCE ingredients. Cook over high heat until liquid is reduced.



Rich Chicken Broth

A good, rich-tasting chicken broth is essential to Chinese cooking, so, in my restaurant, I make no exceptions. I always use 4-5 lb. (1.8-2.3 kg.) chickens, because I'm preparing food in such volume, but you can use a regular broiler-fryer, if you prefer. I firmly believe a good broth needs no additives. So, why not take a little time (and not much effort), and prepare this chicken broth?

Yields:

8 servings

Time Required:

Ingredients:

Preparation:

To par-boil, place chicken (or bones) in an 8-qt. (7.5 L) stockpot. Cover with boiling water, and cook for 5 mins., to get rid of the scum. Pour chicken into a colander, rinse under cold water, and return chicken to pot.

To cook, add water and vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for about 1 hrs. Occasionally skim surface as needed. Remove from head and cool, then strain well before using.

Author's Notes

As I mentioned, this recipe produces a rich broth that is the basic stock for many of my other soups. If you prefer not to make it, or you don't have the time, always use chicken bouillon (cubes)6 in water, rather than the less flavourful, canned chicken broth.

Save your chicken bones. You can use them to make broth, instead of a whole chicken.

Since the vegetables are added only for flavour, use tips and ends of onions and knobs of ginger root. I mention this since I was once told by a student that she couldn't find "knobs" of ginger at her market.

If you make broth several hours ahead of serving time, let it cool with the bones still inside. If made several days in advance, try freezing it in ice cube trays; when frozen, store cubes in a sealed freezer bag (1 ice cube equals ¼ to ⅓ cup broth).


1 Chef Chu's spelling was "Szechwan", following the 19th Century Wade-Giles romanisation system predominant in 1980, when Chu's cookbook appeared, In today's now-preferred Hanyu Pinyin system, the name of that province on the upper Yangtze River is rendered "Sichuan".

2 Tangerines: Here in the 2020s, you'll seldom (any longer) find any cirtus labelled "tangerine" in stores, but mandarins are basically the same thing, so use those. "Tangerine" was and remains a marketing name / trademark for a close mandarin hybrid, originally imported from Tangier, Morocco, then grown in local orange groves, and popularised worldwide by one Major Atway of Florida and successors. The name was ubiquitous in Chef Chu's day, but no longer.

3 Quarts, pints, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and fl. oz. are as defined in US Customary Units, not to be confused with differing British imperial, "legal", "coffee", Commonwealth of Nations, Canadian, Latin American, Japanese, Russian, or Dutch definitions — further proof that everyone needs the metric system.

4 White pepper is the same Piper nigrum berry seed as is sold as black pepper, except left to fully ripen, fermented in water, and the black outer coat removed. Accordingly, it has a milder flavour and lighter colour. Otherwise, one is a natural substitute for the other.

5 "Corn starch" is powdered starch processed from the New World grain maize (from Spanish, orig. from Nahuatl), which grain the USA/Canada call "corn", unlike the rest of the English-speaking world, which reserves "corn" to mean cereal grains generically. This starch product, needed here in its customary role as a thickening agent, is called "corn starch" in the US/Canada, but "cornflour" in the UK and most other anglophone lands — not to be confused with whole maize grain: That product — not a thickening agent — is called "polenta", "corn meal", or "corn flour" in the US/Canada, depending on how finely milled, and called "maize flour" in the UK and most other places. Australians should beware that their "cornflour" is starch extracted from wheat kernel, sometimes more-helpfully labelled as "wheaten cornflour". As if that weren't confusing enough, the maize-based thickener may be labelled (in Australia) either as "corn flour" or as "corn starch", so beware. Further, the maize flour product, there, is labelled as "cornmeal".

Note that whole-maize grain is traditionally, in Meso-American cultures of origin, wisely soaked in alkaline solution ("nixtamalised") to increase bioavailability and thereby prevent niacin deficiency (pellagra), among other important benefits, yielding "masa" (lit. dough) aka "masa de maíz" (lit. maize dough), also available in dried & ground form as "masa harina" (lit. dough flour) aka "harina de maíz" (lit. maize flour), and in its unground form, hominy. As further complication, Americans distinguish "corn flour", meaning prepared from maize endosperm only, from "maize flour" for use of whole maize — the former, neutral-flavoured; the latter, much more nutritious.

Origin of the naming mess: Originally, North America shared with Mother England the language's original meaning of "corn" to mean cereal grains generically (from Old English "corn" meaning single seed of any cereal plant, orig. from Proto-Germanic "kurnam" meaning small seed). The colonists got the gift of maize from native peoples, therefore at first calling it "Indian corn". Later, in the USA and Canada, "Indian corn" got worn down to just "corn", while the original meaning of "corn" was lost, locally. "Maize" is thus now the least-ambiguous term in international contexts, though many Americans either don't know that word or reserve it for variants from Latin-American (and Spanish) cooking.

6 Sichuan peppercorns, hua jiao; 花椒, also called wild peppercorns, have a subtle, delicate smell and mildly hot taste. They're spicier than black peppercorns. It's the fruit husk of aromatic trees native to Sichuan Province on the upper Yangtze River, harvested from any of several species in genus Zanthoxylum (the "prickly ashes"), related to citrus and unrelated to anything else called "pepper".

7 For easy bouillon, consider Summit Hill Foods's "Better Than Bouillon Base" paste, dissolved in hot tap water. It's fairly high quality, available in large 8 oz. (227 g) jars, and (the main point) a heck of a lot better than any bouillon cubes. Flavours: roasted chicken, roasted beef, turkey, ham, and vegetable.

Taken from: Lawrence C.C. Chu's classic cookbook Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine Of China, p. 133. published 1980 by Harper and Row, which can be checked out in scanned format at Internet Archive. Thank you! (Chu's the chef / restaurateur of beloved local restaurant Chef Chu's, in Los Altos, California.)

Collected and re-published at http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/recipes/sichuan-tangerine-peel-beef.html by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> on Oct. 5, 2026. Individual recipes are free from copyright. Share and enjoy!

(If I have any copyright title in my own very minor contributions to this page — not my intention — they were created in 2026 by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> and licensed for use under CC0. I have thereby waived all copyright, compilation copyright, and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is published from: United States of America.)