Beijing Chao Gan (Stir-Fried Liver)

Name: Beijing Chao Gan (Stir-Fried Liver)
Total time: 50 min
Yield: Serves 3–4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 300 g pork liver, sliced thin (the 3 mm argument), soaked 30 minutes in the milk's or the water's cover, and patted dry; 300 g pork small intestine (the cleaned 250 g weight's honest argument), turned, the fat's scrape, and the salt-and-cornstarch wash's two rounds (or the butcher's cleaned argument's honest shortcut); 1.5 litres pork or chicken stock; 60 g cornstarch in 100 ml cold water (the thick gravy's cling); 6 slices ginger (30 g), smashed; 1 tbsp (15 ml) Shaoxing wine, at the intestine's pre-simmer; 2 tbsp (30 ml) light soy, 1 tbsp (15 ml) dark soy, 1 tsp (5 g) salt; 8 cloves garlic (40 g), minced (the doubled measure — the gravy's signature breath); The baozi's (#160's) or the mantou's steaming companion at the dunk's law; The spring onion's scatter and the chilli oil's dial

Chinese · Medium · Serves 3–4

The Beijing breakfast's boldest bowl and the offal canon's own thick gravy: the pork liver's thin slices and the intestine's cleaned rings at the starch-thickened, garlic-heavy gravy's dark body — the chao gan ("stir-fried liver," the name's historical joke: the dish barely stir-fried, the thick gravy's brief bubble) the hutong breakfast's signature bowl, the baozi's dunking companion and the northern morning's own fiercest argument. The technique is the intestine's cleaning's patience and the gravy's starch's cling, the two crafts at the offal canon's breakfast seat.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The offal's clean (the bowl's whole foundation)

The gravy's body

the gravy's signature breath)

The bowl's crown

- The intestine's cleaning's whole patience: the intestine's turned wash at the salt's and the cornstarch's two rounds (the fat's scrape's thorough argument — the offal's clean bowl's whole foundation) and the pre-simmer's 20-minute tenderness at the ginger's and wine's bath, the rings cut to the bite's lengths. - The liver's soak and its late clock: the liver's milk-or-water soak (the blood's draw and the metal's whisper's lift) and the slicing's thin law — the liver's whole cooking the gravy's final 90 seconds, the earliest addition the rubber's certain end.

Step 1. The gravy's build — the stock's simmer and the starch's cling. The stock at the simmer's patience (the murmur's 95 °C argument) with the intestine's pre-simmered rings, the soys and salt's dial — the cornstarch's cold slurry stirred to the simmering body's gradual thickening (the 2-minute patience at the cling's development: the spoon-coating, glossy-dark gravy the bowl's own identity). Checkpoint — the gravy runs the dark, glossy spoon-coating cling (the starch's full development — the raw starch's cloud the patience's certain end) with the intestine's rings' tender-chew suspended — the bowl's body built before the liver's late argument.

Step 2. The liver's 90 seconds (the "stir-fried" joke's own law). The drained liver's slices slipped to the thickened gravy's bubble — the 90-second undisturbed patience to the slices' just-set silk (the pink's final whisper at the thickest slice) — the garlic's doubled measure stirred through at the off-flame's moment, the spring onion's crown. Checkpoint — the eating test at the bowl's first spoon: the liver's silk (the 90-second law's whole mercy — the over-set slice the rubber's certain end) and the intestine's tender-chew at the garlic-heavy gravy's dark cling — the baozi's dunk at the bowl's side — the hutong breakfast's whole fierce argument at the one bowl.

Step 3. The breakfast's service (the dunk's law). The steaming bowl's service with the baozi's companion — the bun's torn dip at the gravy's thick body the breakfast's own method, and the chilli oil's dial the table's own fire. Checkpoint — the table's whole ceremony: the gravy's clinging body and the baozi's soaked crown at the one breakfast's honest method — the northern morning's fiercest, most beloved whole argument. Chef’s Note — the garlic's doubled measure is the bowl's signature breath and the offal canon's own frame: the eight cloves' raw-ish stir at the off-flame's moment (the garlic's pungency held at the gravy's heat's mere whisper) both lifts the offal's richness and marks the breakfast's own audacity — the hutong's morning breath the dish's honest badge, and the timid garlic's few cloves the bowl's lonelier certain end. The raw garlic's dial the table's own election at the same law.

Doneness & Quality Checkpoints

The clean: the intestine's two-round wash, the liver's soak and thin slice.
The gravy: the starch's full cling, the intestine's pre-simmer, the glossy dark body.
The liver: the 90-second silk, the garlic's off-flame stir, the baozi's dunk.

Finish & Plate

The deep bowl's steaming service at the baozi's companion — the chilli oil's dial and the spring onion's crown — the hutong breakfast's whole argument at the one fierce, garlicky bowl.