Woo Can Cook | Mu Shu Pork (PF Chang's)
hello hi hello everyone! Wesley here, this is a recipe adding to our series on Chinese American food hacks, based on the mu shu pork from PF Chang's. This was a fun one to deconstruct cause PF Chang's mu shu pork makes a lot of the decisions in their recipe that you will find in a typical americanized mu shu pork, so it was super fun to take apart and identify the American qualities that come up.
As always, I also took a shot at my own version of mu shu pork, which is loosely based off of my mom's recipe from when I was a kid. As it turns out after discussing this further with my parents, what we were eating was not mu shu pork at all, but a similar dish called hecai daimo, which loosely translates to "mixed veggies with an (egg) hat." In addition to the differences in plating, it also prominently features the use of vermicelli rice noodles, which I've never seen anywhere outside of my parent's house. Hope you try it.
Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.
Music: Feel it Still | Woo Cooks Beats (lofi beats to cook to): / @woocooksbeats
Instagram (random nonsense and Sammy cameos): / woocancook
Youtube Live (Streaming Live Tuesdays/Thursdays at 6:30PM PST, Wednesdays at 6PM PST!): / woocancook
PF Chang's Version
INGREDIENTS
1 boneless pork loin
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp ginger
1/4 head white cabbage
2 green onions
2 carrots
1/4 cup cucumber (about 1 1/2 inches of cucumber)
1/2 cup bean sprouts
8 oz can bamboo shoots
2 wood ear mushrooms
2 eggs
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp corn starch
vegetable oil
mu shu skins (or flour tortillas)
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp doubanjiang
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
kosher salt
hoisin sauce
PREP
CRUSH and MINCE garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE ginger, set aside
THINLY SLICE pork loin, set aside
SLICE cabbage, set aside
SEPARATE greens and whites of green onions and slice, set aside
JULIENNE carrots and cucumbers, set aside
REHYDRATE wood ear mushrooms in boiling water for 10 minutes, then slice, set aside
WHISK eggs, then add 1 tbsp corn starch and 1 tsp of corn starch, set aside
COMBINE pork with all marinade ingredients, and marinate for 30 minutes or up to an hour
COMBINE all sauce ingredients except hoisin, and set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp vegetable oil, long yao
ADD pork, reserving the liquid of the marinade, toss until 90% cooked (about 2 minutes), then remove
WIPE down wok, reheat, add 4 more tbsp vegetable oil, and long yao
ADD garlic, ginger, and whites of green onions, and sauté until fragrant (about 15 seconds)
ADD cabbage and carrots, toss and sauté for 1-2 minutes until slightly tender
ADD mushrooms, bean sprouts, and bamboo shoots, and toss with 3 tbsp of sauce mixture, saute for 1-2 minutes
ADD pork back to the wok, followed by cucumbers and remaining sauce mixture
TOSS until combined, and remove
WIPE down wok, reheat, add 4 more tbsp vegetable oil, and long yao
ADD egg mixture to the wok, and rotate the wok until as much of the egg makes contact with the wok as possible
FLIP the egg, then remove onto a cutting board
SLICE the egg into strips, then add to the stir fry off heat
SERVE over mu shu skins (or flour tortillas), and finish with greens of green onions and hoisin sauce