Cooking Lesson #150 China Rose Moo Shu Pork

The China Rose Collection

Moo Shu Pork

How you doin’? 你好嗎 (Nǐ hǎo ma). One of the most popular dishes of my Chinese restaurant, China Rose, was Moo Shu Pork. Sometimes called Chinese tacos or Burritos, it is a typical stir-fried dish in northern China. It's made with strips of pork, green onions, mushrooms, and scrambled eggs, all rolled into small, thin pancakes that have been brushed with hoisin sauce.
 
Moo shu has all the attributes that bring people back to dishes like this—called, “Come Back Flavor.” It is customized at the table with sauces and it requires some participation in assembling it. In China most waiters will use two spoons to dish up the stir fry into the Mandarin pancakes, but it is more fun when you do it yourself.
 
In its traditional northern Chinese version, moo shu pork (木须肉 / mùxūròu) consists of sliced pork tenderloin, cucumber and scrambled eggs, stir fried in sesame or peanut oil together with bite-sized cuttings of wood ear fungus (black mushrooms) and enokitake mushrooms. The dish is seasoned with minced ginger and garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and rice cooking wine (usually huangjiu).
 
In the United States, moo shu seems to have appeared in Chinese restaurants in New York City and Washington, D.C., around 1966, receiving mention in a New York Times guide to Washington, D.C., restaurants published in that year. One of the first restaurants in Manhattan to serve the dish was Pearl's, one of the best known New York City Chinese restaurants to serve non-Cantonese food in the 1960s. A 1967 article in The New York Times called out another of the first restaurateurs to serve the moo shu in Manhattan, Emily Kwoh, the owner of the Mandarin House, Mandarin East, and Great Shanghai restaurants. The dish was also early on the menu at Joyce Chen's, a pioneering Mandarin-style restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
Now try the China Rose version moo shu… it is pretty spectacular.
 
Prep time:  30 minutes
Marinade time: 1 hour
Cook time:  15 minutes
Yield:  8 servings (serving size: 2 filled pancakes)
 
Ingredients
For the marinade
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or sake
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1-1/2-pounds boneless pork loin, trimmed and cut into 1 x 1/4-inch strips
 
For the filling
10 dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup (1-inch) sliced green onions
3 tablespoons minced garlic (about 12 cloves)
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms (about 1/4 ounce)
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or sake
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups thinly sliced Napa (Chinese) cabbage stalks
4 cups thinly sliced Napa (Chinese) cabbage leaves
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or sake
 
For the sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
 
Assembly
16 Mandarin Pancakes (see recipe below or substitute small, thin flour tortillas)
 
Directions
To make the pork marinade

1. Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, oil and 2 teaspoons cornstarch in a zip-top plastic bag. Add the pork. Seal the bag and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour, turning occasionally.
2. Remove pork from bag and drain. Discard any remaining marinade.

To make the filling

1. Pour boiling water over the dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl; cover and let stand 20 minutes.
2. Drain; discard mushroom stems, and thinly slice mushroom caps.
3. Combine sliced mushroom caps, green onions, garlic and ginger in a small bowl; set aside.
4. Pour boiling water over the wood ear mushrooms in a separate bowl; cover and let stand 20 minutes. Drain; cut mushrooms into thin slices. Set aside.
5. Combine rice wine, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and black pepper in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Set aside.
6. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork, and stir-fry 3 minutes. Remove pork from pan.
7. Add 1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil to pan. Add eggs; stir-fry 30 seconds or until soft-scrambled.
8. Add shiitake mushroom mixture; stir-fry 1-1/2 minutes. Add cabbage stalks; stir-fry 30 seconds.
9. Add the wood ear mushrooms, cabbage leaves and rice wine; stir-fry 1 minute.
10. Add pork and cornstarch mixture; stir-fry 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
11. Place pork mixture on a platter for table service.

 
To make the sauce

1. Combine hoisin sauce and soy sauce.
2. Spread about 1-1/2 teaspoons hoisin sauce mixture on uncooked surface of each Mandarin Pancake. Top each pancake with 1/2 cup pork mixture; roll up.

                                                   Mandarin Pancakes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield:  16 pancakes (serving size: 2 pancakes)
 
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
 
Directions

1. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.
2. Combine flour and water in a large bowl. Stir until a soft dough forms.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 3 minutes).
4. Shape the dough into a 1 1/2-inch-thick log.
5. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions.
6. Roll each dough portion into a 6-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.
7. Brush 8 pancakes evenly with oil.
8. Top each with one of the remaining pancakes, gently pressing together.
9. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
10. Place 1 pancake stack in pan and cook 1 minute on each side or until slightly puffed.
11. Remove from pan, and cool. Peel pancakes apart.
12. If not using right away, you can store them up to two days. Add a sheet of wax paper between each pancake and wrap them in food film. When ready to serve, take them from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature.

 
ChefSecret:   I really like the taste of straight hoisin sauce and usually just smear that on the pancake. You only need a little.  I also like to drizzle the hoisin in the cut end of the moo shu pancake.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Being on lock down proves one thing. Behind every angry woman stands a man who has absolutely no idea what he did wrong.”
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