LSC-style szechuan string beans

Does anyone here have a good recipe for szechuan string beans in the style of LSC? As far as I can tell it doesn't use the normal chili oil or crushed red peppers, but maybe szechuan salt and pepper condiment. I'm not sure, though.

I've got an angelic organics share this year, and I'm hoping to get a good recipe before I start getting string beans from them.

Thanks in advance..

Are you referring to the "salt and pepper" green beans or another dish?

Christopher Gordon wrote:Are you referring to the "salt and pepper" green beans or another dish?

LSC has both on the menu, "Szechuan" and "Salt and pepper". I had szechuan on friday and salt and pepper on sunday, and preferred the former. In fact, the only reason I ordered s+p on sunday was because I figured they had brought the wrong dish on friday, since it wasn't like the szechuan string beans I've seen elsewhere.

But no, the S+P string beans were different.

I think the beans in question are the dried fried beans... wrinkled looking beans dried fried with pork/preserved veg/dried shrimp/seasonings...

Most places have pork and preserved veg... I am not sure how to make it, but I do know that the beans are deep fried twice to get that wrinkly texture. I have tried to recreate it and have gotten close but not quite there... =)

The sauce usually involves garlic, soy sauce, chili flakes, and preserved veg for the saltiness.... I think...

Hi,

If it is the wrinkled bean process, which CrazyC referred to, there is a recipe in Barbara Tropp's MODERN ART OF CHINESE COOKING. It is a two step cooking process, I cannot remember if they are steamed/boiled, then fried or fried twice. It's been a long time since I made it.

Regards,

Deep-fried and then stir-fried with the seasonings, I am pretty sure.

dry frying, according to dunlop, is accomplished by frying the beans slowly over low to moderate heat with minimal oil (hence the "dry" frying). She notes that many restaurants don't have the time for this and instead deep-fry.

Using her method (and her recipes - she has two one veg, one not) you really see a pronounced difference

The LSC salt and pepper green beans are the only lackluster dish in a standout menu(the modicum I've ordered among the hundreds of dishes). They're fresh and green beany but I guess I expected something more. I'll definitely have to try the szechuan style.

Does Angelic Organics include beans in the boxes these days? When I was getting veggies from them, they'd put a note in the newsletter that the green beans were ready, but you had to drive up there to pick them yourself, since it was too labor intensive for them to pick them for the boxes.

Giovanna

I tried a version of this last night; looking through a number of recipes this one seemed like the best starting point. There's also a vegan version.

I don't have a wok at the moment, which was vital to the success of the recipe, as it allows you to keep the beans from getting greasy, which was the main failure point of my version.

I usually make LSC-style green beans (with pork, which was their old standard way before they changed it to dried shrimp flakes and pickled vegetables) on the same day I make pot stickers.

I mix up a batch of fresh ground pork, powdered and grated fresh ginger, sesame oil (slightest touch), dark mushroom soy, sugar, scallion, the slightest bit of hoisin or ponzu, garlic, and finely chopped napa cabbage kimchi (a brand I get from the H-Mart by sight), and fill dumpling wrappers with them, which then get steamed.

I take the remaining mixture and render in a hot wok, removing to a plate, leaving the fat behind, to which I add a small amount of peanut oil. I take VERY DRY string beans (you can nuke them with no water for two minutes beforehand depending on how crispy you like them), and cook until wrinkled. I drain all of the oil, add the pork mixture back, and continue to cook to desired doneness. The result is intensely flavorful but not at all greasy.

CUPBOARD-IS-BARE SHORTCUT: take a roll of Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage, and blanket in ground (powdered) ginger and fresh-ground szechuan peppercorn ("Peppercorn Medley" from McCormick, or "5 Peppercorn Blend" from Williams-Sonoma do nicely) while frying the crap out of everything. Remove the well-browned pork, drain most of the grease, add peanut oil, fry beans until wrinkly, drain all grease, add pork back in, stir-fry while adding dark soy and sugar to taste.

This one only requires two "fresh" ingredients - beans and pork sausage, and believe it or not, can almost pass muster in the context of a more authentically-prepared meal. A good winter snack.