Cōng Bào Yángròu

Beijing scallion-blasted lamb: a scorching wok, thin lamb, a heap of spring onion, and ninety seconds

Origin: Beijing & Northern China

From the journey of Spring Onion.

Bào (爆) means to explode, and it is a cooking method rather than a metaphor. The wok is taken to the point where oil smokes on contact, the ingredients go in, and everything is finished and out within about a minute and a half. There is no braising, no thickening, no sauce to speak of, and no second chance. The dish belongs to the northern Chinese and Beijing Muslim tradition, where lamb and mutton are the meats of choice and the thick dàcōng scallion of Shandong, which can grow as long as a forearm with a white shank as thick as a thumb, is the vegetable that stands up to that heat. A slender salad spring onion disintegrates. The northern scallion goes translucent at the edges and stays sweet and slippery in the middle, which is exactly the texture the dish is built around. The ratio surprises people. This is not lamb garnished with onion; it is close to equal weights, and in some Beijing versions the onion outweighs the meat. The spring onion is the dish and the lamb is what makes it substantial. Everything must be ready before the pan is lit. Cooking of this kind is entirely front-loaded: the slicing, the marinating, the mixing of the sauce, and the arrangement of every bowl within arm's reach are the work, and the cooking itself is over before you have time to think about it. A splash of Shaoxing wine down the hot side of the wok at the end, where it flashes into steam, is the traditional finish and gives the dish its characteristic wok hei.

Ingredients

Lamb

500 g lamb leg or loin, sliced as thinly as possible across the grain

Marinade

1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
0.5 tsp freshly ground white pepper

Vegetables

400 g thick spring onions, cut into 5 cm lengths on a steep diagonal
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
2 tsp caster sugar

Frying

4 tbsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, to finish

Method

Freeze the lamb for thirty minutes, then slice it as thinly as you possibly can across the grain.
Toss the lamb with the marinade ingredients and leave for twenty minutes at room temperature.
Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Have the lamb, the onions, the garlic, the sauce, and the wine all within reach of the hob.
Heat a wok over the highest heat until it smokes. Add 2 tbsp of the oil and swirl.
Add the lamb in a single layer, leave it untouched for twenty seconds to sear, then stir-fry for forty seconds until just browned but not cooked through. Tip it out onto a plate.
Return the wok to the highest heat, add the remaining oil, then the garlic for five seconds and the spring onions immediately after.
Stir-fry the onions hard for forty to fifty seconds, until they are blistered in places and beginning to soften but still have body.
Return the lamb and any juices, pour in the sauce, and toss for twenty seconds until everything is coated.
Pour the Shaoxing wine down the hot inside edge of the wok so that it flashes into steam, toss once more, and turn out onto a warm plate immediately.

Notes

Use the thickest spring onions you can find. Chinese and Korean grocers sell dàcōng with shanks the thickness of a thumb, which is what the dish was designed around; slender salad spring onions collapse to nothing at this heat and give a limp result. Four hundred grams of onion to five hundred of lamb is correct. It is close to a spring onion dish with lamb in it. Beef sirloin or pork loin work by the same method and timings. Serve with plain steamed rice or, more traditionally in Beijing, with shāobǐng, the sesame flatbread, to mop the little sauce there is. If your hob is domestic and weak, cook in two batches rather than crowding the wok. A crowded pan drops in temperature and the dish becomes a braise.

The Gastrographer

Name: Cōng Bào Yángròu
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Beijing & Northern China
Ingredients: 500 g lamb leg or loin, sliced as thinly as possible across the grain; 1 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine; 2 tsp cornflour; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 0.5 tsp freshly ground white pepper; 400 g thick spring onions, cut into 5 cm lengths on a steep diagonal; 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; 2 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp dark soy sauce; 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar; 2 tsp caster sugar; 4 tbsp groundnut oil; 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, to finish

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control