Pictorial: BBQ Pork Egg Foo Young

[hzrt8w]

BBQ Pork Egg Foo Young (叉燒炒蛋)

Egg Foo Young is a common dish offered in American Chinese restaurants. I typically don't like the ones made in these restaurants. Some of them mix flour/water in the beaten egg (a Chiu Chow (Teochew) style fried eggs, typically cooked with small oysters). Some of them put in bean sprouts.

The Egg Foo Young, or just "fried eggs", that I like is very simple to make. Here is an illustration. You may use ground beef, shrimp, oyster, ham, turkey slices or other meats of your choice. The cooking procedure is the same. Refer to other published pictorials for the marination of beef, shrimp, etc..

Dedicated to Jason Perlow.

Picture of the finished dish:

Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3

Preparations:

Main ingredients: (From lower-right, clockwise)

- Stored-bought BBQ pork, lean, about 1/2 to 3/4 lb

- 6 large size chicken eggs

- 1 large onion

- 3 to 4 stalks of green onions

Cut the BBQ pork into very thin slices.

Peel and wedge one large onion. Trim ends and finely chop 3 to 4 stalks of green onions. Break and beat 6 large size chicken eggs.

Cooking Instructions:

Use a pan/wok, set stove at high. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Cook the BBQ pork slices first. If you use other types of meat, also cook the meat first. Remove from pan.

Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil to pan. Wait until oil heats up. Add wedged onions. Sprinkle about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp (or to taste) of salt. Stir and sautee the onions for a few minute until slightly brown.

Add another 2 tblsp of cooking oil to pan. Add the beaten eggs. Cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Return the BBQ pork slices.

Sprinkle the finely chopped green onions on top. Gently fold the egg omlette a couple of times. Cook for a few minutes until the eggs solidify. I like my eggs still moist and not overcooked but this is a personal preference. Transfer mixture to a serving dish.

Picture of the finished dish. Pour 2 tsp of light soy sauce on a small dish and serve as a condiment. Or drizzle light soy sauce on top of the Egg Foo Young. Optionally: place 2 prigs of cilantro on top.

[Chris Amirault]

Ah Leung, thanks as usual. Do you think that one could use lop yuk? I've been doing that a bit lately -- click.

[Dejah]

Ah Leung, thanks as usual. Do you think that one could use lop yuk?  I've been  doing that a bit lately -- click.

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It's even better with diced lap cheung, diced onions and peas!

And, we like to eat it dipped in sweet hot chili sauce.

[BarbaraY]

That certainly looks better than the bean sprout hockey pucks I was served last time I had "Egg Foo Yung" in a restaurant over ten years ago.

[I_call_the_duck]

Thanks, Ah Leung. Looks wonderful as always! My favorite version is roast pork and gow choi (garlic chives).

[silentmeow]

That looks wonderful. Peas would be a nice color addition. These pictorals are very helpful. I always did learn better through pictures!

[jo-mel]

Xiao Leung -- When I see your pictorials, I really think I can smell their aroma. Well, yesterday I was sauteing some onions for a stuffing. Usually I can't smell my own cooking, but when I saw the finished picture of your Egg Foo Young, instantly the scent of onions filled the room! LOL! See what your pictures do!!

[Jason Perlow]

Ah Leung, do you not make a "gravy" to go with this type of Egg Foo Young?

Otherwise, it looks excellent, I can't wait to make one.

[Dejah]

Ah Leung, do you not make a "gravy" to go with this type of Egg Foo Young?

Otherwise, it looks excellent, I can't wait to make one.

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Gravy is not part of this dish in my experience. I called this Cantonese Egg Foo Yung on our menu. Sometimes I add diced BBQ pork and baby shrimps. Then it was the "Deluxe" one: add $2.00.

Brown gravy was typically served with BarbaraY's "bean sprouty hockey pucks!"

[Jason Perlow]

Yeah but I like the bean sprouty hockey pucks, though. What's a typical recipe for that gravy?

[Dejah]

Yeah but I like the bean sprouty hockey pucks, though. What's a typical recipe for that gravy?

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I made a roux with flour and oil from the deep fryer - the one used for cooking breaded meats. To this, I added stock, water, seasonings and soya sauce for colour. Always made a big potful in the morning, for the egg foo yung or boneless almond chicken. This stuff was good. Customers were never able to duplicate it 'cos they didn't have the same oil as I did.

I didn't mean to say there was anything wrong with the bean sprouty pucks. I love eggs and bean sprouts!

Edited February 28, 2006 by Dejah (log)

[Ben Hong]

Lord, why can't people just call it an "omelet"? This is a great way to use up leftovers, or add a quick dish if a guest shows up unexpectedly at the family table.

Gravy? Fie, m'lord, get thee hence, away from our trencherboard. Sully not such goodly victuals. Philistines, I say.

[wesza]

"Egg Foo Young" as served on the east coast of the states is something that I was surprised was unknown when I first visited Hong Kong. This was always a very popular dish generally served with 3 individual oval pieces covered with a brown gravy.

Since I thought it would be something interesting to serve at our original Hong Kong Lindy's Restaurant along with our NY Style Chinese Pork Spare Ribs" that we called "Barbecue Pork Spareribs" (became very popular)

I brought with me a special Cast Iron Pan that contained 3 oval sections made to hold the 3 pieces of Egg Foo Young served at almost every Chinese Restaurant located in the NYC Area. This pan was very heavy and held the heat well. It used to be available at most Restaurant Supply Wholesalers when hot on the stove a order could be made every 3 minutes. It was a very popular dish on most set family menus everywhere.

No one in Hong Kong had ever seen or heard about such a egg dish or such a pan. We tried using it but it never became popular except as a Pan to prepare the popular Vegetable Cutlets based on Potatoes featured at Indian Restaurants that were often requested by Indian customers who really enjoyed the way they were cooked in our pan.

The Gravy made for this dish at most Restaurants in NYC was quite simple.

Superior Broth (Based on Chicken and Pork Bones and trimmings) Thickened with Corn Starch Wash with a dash of Dark Soy and some Maggi for the Brown color after getting thickened served over the Egg Foo Young.

In Seattle I only know of one old style Chinese Restaurant that prepares it this way and it's more of a neighborhood Bar thats been in business over 30 years. I go for a fix every few months ordering it for take out.

Irwin

[Dejah]

With the omeletes, as Ben Sook prefers to call 'em, we'd stir-fry up an order of "chop suey" - shredded cabbage, onion, celery, mushrooms, bean sprouts, then add it (no liquid) to 3 eggs with a tsp. of cornstarch beaten into it. This helped the omeletes hold its shape when we put the mixture onto the grill. The shallow Chinese soup ladle used was the perfect size for each of the 5 patties for each order.

The gravy was made with the flour roux because it held up better than the cornstarch thickened method, which would turn watery if it sits for any length of time. The gravy was kept hot in a double boiler on the stove. We didn't have the luxury of making gravy for each order that came in.

[jo-mel]

Isn't the difference that one is "Western restaurant style" and the other "home style"? The restaurant style came along about the same time as chop suey and the like.

The restaurant style are small usually deep fried omelettes with a gravy on top, while the more authentic is simply a pan fried omelet -- sans gravy?

[Ben Hong]

As far as I can remember, this dish was always a "minor" dish at our dinner tables, that is it was no trouble to make and it took so little time. When the cook, eg: my mother felt that we were hungrier than she thought, or a guest came in unexpectedly, she'd crack a half dozen eggs, throw in some scraps of meat and veggies or green onions and presto, another dish in about 3 minutes. The "sauce" was usually a sprinkle of soy sauce , or a dribble of oyster sauce.

Jo-Mel, I hadn't realized that some restaurants deep fried their "foo yong". Must be the dickens of a job, what with all the ingredients bursting all over the deep fat.

[I_call_the_duck]

Lord, why can't people just call it an "omelet"? This is a great way to use up leftovers, or add a quick dish if a guest shows up unexpectedly at the family table.

Gravy?  Fie, m'lord, get thee hence, away from our trencherboard. Sully not such  goodly victuals. Philistines, I say.

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Ben Sook, I think an omelet would be more define as eggs that are already cooked and then stuff is folded into it, while the egg foo young is stuff scrambled into eggs then cooked.

Gravy on egg foo young? The stuff I saw in restaurants looked just like brown gravy that they use on other dishes. As my BIL, who is a round-eye used to say (paraphrasing, because what he actually said isn’t very nice), “that’s white people food!”

Edited February 28, 2006 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[jo-mel]

Jo-Mel, I hadn't realized that some restaurants deep fried their "foo yong". Must be the dickens of a job, what with all the ingredients bursting all over the deep fat.

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Perhaps Dejah knows this better than I, but when they are deep fried, the oil is boiling and a ladle of mix is carefully tipped into the oil and then the ladle is used to immediately splash (or pour) the hot oil on the top surface so as to harden the top before turning. I guess some restaurants also pan fry them.

Once I made home style Fu Yong for my sister and her two boys. The kids turned up their noses because the omelettes weren't crisp and had no gravy. Tough! I had more for myself!!

When I think/smell fu yong, I am transported back to Boston's Chinatown when I was a kid, and the predominant aroma is from bean sprouts. I guess that is from using 'chop suey' mix as SueAn mentioned?

[Dejah]

Jo-Mel, I hadn't realized that some restaurants deep fried their "foo yong". Must be the dickens of a job, what with all the ingredients bursting all over the deep fat.

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Perhaps Dejah knows this better than I, but when they are deep fried, the oil is boiling and a ladle of mix is carefully tipped into the oil and then the ladle is used to immediately splash (or pour) the hot oil on the top surface so as to harden the top before turning. I guess some restaurants also pan fry them.

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jo-mel: We didn't deep fry the egg foo yung. The western style was always done on the grill, and the Cantonese style was done in the wok.

[Gastro888]

In the restaurant kitchen, my father would deep fry the Western style foo young. The oil would be at a rapid boil (not too much lest the mixture burn) and he did exactly as jo-mel described. What also helped was that there would be more filling than egg - only two eggs to a potful of bean sprouts, onions and your choice of meat. Think of it as mortar for the foo young, not really a flavoring agent.

The brown gravy was BOSS! Oh m'lord. I loved eating it freshly made over a scoop of rice. Now THAT was some "white people food" and you know I got grief for that!

Edited February 28, 2006 by Gastro888 (log)

[Dejah]

I am having a hard time visualizing oil at a "rapid boil"and deep frying egg foo yung.

So, this method would be more like fritters?

[Ben Hong]

I am having a hard time visualizing oil at a "rapid boil"and deep frying egg foo yung.

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Me too. How do you keep all the veggies and meat together in the deep fryer. Or maybe you guys shallow fry the stuff in a deep fry pan.

Like I said many times, I am still learning.

[Ben Hong]

The brown gravy was BOSS!  Oh m'lord.  I loved eating it freshly made over a scoop of rice. 

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Gastro Girl, when I was a young'un that was also my favourite treat, but I also like a hamburg patty and fried onions and mushrooms too. Loved that old steam table gravy - over rice, fries, mashed and peas, ....

My all time favourite retaurant kitchen treat, if we were "balls to the walls" busy, was any piece of fried meat (porkchop is tops), a couple of slices of tomato, and a scoop of white rice with a splash of light soy and a few drops of sesame oil. Even now, I have it at least a couple of times a month.

Funny how even with all the great food around in a commercial kitchen, we still prefer the basic stuff.

[Jason Perlow]

Have you guys heard of this bizarre sandwich from St. Louis, Missouri called a "St. Paul Sandwich" ?

http://www.thecommonspace.org/2002/08/media.php

http://today.answers.com/topic/st-paul-sandwich

Apparently, its an egg foo young patty on white bread with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Yikes.

[Dejah]

Have you guys heard of this bizarre sandwich from St. Louis, Missouri called a "St. Paul Sandwich" ?

http://www.thecommonspace.org/2002/08/media.php

http://today.answers.com/topic/st-paul-sandwich

Apparently, its an egg foo young patty on white bread with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Yikes.

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Omit the lettuce, tomato and mayo, toast the bread and that's a Denver or Western sandwich when I make it at home. In a restaurant, that patty would be egg, diced onion, bacon or ham. Gotta have ketsup to dip the sandwich in!