Orange Beef: Didn't Know You Could Make it at Home!

New Frontier in Cooking:  Homemade Orange Beef

There are some foods that I crave and must eat before I can get that thing out of my mind.  It's often tacos, wings, Korean food, burgers, and orange beef (not all at the same time).  I get on a mission.

Now that I have been cooking more, I find myself wondering how certain dishes are made.  It's funny that for the most part, I've never given any thought to how certain things are made.  I just assume it's best done in a restaurant.  Like, orange beef. 

I ordered orange beef last week from a restaurant called Hunan Delight one night when Rob met up with a friend for dinner.  It's fun to cook for Rob, but I don't enjoy just cooking for myself, so it was my excuse to order take-out.

So, I looked up an orange beef recipe on Cook's Illustrated and thought, hm, that doesn't look hard.  I just need to get a deep fry thermometer.  Done.

Did we survive our first deep-frying experience or have to order Chinese take-out?  After the jump!




Deep frying made me and Rob nervous.  I found myself holding my breath, wondering if the oil was going to explode in my face.  It didn't.

As the beef fried up, Rob and I were like, this is tasting real!  We were both surprised that it was coming together as legitimate Chinese restaurant-style orange beef.

In the end, my orange beef was good (and the crispiness on the beef was amazing), but it probably needed a scoop of MSG and a lot of salt to make the sauce really restaurant style.  My version tasted...bordering healthy, which is not what I am really looking for when I crave orange beef.