Ingredients: beef shank 2.5 pounds, 3 onions, 1 small dried Tangerine peel, 1 star anise, garlic, soy source, sugar

Prep time: 5 minutes. Cook time: 4 hours

原料：牛腱肉2.5磅，洋蔥3顆，1 小塊陳皮，1 個八角、䔉頭，醬油和糖

準備時間：5 分鐘 烹煮時間： 4 小時

Directions:

• Rinse Beef shank well and dried it with paper towels
• Grease slow cooker pot with vegetable oil and then place beef in the pot
• Use tip of a steak knife to poke holes in the meat about 20 times for even cooking and seasoning (good way to let out your aggression too)
• Cover the meat with onion slices and place dried tangerine peel in
• Cook in high setting for 1 1/2 hour (set a timer for yourself)
• Add remaining ingredients: 1/2 cup of soy sauce (1 measuring cup: 8 ounces ), 1 star anise, 5 garlic cloves, 1 cup of hot water, 3 tablespoons of sugars
• Wait till the beef is done – easily poked through by a chopstick. You may want to turn beef over 2-3 times for even seasoning in the sauce at the last hour of cooking

You can serve the beef immediately when it is done. Just cut it to thick slices and enjoy its great taste. The meat will harden when it cools down. In room temperature, It can be sliced easily to the thickness shown in the top picture. If you prefer thin slices of beef as served in restaurants, cool the beef in refrigerator for 2 hours before slicing. With patience and a sharp knife, you can do it too. The beef tastes really good the next day too. When I serve this dish, I place onions on top of the beef slices on the plate. I may also garnish it with chopped cilantro or green onion.

作法：

• 牛腱肉洗淨，用紙巾擦乾
• 慢鍋內鍋塗一層蔬菜油後，將牛腱肉放入
• 用一把小刀(牛排刀）的刀尖，將牛肉戳大約20下，可以讓調味和烹煮更均勻。
• 將陳皮和洋蔥舖在牛肉上
• 用高溫設定煮1.5 個小時（最好設一下鬧鐘）
• 將其餘原料一起放入鍋中：1/2 杯醬油 (量杯： 1 杯=8盎司），1 粒八角，5顆蒜瓣，2～3 匙糖，一杯熱水
• 等候牛肉煮好 – 若筷子能夠容易的扎入牛肉中，表示牛肉已經好了。在等待的期間，尤其是最後1 個小時，將牛肉翻面數次，確定牛肉浸入湯汁中，均勻調味

這道菜在做好之後，可以立刻上桌，只是因為牛肉熱的時候偏軟，不容易切薄片，只能切厚一點，味道一樣好吃。若等到牛肉降到室溫，會比較好切，很容易就能切像照片中的厚度。如果要切得很薄，像餐廳賣的一樣，只要把牛肉放在冰箱中 2個小時之後，用一把利一點的刀再加上一點耐心，一定能做到。我在擺盤時，將牛肉舖在下面，洋蔥放在上面，好看又好吃。也可以考慮再放香菜或葱花裝飾調味。牛肉隔天再吃更入味。

Note：I got this Jiang Niu Rou recipe years ago when the media was referred to newspapers, TV and magazines. I saved the recipe from a newspaper. The original one was a stovetop version and I modified it for the slow cooker. I never taste authentic Jiang Niu Rou myself but have recently done some research on it. Most “authentic” recipes look complicated by a long list of ingredients and processes and quite time consuming. Since This recipe is the only dish of Jiang Niu Rou I know of, I decide to keep its name. Enjoy this easy but delicious dish no matter it is authentic or not. After all, this is one of my most favorite recipes.

If you are not able to get dried tangerine peels in Asian food market, you can simply save some peels when you have a small cutie tangerine, Just let it dry 1 day or two. This tangerine peels add a slight citrus hint and subtle bitterness in beef and onions. Onions absorb the sauce and become very flavorful. It complements beef well.

筆記：我在許多許多年前得到這個食譜，當時大眾傳播是指電視及報紙雜誌。我從一份報紙上剪下這個醬牛肉食譜。我驚訝於它的簡單作法及美味。我將食譜改成適用於慢鍋，成品仍然很受歡迎。最近在網上查了許多醬牛肉食譜，發現原料和作法都相當複雜，有些資料還提到所謂“醬”是指好幾種醬加在一起，因而讓我不太確這道菜是不是醬牛肉，會不會引起爭議。等我有機會嘗到正宗的醬牛肉，再做點評，現在不敢妄言。不過不管名宇為何，我都非常喜歡這道簡單又好吃的牛肉食譜。

你如果手邊沒有陳皮，可以用一般的橘子皮。吃完橘子後，把皮留下，放置1-2 天，就可以用了。加入陳皮，可以讓牛肉和洋蔥帶一點點橘子的味道，及一些些不明顯的苦味，譲味道更加有層次。洋蔥因為變軟吸滿湯汁，和牛肉一起吃也非常好吃。