Cutting Board

Every homemade Panda Express Beijing Beef recipe I've tried turns soggy the moment you sauce it. But Panda's stays crunchy for hours, even under a heat lamp. This bothered me enough to pull their official ingredient list and figure out why. Turns out every recipe online gets the sauce wrong, the breading wrong, and misses a garlic-ginger infusion and a housemade chili paste completely. So I reverse-engineered every industrial ingredient with grocery store equivalents. Full recipe with printable card: https://jasonfarmer.com/panda-express-beijing-beef-reverse-engineered/ Wanna learn how to make Panda Express Orange Chicken at home? Watch this next: https://youtu.be/2bkjhI0uN3A Main ingredients for this Beijing Beef (affiliate links): Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base: https://geni.us/6UimN Cornstarch: https://geni.us/NTH4v4 Rice Flour: https://geni.us/37Mqw AP Flour: https://geni.us/uTx9j Non-Fat Dry Milk Powder: https://geni.us/1IgmeHW Crushed Red Pepper Flakes: https://amzn.to/4b1MWVK Dark Corn Syrup: https://geni.us/AxLW Tomato Paste: https://geni.us/KybDV Distilled White Vinegar: https://geni.us/y0uABJ Citric Acid: https://geni.us/7sO7SvH Xanthan Gum: https://geni.us/wApZYJk MSG (Aji-No-Moto): https://geni.us/FV5mIa Chinese Light Soy Sauce: https://geni.us/nFPBom1 Beef Tallow: https://geni.us/zrMX8un White Pepper: https://geni.us/R56diCi Baking Soda: https://geni.us/2Apujc Granulated Sugar: https://geni.us/eoYr Vegetable Oil: https://geni.us/gUOEeub Kitchen equipment for this Beijing Beef (affiliate links): 14-inch Mandarin Wok: https://geni.us/yppwqb Made In Cast Iron Wok (for deep frying): https://madeincookware.pxf.io/c/5642915/1533155/14569 Made In 5 quart Saucier: https://madeincookware.pxf.io/jeM97Z Deep Fry / Candy Thermometer: https://geni.us/GDqv Butane Burner: https://geni.us/yXYxEf9 Butane Canisters: https://geni.us/g4u9oM Induction Burner: https://geni.us/mOpIF Wok Ladle: https://geni.us/AQmlKP Wok Spider: https://geni.us/wWiuCeV Glass Mixing Bowls: https://geni.us/elrv Whisk: https://geni.us/D46KsN Big Chef’s Spoon: https://geni.us/q7AC Smaller Chef’s Spoon: https://geni.us/Xm9qc Wire Rack: https://geni.us/AC3NBh Baking Sheet: https://geni.us/KJQxnsf Microplane Grater (for ginger): https://geni.us/OMDdq Large Mixing Bowls: https://geni.us/jXax3 Wusthof Utility Knife: https://geni.us/UWaMXlL Cutting Board: https://geni.us/zIWbTB Deli Containers: https://geni.us/rJXoK Measuring Spoons: https://geni.us/Fe7U4M Anchor Glass Ramekins: https://geni.us/Jplij John Boo’s Work Station: https://geni.us/XZXk Music by Epidemic Sound (free 30-day trial! Affiliate link): https://share.epidemicsound.com/v23gld Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:28 Why every recipe gets the sauce wrong 1:07 The three sweeteners Panda uses (and the one that replaces all three) 1:30 Phosphoric acid and the Coca-Cola connection 1:50 What the hell is Xanthan gum? 2:11 Making the sweet and sour base 3:19 Why the beef arrives frozen at Panda Express 4:04 Slicing the flank steak 4:22 Better Than Bouillon: the glutamate-nucleotide marinade system 5:47 Why cornstarch alone fails 6:30 Non-fat dry milk powder 6:57 The Triple-Flour Blend 7:15 The Egg White Binder 7:40 Why Beef Tallow? 8:08 Breading the beef 8:29 Fry 1: The blanch 8:55 The freeze (and why it's the most important step) 9:55 The garlic ginger infusion 10:59 The chili flakes oil technique 11:56 Fry 2: The crisp 12:32 Final wok cooking 13:18 The alleged history of Beijing Beef 14:15 Taste test Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, Jason Farmer may earn commissions from qualifying purchases from amazon.com Special thanks: redgroupclan - for the recipe help romriguez - for the fortune cookie joke. that still makes me laugh.