Steve browned the meat over high heat in a cast iron pan while I made the braising liquid by combining:
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce (or else just use 2 T of one type of soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (I don't actually remember putting this in but I thought I followed the recipe mostly)
- 1 cup organic dried, pitted prunes
After browning, we cut each hunk of meat in half so that each piece was roughly the size of a deck of cards (that whole rule). We placed the meat and two roughly chopped onions in the crock pot and poured the braising liquid over the top. Then, we deglazed the pan using a half a cup of water and poured the glaze into the crock pot too. Finally (well, finally for a few hours), we turned the crock pot on high for four hours. Low for longer time would probably be better, but it was already two and our friends were coming at six!!
We made some rice (duh) and also prepared some baby bok choy. We sauteed the bok choy, then lightly sauced it with a 1-to-1 ratio of rice wine and oyster sauce.
Here's a picture the next day, after all the bok choy was consumed and before we made the sauce.
We put the leftovers in a fridge for a night so that the fat could solidify. After skimming the fatty layer off the braising liquid, we pureed the onion and prunes and add two T of fig jam. This created a thicker, more flavorful sauce, and once that sauce was created, there were no more photo ops because we gobbled it all down too quickly.