Mu Xu Rou
木须肉
English: Mu Xu Rou (Moo Shu Pork)
Chinese: 木须肉
Pinyin： mu xu rou
Literal: wood whisker meat (in culinary terms this is a poetic name meaning ‘woody, wispy dish’).
Mu xu rou is one of those Northern Chinese dishes that Western diners think they know. For decades it has appeared on American-Chinese menus as Moo Shu Pork: glossy and sweet, bundled into pancakes and lacquered with hoisin. It’s a delicious thing in its own right, but it has wandered a long way from home. Along the journey west the dish was softened, sweetened and simplified with it harder-to-source ingredients, like lily buds and wood ear mushrooms, quietly left behind.
In Beijing, mu xu rou is something altogether more modest. It is a dry, home-style stir-fry, cooked quickly and without fuss, built from pork, softly scrambled eggs, lily buds, and wood ears. These are local ingredients that belong to the city and its surrounding countryside: everyday staples rather than culinary curiosities. It’s so common in the capital that many Beijingers don’t think of it as a classic at all, it’s just a dish to throw on the table after a hard day at work.
I like to think of mu xu rou as a dry cousin to da lu mian, the old Beijing noodle dish that leans on the same supporting cast of pork, eggs, lily buds, and wood ears. Both speak of a northern pantry shaped by climate and necessity rather than excess: preserved vegetables, humble cuts, and a quiet emphasis on texture as much as flavour. Mu xu rou is a quiet and satisfying dish, a perfect example of Beijing’s home-style cooking.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
200g Pork tenderloin, thinly sliced against the grain
40g Wood ear mushrooms (or 10g dried)
15g dried lily buds (金针菜/黄花菜)
3 large eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
50ml pork or chicken stock
Aromatics
1-inch piece ginger, julienned
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 spring onions, white parts slices, green parts cut into i-inch pieces
3-4 tablespoons cooking oil
Pork Marinade
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
½ teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon water
Pinch of white pepper
Sauce Mixture
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
½ teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed into slurry with 2 tablespoon water
Method
Prep (about 30 minutes ahead)
Rehydrate the dried ingredients. Soak the wood ear mushrooms (if using dried) in cold water for 20–30 minutes, until fully expanded. Drain, trim off any hard stems, and tear into bite-sized pieces. Soak the lily buds in warm water for 20 minutes. Drain, trim off the hard tips, and, if long, tie each into a simple knot (optional but traditional). Gentle squeeze out any water from the lily buds as they tend to make the final dish watery if they absorb too much water.
Prepare the remaining ingredients. Slice the pork against the grain into thin pieces, about ⅛ inch thick, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, and then prepare the aromatics - ginger, garlic and spring onions.
Marinate and mix. Combine the pork with the marinade ingredients, give it a good stir and set aside for 15 minutes.
Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, excluding the sesame oil.
Cooking
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the eggs and let them set briefly, then gently scramble into soft curds. Remove while still slightly runny and set aside.
Cook the pork. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the wok and increase the heat to high. Stir-fry the pork until just cooked through, about 90 seconds. Transfer to the plate with the eggs.
Stir-fry the aromatics and vegetables. Add the remaining oil to the wok. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry briefly until fragrant, followed by the white parts of the scallions.
Add the wood ears and lily buds and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the bamboo shoots, if using, and cook for another minute.
Pour in the stock, cover, and let simmer for 1 minute to bring everything together.
Combine and finish. Return the pork and eggs to the wok, breaking the eggs into smaller pieces. Add the sauce and toss quickly. Add the green parts of the scallions.
Stir the cornstarch slurry and drizzle it into the wok, stirring until the sauce lightly thickens. Remove from the heat, drizzle with sesame oil, and give everything a final toss.
