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Muxu Pork (Wood-Ear Pork with Egg)
Silky pork slices, soft-scrambled egg, wood ear and daylily flowers, each cooked separately and combined in a thirty-second final toss — the Shandong home-style classic whose name nods to osmanthus blossom. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 木须肉, report 94.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 木须肉_94.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 15 minutes (plus 2 hours soaking)Cook: 8 minutesTotal: 2 hours 25 minutesServings: 2Difficulty: EasyRegion: ShandongFlavour: Light, savoury, home-style
Why this works
Muxu pork is a dish of separate cookings, and the separation is the point: pork sliced two millimetres thin needs forty seconds at 160 °C, egg needs thirty seconds over medium heat until just set, and wood ear with daylily needs a one-minute blanch to be both clean and safe. Cook them together and one of them is always wrong — the egg overcooks, the pork toughens, or the fungi stay gritty. So each is cooked alone, set aside, and reunited for a final thirty-second toss with soy, salt and MSG, just long enough for the flavours to meet without anything cooking further. The report's temperature discipline runs through it all: every component must reach at least 75 °C, and the finished dish must leave the pan at that temperature or above, served in a pre-warmed deep plate so it does not cool on the way to the table.
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Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork tenderloin, sliced 2 mm | 4.2 oz | 120 g | Marinated with cooking wine and a little salt. |
| Eggs, beaten | 2 eggs | 100 g | Beaten with a little salt. |
| Dried wood ear, soaked | 0.5 oz dried | 15 g dried, 50 g soaked | Soaked 2 hours in cold water (adaptation: the report says soak the dried fungi 2 hours; keep the soak cold). |
| Dried daylily flowers, soaked | 0.35 oz dried | 10 g dried, 40 g soaked | Soaked 2 hours in cold water; trim the hard ends. |
| Salt | ½ tsp | 3 g | Divided between the pork, egg and final toss. |
| MSG | Pinch | 2 g | Optional — omit if you prefer (adaptation). |
| Light soy sauce | 2 tsp | 10 ml | For the final toss. |
| Cooking wine | 1 tsp | 5 ml | For marinating the pork. |
| Scallion segments | 0.35 oz | 10 g | — |
| Ginger slices | 0.2 oz | 5 g | — |
| Neutral oil, for cooking | 2 tbsp | 30 ml | — |
Equipment
- Wok or large skillet — no wok required (adaptation)
- Pot for blanching the fungi
- Pre-warmed deep plate for serving
Steps
- Soak and marinate. Soak the wood ear and daylily separately in cold water for 2 hours, then drain; they may be soaked in bulk and refrigerated up to 24 hours. Slice the pork 2 mm thin and toss with cooking wine and a little salt; it may be marinated up to 4 hours ahead, refrigerated. Beat the eggs with a little salt.
- Blanch the fungi. Blanch the wood ear and daylily in boiling water for 1 minute to remove impurities and kill bacteria (centre at least 85 °C), then plunge into cold water and drain. This step must happen just before cooking, not hours ahead.
- Cook each part separately. Heat oil to 160 °C and slide the pork slices, stirring quickly until fully changed colour with no pink left, about 40 seconds and centre at least 75 °C / 167 °F; remove. Add a little more oil and scramble the eggs on medium heat until fully set and lightly golden with no runny egg left, about 30 seconds and centre at least 75 °C; remove.
- Combine in thirty seconds. Leave a little oil in the pan and fry the scallion and ginger until fragrant. Add the blanched fungi and stir-fry 30 seconds, then add the pork and egg, pour in the soy sauce, salt and MSG, and toss on high heat for 30 seconds, making sure everything is at least 75 °C. Serve at once in a pre-warmed deep plate, scattered with chopped scallion if liked.
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Technique: cook separately, combine in thirty seconds
The final toss has a hard time limit because everything in the pan is already cooked: longer than sixty seconds total and the egg hardens, the pork dries and the fungi weep water into the sauce. That is why the fungi are blanched and the pork and egg are set aside before the pan is ever used for combining — the last step is assembly, not cooking. If the dish looks watery, the fungi were not drained well after blanching; if the egg is rubbery, it was scrambled past fully set.
Variations
- Cucumber version: add sliced cucumber with the fungi for a fresher, crunchier muxu (adaptation).
- No MSG: omit it; a splash more soy covers the seasoning (adaptation).
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called muxu?
Muxu refers to osmanthus blossom: the scrambled egg flecks scattered through the dish resemble tiny yellow blossoms.
Can I use fresh mushrooms instead?
You can, but wood ear and daylily give the dish its characteristic springy and silky textures; button mushrooms taste different (adaptation).
Why blanch the fungi?
To remove impurities and ensure they are fully heated through — the report requires a one-minute boil at a centre temperature of at least 85 °C.
Storage and freezing
Best eaten fresh. Leftovers keep 1 day refrigerated; reheat until steaming hot throughout and do not reheat more than once. Do not freeze.
Muxu Pork (Wood-Ear Pork with Egg) — Recipe Card
Pork slices, scrambled egg, wood ear and daylily in a light savoury toss.
Prep: 15 minutes (plus 2 hours soaking)Cook: 8 minutesTotal: 2 hours 25 minutesServings: 2
Ingredients: 120 g pork tenderloin; 2 eggs; 15 g dried wood ear (50 g soaked); 10 g dried daylily (40 g soaked); 3 g salt; 2 g MSG (optional); 10 ml soy sauce; 5 ml cooking wine; 10 g scallion; 5 g ginger; 30 ml oil.
Steps: 1) Soak fungi 2 hours; marinate pork. 2) Blanch fungi 1 minute, chill. 3) Slide pork 40 seconds; scramble egg 30 seconds. 4) Combine all with soy and seasonings, toss 30 seconds.
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Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 木须肉 (data/reports/94.md). The report's pricing, margin and marketing sections are deliberately omitted here; no B2B cost is presented as a home-cook cost. The report's own cost table is arithmetically wrong — its egg line is priced far above its own per-kilo rate, inflating its total — so no cost figures are reproduced. The MSG-optional note is an adaptation and is labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (木须肉_94.jpeg).