Boiled Beef Knee Cartilage

Quick answer

Beef knee cartilage and tendon are soaked and parboiled before a long simmer with garlic, scallion, ginger, and peppercorns.

Once chewy but tender, cool and slice them, then arrange over blanched chives with a little warm broth.

Ingredient	Amount	Unit
beef knee cartilage and tendon	800	g
garlic cloves	40	g
green onions	80	g
ginger	15	g
whole black peppercorns	1	tbsp
water	3.5	L
blanched chives	50	g

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

5 steps

1

Step

Soak the cartilage and tendons in cold water for 3 hours to drain blood, replacing with fresh water every hour.
2

Heat

Boil the cartilage and tendons in boiling water for 10 minutes to remove impurities, then scrub and wash in cold water.
3

Control

In a large pot, combine the parboiled beef meat, green onions, garlic, ginger, peppercorns, and 3.5L of water.

Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for 2.5 hours.
4

Prep

Once the cartilage and tendons are chewy and tender, remove from the pot, let cool slightly, and slice into 0.7cm thick pieces.
5

Finish

Spread blanched chives on a plate, arrange the sliced cartilage on top, and pour a small amount of warm broth over it.

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Tender and chewy unique texture
Finish cue: Once the cartilage and tendons are chewy and tender, remove from the pot, let cool slightly, and slice into 0.7cm thick pieces.
Avoid this: If boiled for too long, the cartilage melts and loses texture, so limit boiling to 2 to 2.5 hours to retain its elasticity.