shaking beef - Vietnamese thit bo luc lac

Bowl of shaking beef on a bed of micro-greens from above.

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4.94 from 15 votes

shaking beef - Vietnamese thit bo luc lac

Shaking beef is a great way to make a little beef go a long way in this delicious composed salad.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Course: Main

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keyword: shaking beef, thit bo luc lac, vietnamese

Servings:

Calories: 514kcal

Author: romain | glebekitchen

Ingredients

The beef

1 lb beef ribeye or New York or filet mignon You want whole steak size pieces. Don't cut it into cubes yet.
salt to season the beef
1 tsp black pepper you want to give the beef a liberal coating of semi-coarsely ground pepper (think butcher's blend)
3 cloves garlic - minced
2 tbsp vegetable oil plus a little more if the pan is dry when you add the garlic.

The sauce

2 tsp dark soy Thai sweet soy preferably
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce Thai preferably (strongly recommended really)
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1-2 tsp sugar Or even more if you like things a bit sweet.
2 tsp sesame oil

The salad

1 tbsp rice vinegar to taste - this will be mixed with the hot sauce after you deglaze your pan.
3 cups watercress or baby greens of your choice.
1/4 cup red onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half (grape tomatoes are fine and so are thinly sliced regular tomatoes) - go with the best you can get
a little drizzle of vegetable oil

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Do your prep

Prepare your greens, red onion and tomatoes. Set aside.
Combine the all sauce ingredients in a small bowl. You will be deglazing your pan with this sauce.

Cook the beef

Pre-heat a heavy frying pan that will hold the steaks in a single layer over medium to medium high heat. Add the oil. Right before you start frying the steaks, season liberally with salt and pepper.
Turn on your ventilation fan. This is going to smoke.
Place the beef in the pan and fry around 3-4 minutes. You want a nice crust on the beef. This should get you to about medium rare. Depends on how thick your steaks are and how hot your pan is. I can't be more precise because I just don't know your specific details.
Flip the steak and cook it another 3 minutes. Remove and let rest around 10 minutes. Check your internal temperature. 125F is rare. 130 is medium rare. Remove the pan from the heat.
After the steak has rested for 10 minutes cut the beef into big bite size chunks.
Return the pan to medium low heat. Keep an eye on it. You don't want your fond to burn. Once it is heated add the garlic and cook around 30 seconds.
Turn the heat up and deglaze the pan with the sauce. Scrape up all that delicious brown gold and stir to get it to dissolve into the sauce.
As soon as you have finished deglazing the pan turn down the heat to low. Taste it. Now start adding the rice wine vinegar. You are looking for a nice balance of acid and savoury. Creep up on it.
When you get to the point you are happy with your sauce (now your vinaigrette really) return the beef to the pan. Heat through gently. You don't want it to cook more. Just warm it up.
To serve spread your greens out on a plate. Top with onions and tomatoes. Drizzle with a bit of vegetable oil. Spoon the beef onto this mixture and drizzle with the sauce. Serve with lime wedges. Plate individually or as a communal appetizer.

Nutrition