Reminiscing a time in Aix en Provence, France where history seemed to come alive!
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Bò lúc lắc literally translates to “shaking beef cubes”! It’s another French influence dish in Vietnamese cooking. Cubes of beef are marinated in salty sauce, cooked on high heat in a shaking-tossing technique and served with cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce! The outside of the meat is seared from the high heat allowing the center to be tender and the sauce on the outside to caramelize to perfection! It’s funny, but I had never had this dish until my honeymoon in France! A couple weeks into our trip in Europe and we were craving rice so badly! We found a tiny family owned Vietnamese restaurant in Aix en Provence and that is where I had my first bite of bò lúc lắc! I remember it being so delightful tasting with a balance between savory and sweetness. To this day, I have not found a comparable place that serves this dish. It just does not taste the same!
Notes: I prefer to use a nicely marbled steak cut of meat for this dish. My favorite cut is a beef ribeye. A very forgiving steak that will stay nice and tender! And as for the butter, it’s vital in this recipe! I experimented with olive oil and butter combined; but it just doesn’t produce that rich flavor I was looking for. You have to use a lot of butter to balance the savory, rich and sweetness in this dish. It’s okay! You don’t eat butter all the time. If you're going to use it, why not in this delicious steak dish!
Ingredients
1 - 1.5 lb ribeye cubed
4 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp minced garlic
¼ cup sliced garlic
¼ tsp black pepper
3-4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion chopped into 1-inch pieces
1.5 cup of cherry tomatoes
Garnishes & Sides
Herbs (mints, cilantro, perilla leaves)
Spring Onions/Chives
Cucumbers
Romaine Lettuce
Rice
Method
Prepare rice according to how your grandma or mom taught you!!!
Cut ribeye into bite size cubes. Place into a mixing bowl.
Add oyster sauce, sriracha, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and minced garlic to ribeye cubes. Mix well. Let marinate at room temperature while preparing veggies.
Wash lettuce, herbs and spring onions. Allow to dry in a colander.
Chop up spring onions and set aside.
Rinse cucumbers and thinly slice at a 45° angle.
Peel onion and chop into 1-inch or so size pieces.
Rinse cherry tomatoes. They can be left whole or halved.
Dress a platter with lettuce, herbs and cucumbers.
Let’s get cooking!
Add butter to a large frying pan set on medium heat. Allow butter to completely melt. You’ll need a large pan so that there’s enough space for all the meat to sear. We don’t want to develop liquid because it prevents the meat from searing properly. Cook in two phases if your pan is too small to accommodate all the meat.
Once butter is melted. Increase heat to high. Stir butter around and add meat. Spread out so that they are laying flat. DON’T STIR YET!
Let meat caramelize and sear. About 2-3 minutes. Check a piece here or there for brownness. If there’s a good sear, flip meat over to the other side.
Add onions on top. Let the other side brown for 2-3 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and at this point you can toss everything around if you're brave enough. Or just stir it. Turn off heat.
Add cooked mixture to the prepared serving platter.
Sprinkle spring onions on top and serve! Bon Appétit!
