Shake it off! Shake it off! (Bo Luc Lac)

It seems like the only Vietnamese phrase my Chinese friends know is "Bo Luc Lac."  Probably because it sounds funny.  Luc lac means shaking and Bo means beef, so shaking beef.  Named because when cooking, you shake the beef cubes around to coat with sauce and to cook evenly. This wasn't a dish I ever really ate growing up, my mom never made it and I never ordered it at Vietnamese restaurants since it was always one of those add on menu items.

Luckily, growing up in San Jose, where we have the largest Vietnamese population in the US, allowed me to eat at a ton Vietnamese restaurants growing up. The thing with Vietnamese restaurants is that they'll specialize in a particular dish, and do that dish really well.  Pho shops do pho, if you want rice plates, you go to a rice plate place, and so on.  Most will have a few other items on the menu, but you wouldn't go to a rice plate place and order their pho.

Unfortunately, there's no place I know of that only does bo luc lac, and so I never ordered it.  It wasn't until going to school in Davis (with only 2 Vietnamese restaurants) that I was exposed to this dish.  I guess I've been missing out all these years.  Succulent, tender beef, coated in a complex sauce served with peppery watercress and sharp picked shallots to cut through the fattiness of the beef.

It's a pretty easy to make dish, but I decided to update it with a modern twist to make it a little easier to have come out perfect every time.

Shaking Beef
2 lbs of steak - your choice in cut, I prefer rib eyes.

Shaking Beef Sauce:

1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup mirin
Pepper to taste

Pickled Shallots

1 sliced shallot
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp water

Accompaniments 
Watercress (or arugula)
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Rice

1. Sous vide steaks to desired done-ness. Here I did 130F for 2 hours for med. rare. (See my sous vide steak post on how to cook the perfect steak)
2. Sear steaks in a hot pan with a generous amount of oil for 45 seconds each side to brown.
3. Pour out oil, but reserve the bits that are stuck on the pan.
3. Combine the sauce ingredients, along with the juices from the sous vide bag. Deglaze the pan with sauce mixture.  Simmer over low heat until slightly thickened.
4. Cut beef into cubes and toss in the sauce to coat.  Serve immediately with rice, and vegetable accompaniments.  Or serve with sauce on the side.

It's steak night, we gonna eat right!

It came! After almost a year of ghetto rigged set ups, and 7 months after backing their kickstarter, my Anova Precision Cooker finally came in today.  I felt like a kid again, opening up my long awaited prize.  Of course, I had to start it off with what drew me to sous vide in the first place, steak.

I think JD and Turk said it best, it really is the world's best meat.

Cooking sous vide allows you to have a perfect steak every time, as you set the water bath to the exact temperature that you want your steak done (125 for rare, 135 for med-rare and so on).  The water slowly cooks the steaks, bringing them up to temperature and you get a perfectly cooked steak from edge to edge.  All it needs after is a little sear to give it a nice crust and you're good to go!  Top it off with some spicy tart crying tiger sauce and it truly is a treat.

Sous vide Steaks
serves 2
2 1lb ribeye steaks
fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Crying Tiger Sauce
5oz of cherry tomatoes
1 shallot (unpeeled)
3-4 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
1 chili (add more or omit depending on your spice tolerance)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp of diced cilantro
2 tbsp of diced rau kinh gioi (Vietnamese mint)

Sous Vide Steaks
1. Season steaks liberally with salt on both sides, and place into a ziploc bag with the thyme sprigs. Submerge the bag under water, keeping the lip of the bag above the water line, to force air out and form a vacuum seal.  Or, if you have a vacuum sealer, use that.

2. Set your circulator to desired temperature (I did 130 for just barely medium rare.)  If you don't have a circulator, boil some water and adjust with cold water until you get the desired temperature.  I recommend going 5 degrees warmer than desired since the water will cool down a bit over time.  You'll have to monitor the water temperature throughout the cooking process to make sure it stays within the desired range, but for this short of a time, it shouldn't fluctuate that badly, especially if you use an insulated container like a beer cooler or styrofoam box.  Place the sealed steaks into the water and set a timer for 1.5 hours.

3. Once done, remove the steaks from the bags and pat them dry. It'll look grey and pretty unappetizing, but don't worry, we're going to sear it get a nice crust going.

4. Heat a pan or cast iron skillet over high heat, and get it hot hot.  Sear the steak on each side for 30 seconds and allow the maillard reaction to take place.  The end result is a crispy crust with tons of umami goodness.  Finish with a little more salt and pepper to taste. Let the steak rest for a minute and you're good to go! Because of the slow cooking process, you won't lose as much moisture and don't need to rest the steak as long.

Crying Tiger Sauce
1. Place tomatoes, chilis, garlic, and shallots in a roasting pan.  Turn your broiler on high and broil for 8 minutes.

2. Once cooled down, use a spoon to smush the garlic and shallots out of their papery outer layers (which should both be almost like a paste) and combine the rest of the ingredients.  Blitz with a stick blender or use a food processor.   Serve with the steak (duh).

Sous vide Steaks
serves 2
2 1lb ribeye steaks
fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Crying Tiger Sauce
5oz of cherry tomatoes
1 shallot (unpeeled)
3-4 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
1 chili (add more or omit depending on your spice tolerance)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp of diced cilantro
2 tbsp of diced rau kinh gioi (Vietnamese mint)

Sous vide Steaks

1. Salt both sides of steak. Place steaks in bags with thyme and seal. Place in water bath for 1.5 hours.

2. Remove from bath, pat dry and sear in a hot pan. Salt and pepper to taste.

Crying Tiger Sauce

1. Toast tomatoes, shallots, garlic and chilis under a high broiler

2. Once cool, combine the rest of the ingredients and blend together.

Let that marinade for a while...

From what I've been told by my parents, when they go back to Vietnam, they'll find that the food there just doesn't live up to their memories, and often times the American version is much better.  I'm sure for some things like seafood, nothing will beat a freshly caught fish from the Pacific, but for proteins like pork, chicken and beef, the quality of the American product is far superior.  This is probably why there so many meat dishes in Vietnamese cuisine heavily lean on sauces and marinades to flavor the protein, helping to cover up the poor quality.  Of course, I just pulled all of this out of my ass so I have no idea if it's true or not.

This is my lemongrass marinade, tweaked over countless bbq's and week night dinners.  I think it's pretty good.  The subtle sweetness and herby taste from the lemongrass goes great with pork, chicken or beef.  Whether you cook it in a pan, baked in an oven, it'll taste amazing (although it tastes best cooked over a hot charcoal grill - although what doesn't taste best cooked that way?)  

In this preparation, I marinaded 2 chicken breasts overnight, then cooked sous-vide at 150F for 2 hours and crisped the skin in a skillet. Served with a side of papaya salad.

Lemon Grass Marinade

(enough for 3lbs of protein)

1/4 cup of minced lemongrass

1/4 cup of sugar

2 tbsp of fish sauce

1 tbsp of dark soy sauce

1 tsp of pepper

2 tsp of sesame oil