Vietnamese Shaking Beef (Bo Luc Lac)
Seared beef cubes, butter, soy-lime and over watercress with lime-pepper dip.
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The pan needs to be SCREAMING hot - beef should hit it and crackle violently. Anything less than smoking and you'll steam the cubes gray instead of getting that mahogany crust.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 1¼ lbbeef tenderloin or sirloincut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tbspsoy sauce
- 1 tbspoyster sauce
- 1 tbspfish sauce
- 1 tbspgranulated sugar
- 5garlic clovesminced
- 2 tbspneutral oil
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 1 mediumshallotthinly sliced
- 4 cupswatercresstough stems trimmed
- 1 cupcherry tomatoeshalved
- ½ mediumred onionvery thinly sliced
- 2 tbsprice vinegar
- 2limejuiced (half for salad, half for dip)
- 1½ tspfreshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tspkosher salt
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 460calories
- 34gprotein
- 12gcarbs
- 28gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Cube beef into 1-inch pieces - pat completely dry.
- Mince garlic; slice shallot and red onion thinly; halve cherry tomatoes; trim watercress.
- Juice limes (reserve the juice of 1 lime for dip).
Marinate beef
In a bowl, toss beef cubes with soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, half the minced garlic, and pepper. Let sit 10 min at room temp.
10 min · hands offDress salad
Toss watercress, cherry tomatoes, and sliced red onion with rice vinegar, half the lime juice, 1 tsp olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Pile onto a serving platter.
2 min · hands onMake lime-pepper dip
In a tiny bowl, stir remaining lime juice, salt, and black pepper - that's the dipping sauce.
1 min · hands onSear (shake)
Heat skillet over highest heat possible - it MUST be smoking. Add oil. Add beef in a single layer, do NOT stir for 90 sec to develop crust. Then shake the pan vigorously (the dish's namesake) for 2 min until beef is browned all over but still pink inside.
4 min · hands onButter finish
Reduce heat to medium. Add butter, remaining garlic, and shallot; shake the pan 60 sec until garlic is fragrant and shallot wilts. Pull off heat.
1 min · hands onPlate
Spoon beef and pan juices over the dressed watercress. Serve with the lime-pepper dip on the side - diners dunk each bite of beef in the dip before eating.
1 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Use cubed chicken thighs; sear 5 min total, ensure 165°F internal. Adds about 5 minutes.
Press tofu 10 min, cube, marinate 20 min, sear 5 min for all sides golden.
Add rice cook at the start; salad can be optional. Adds about 15 minutes.
1:1 sub - vegan butter works for that final glaze the same way.
What keeps
Bo luc lac is a 4-minute high-heat sear - reheating turns it gray and chewy. Marinate beef ahead (up to 6 hr) but cook to order.
Watercress salad goes limp the moment it's dressed.
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