Bò Lúc Lắc

Vietnamese shaking beef seared hard with whole shallots and tipped over watercress

Origin: Saigon, Vietnam

From the journey of Shallot.

The name means shaking beef, and it describes the cook rather than the dish: the pan is shaken hard and continuously so the cubes turn and sear on every face without ever sitting long enough to stew. It is a product of the French colonial period and it wears that origin openly. A French cut of steak, cubed rather than left whole, cooked in a Vietnamese seasoning of fish sauce, soy, and oyster sauce, and served over salad leaves with a dipping sauce of lime, salt, and black pepper. Saigon restaurants have made it their signature dish for a century and it remains the thing a Vietnamese family orders when celebrating. The shallots go in whole or halved rather than sliced, and that choice is deliberate. In a pan this hot, sliced shallot would burn to nothing in the ninety seconds the beef needs; kept whole, the outside blisters and the inside steams in its own moisture into something soft and sweet that eats almost like a separate vegetable. Hành tím, the purple Vietnamese shallot, is small and dense enough to survive the treatment. The dipping sauce, muối tiêu chanh, is three ingredients and is not optional: salt, coarse black pepper, and lime juice, mixed at the table. The beef is rich and salty from the marinade and the sharp, peppery dip is what makes a second and third piece possible. Watercress is the traditional bed, dressed lightly, and the point is that the hot beef and its juices wilt it as they land.

Ingredients

Beef

600 g beef sirloin or fillet, cut into 3 cm cubes

Marinade

2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp caster sugar
3 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp neutral oil

Pan

250 g small shallots, peeled and left whole or halved
3 tbsp neutral oil
30 g unsalted butter
2 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry

To Serve

150 g watercress
1 whole red onion, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp rice vinegar

Dipping Sauce

1 tsp salt
1 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper
2 whole limes, halved

Method

Toss the beef with all the marinade ingredients and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Soak the sliced red onion in the rice vinegar whilst you cook, then drain. Dress the watercress lightly and spread it on a serving platter.
Mix the salt and cracked pepper in small dishes, one per person, and set a lime half beside each. The lime is squeezed in at the table.
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large heavy pan or wok over the highest heat until it smokes. Add the whole shallots and cook for three to four minutes until blistered and browned in patches.
Lift the shallots out and set aside. Add the remaining oil and let it come back to smoking.
Add the beef in a single layer, leave untouched for forty seconds to form a crust, then begin shaking the pan hard and continuously for a further minute.
Return the shallots, add the butter and the rice wine, and shake for a further thirty to forty seconds until the beef is browned outside and pink within.
Tip the whole contents of the pan, juices included, straight over the dressed watercress and pickled onion.
Serve at once with the salt, pepper, and lime dips, and with steamed rice or chips.

Notes

Sirloin is the practical choice; fillet is more tender and less flavourful. Whatever the cut, it must be good, because ninety seconds of cooking hides nothing. Small Asian shallots hold up best. If only large round shallots are available, quarter them through the root so the layers stay attached. Cook in two batches if your pan is not genuinely large. A crowded pan drops in temperature and the beef braises in its own liquid, which is the commonest way this dish fails. Chips alongside are entirely traditional in Saigon, a straightforward inheritance from the French, and the combination is better than it sounds. The muối tiêu chanh dip is essential rather than decorative. Do not substitute a sweet dipping sauce.

The Gastrographer

Name: Bò Lúc Lắc
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Vietnam
Ingredients: 600 g beef sirloin or fillet, cut into 3 cm cubes; 2 tbsp oyster sauce; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tbsp dark soy sauce; 1 tbsp caster sugar; 3 cloves garlic, finely grated; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 1 tbsp neutral oil; 250 g small shallots, peeled and left whole or halved; 3 tbsp neutral oil; 30 g unsalted butter; 2 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry; 150 g watercress; 1 whole red onion, very thinly sliced; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper; 2 whole limes, halved

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control