Caramel Shaking Beef
A version of the classic Vietnamese dish. The "shaking" refers to the motion of moving the pan back and forth to marry the beef with the sticky, sweet, salty sauce. Maggi is a branded sauce that is widely available - basically a soy sauce fortified with sugar and other seasonings; if you can't find it, use any soy sauce.
Ingredients
| 900 g | boneless beef sirloin, tenderloin or rib eye, cut into 1" (2.5-cm) cubes | |
| 10 cloves | garlic cloves, minced, divided | |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | fish sauce |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | Maggi seasoning sauce |
| 3 tbsp | 45 ml | sugar |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | vegetable oil |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | butter |
| 1 pinch | freshly ground black pepper | |
| 1 loaf | crusty French bread |
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the beef, half of the garlic, fish sauce, Maggi and sugar. Let stand at room temperature for about half an hour.
- Turn your hood fan on, as this dish will smoke a bit. Preheat a wok or large skillet over high heat for about 2 minutes. When hot, pour in the vegetable oil.
- The pan will start to smoke; immediately pour in the marinade and beef AWAY from you to avoid oil splatter. Start moving the pan back and forth to keep the beef searing and moving.
- Add the remaining minced garlic and keep moving until the beef is seared on all sides but still medium rare, about 1 minute.
- Drop in the butter and shake for another minute to finish. The butter melts and combines with the pan juices to make a phenomenal pan sauce.
- Platter the beef with all the pan sauce and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Serve with crusty French bread to sop up all that deliciousness.