SEA Steak Games
It is Saturday, and I have a full dance card. I study until 10, prep for dinner, and then return for several more dances with the basics of Data Engineering, Redshift, DynamoDB, RDS, and all the other alphabet letters strung together in some order. (What order, I have yet to figure out.)
Long ago, I would visit a hole-in-the-wall side-walk establishment, where the ambiance was less than pleasant, the road noise was deafening, and the food was the most amazing I have ever eaten. I knew the proprietor well enough that he confided several of his secrets.
One of the secrets was the meat quality; given the establishment, I did not press him on the source. Another secret was marinating the meat in a Southeast Asian sauce called Nuoc Mam, or as it was called locally, “Nuke Mom.” It was a mixture of a fish sauce called base, citrus, garlic, sugar, water, and the ever-present Thai Birds Eye Chilies.
The steak was seared/grilled on a charcoal hibachi to a bare medium rare, sliced, and served with a crisp and crunchy slaw dressed with a mixture of Sesame oil and Fish Sauce. Backed with a cold Ba Muoi Ba beer (locally called Bomb Me Bad), this was the finest meal. While Nuoc Mam is made with Fish sauce, I have seen this done with a high-quality aged Soy Sauce.
Time to cook.
I’ll make my Nuoc Mam and slap a 1 1/2-inch thick strip steak into a sous vide bag. I’ll add all but two tablespoons of Nuoc Mam, seal it, and let it rest/marinate in the fridge for 4 hours. When the rest / marinate time is done, I’ll bring up to room temp, and drop this in my sous vide for a couple of hours at 130. Once a temperature, I’ll give this a very quick sear on my grill. Rest, slice, drizzle with the last tablespoon of Nuoc Man and indulge.
The end-to-end process takes around 6 hours, with the marination, the bringing to room temperature, and the sous vide, but actual participation in the cooking process takes 30-45 minutes. There is plenty of time to study.
As per Wikipedia:
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some garum-related fish sauces have been used in the West since the Roman times.
Due to its ability to add a savory umami flavor to dishes, it has been embraced globally by chefs and home cooks. The umami flavor in fish sauce is due to its glutamate content.
Fish sauce is used as a seasoning during or after cooking, and as a base in dipping sauces. Soy sauce is regarded by some in the West as a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce though they are very different in flavor.
Nuoc Mam (Nuke Mom)
Ingredients
- 2 ea Limes Juiced, Fresh
- 1-4 ea Red chilies Small, sliced wafer thin (Thai Birdseye)
- 1/4 cup Raw Sugar Palm Sugar even better
- 3 cloves Garlic Peeled, minced very fine
- 2-4 tbsp Fish Sauce Good quality
- 1/4 cup Water
Instructions
- Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Set aside and cool (leave for one hour)
- Stir in the garlic, fish sauce (starting with 2 tbsp), garlic, lime juice (start with the juice of 1), and chilis.
- Taste and balance with additional fish sauce and citrus.
Notes
Nutrition
Filed
under: Asian, Barbecue, Grilled, Thai
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