Recipes

Recipes · Beef

Fish Sauce Steaks

Beef · Fermented · Meat · Sous Vide

Ingredients

  • Steaks (about 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick)
  • Kosher Salt
  • Fish Sauce
  • Fresh Ground Pepper

Directions

Alright, this sounds insane…

  1. Dry-brine the steaks with a liberal dusting of kosher salt (up to 1 Tbsp per side) for at least 1/2 hour per inch of steak (overnight?).
  2. After dry brining, rinse thoroughly and pat completely dry.
  3. Rub the steaks with fish sauce (3% by weight - or about 1 TBSP per pound) and vacuum seal them for a few hours to let the magic happen.

Sous Vide

  1. 1 - Start out at 103F and cook for 90 minutes
  2. 2 - Next, bump the temp to 115F and cook for an hour
  3. 3 - Last, bump the temp up to 129F and cook for two hours
  4. The idea is here is that the fish sauce and the lowwww temps at the start activate the same enzymes that happen with weeks of dry-aging. The low heat, but still much warmer than a fridge environment, essentially takes the process down from weeks to a day or two.
  5. The result was mind-blowing. So tender, and that mild funky taste that comes with proper dry-aging.

Notes

What is dry brining?

Before foods were able to be safely stored in refrigerators, salt would be used to cure meat and to protect it from attracting harmful bacteria. Today, the process has evolved from a necessary step of preservation to a favorite culinary trick for achieving the best natural flavor of meat. So, why dry brine instead of wet brine? Using a wet brine, or rather dissolving the salt in water, essentially serves the same purpose of tenderizing meat, but the meat will absorb water and will have little to no flavor. By using a dry brine however, the meat will absorb the natural juices of the cut, resulting in a juicy steak with all the natural flavor of the meat. This is recommended and will be a decision that will definitely pay off. You will have tender, juicy steaks that have all the natural flavor of the meat without a water-based brine diluting the taste.

The theory is simple:

Salt works its way into the meat a bit by osmosis. The salt denatures the proteins, relaxing the fibers and making the steak more tender.

It’s really just that simple. There are a couple of catches, though:

The salt crystals need to be larger than table salt. Use kosher or sea salt. Dry brine about an hour per inch of steak with up to a tablespoon of salt per side. The steaks must be well rinsed and well dried after being salted. Don’t add additional salt after the steaks are rinsed and dried. Just a little freshly ground pepper will suffice.

The reason this method will elevate a good steak to a great one is that water is being drawn out of the steak. Dry aging does this, too. The only thing the steak is losing is water, not flavor. The flavor is actually getting better, the steaks are more tender and your taste buds will thank you! Remember, always rest the meat for a few minutes before cutting so the juices stay inside your steak instead of on your plate. Try this technique and you’ll find a new appreciation for dry brining.