**A Traditional Cantonese Streetsteak Recipe**

To make it, over a medium flame toss three tablespoons of lard to a pot and go in with a half an onion, finely minced. Fry that until it's lightly browned, about five minutes or so, then toss in 100 grams of finely minced tomato. Quick fry, then swirl in two tablespoons of Shaoxing wine, or whatever you have around. Cook until the wine's dissolved, about 2-3 minutes, then toss in a couple smashed cloves of garlic together with a few dried bay leaves. Quick minute fry til fragrant, then toss into five tablespoons of ketchups together with three tablespoons of water. Let that bubble away for another three to five minutes, or until you can kinda start to hear things frying once again.

**The Key to the Sauce**

Then, go in with one cup of water, three quarters of a teaspoon salt, a teaspoon sugar, a half teaspoon soy sauce, a quarter teaspoon dark soy for color and swap the flame to a medium-high. Let that bubble away for about fifteen minutes, or until it's reduced by about two thirds, and starts to look pretty tomato-saucy. Then go in with a quarter teaspoon MSG, a quarter teaspoon white or black pepper, and then season to taste – I felt this also needed a touch more sugar, MSG, and pepper. Just scoop that all out, and reserve to mix in with your spaghetti.

**The Importance of the Side Dishes**

The one thing that seems to unite all plates of steak the world over is almost an embarrassingly minuscule side of vegetable. Not sure why, but not going to argue, so we'll just boil a hunk of corn and a few florets of broccoli... forty five seconds for the broccoli, and three minutes for the corn. And now, we can finally cook our steak. So out of the brine, or marinade, or whatever... and if you opted for that wet brine do give the thing a solid pat dry at first.

**The Art of Cooking the Steak**

Then, to fry, as always first long yau... get your cast iron pan piping hot, shut off the heat, add in your oil, here just a thin smear, and give the pan a swirl. Then, swap the flame to high, and go in with your steak. At this thinness, it won’t take too long for the steak to get up to temperature, probably about two and a half minutes on each side to get to the requisite 65C... and definitely use an instant read to remove the guesswork if you have one.

**Finishing Touches**

Then, just transfer that steak over for a rest, and while that's sitting let's get the rest of the plate sorted. So, if using a hotplate like us, first just toss that over a burner and let that heat up over a high flame. Then, while that's going, on another burner fry a bit of ham in with about a tablespoon of lard over a medium flame, and once it's fragrant, about a minute or two, scooch it up, let the oil drain and reserve.

**The Final Touches**

Then, go in some cooked spaghetti – this was 50 grams worth of dried pasta – and give it a quick stir-fry, about a minute, then go in with a quarter cup of your ketchupsauce and mix well. Drizzle in a slurry of a half teaspoon cornstarch mixed with a half tablespoon water, quick mix, and over to the hotplate. So then, once said hotplate's looking at a surface temperature of about 140 Celsius, toss on an eighth of a sliced onion, and place the steak on top.

**The Result**

Then nestle the ketchup spaghetti in, toss on the semi-superfluous vegetable, top the pasta with the ham strips, and the steak with the sauce. Optional garnish, why not? And with that you've got yourself a tasty well done steak together with some ketchupsauce spaghetti.

**A Date Night**

This belongs to the category of the old Cantonese soy sauce western food. Steak in that category is a fancy thing, you only do it when you y'know want to celebrate something, or maybe at a date night... you can go have this, and then afterwards you go to a Bing Sutt (ice room) to have some cold milk and red bean drinks, or some shaved ice... or some good ol Cantonese Tang Shi sweet soups. And that will be a perfect date night.

**A Personal Note**

I know that this is not, like, legit "authentic" western food, but this is what we grew up with and what we love, and it always hits that great nostalgia feeling. So right!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWell done steak has kinda been a taboo inwestern food circles for a while now, butthat’s not the case in Asia.Whether it’s a Hong Kong Chachaanteng, ora Japanese Yoshuku joint, or even a randomBangkok street steak… again and again you’regreeted with some well done beef..But – not chewy, still tender, and stilltasty.So whether you personally like your steaka bit on the cooked side or you’re justcooking for people that do, I do think there’sthat approaches here that we can all learnfrom… so that the well done lovers of theword don’t have to suffer that proverbialhockey puck when they just want a hunk ofbeef.Of course, the modern western conventionalwisdom of medium-at-max didn’t come fromnowhere, so to make our well done well donesteak what we’ll be leaning on today isa bit of Cantonese technique.Now there’s two primary directions thatwe can go here, which we’ll call the ChaChaan Teng style, the most classic these daysin Guangdong, together with what I’ll labelthe old school ‘soy sauce western style’,which’s kind of an older, fancier approachthat might just be a little more relevantinternationally.For both though, for the cut what you’relooking for is actually kind of the oppositeof what’s prized in the west.See, a thick steak overcooks by the time thecenter’s no longer pink, so your *goal*here is thinness.In Guangdong, a common approach is to lightlybeat the steak with a back of a knife to breakit up a touch, and then slap the thing thin.That said, you have something really thickon your hands, another option would also bebutterflying in the western style… but eitherway try to aim for something about a halfinch thick.Second, for the beef itself…generally speaking, for a well done steakthe best bet is to go as fatty as you can– ribeye, striploin, that sort of thing.That said, for that Cha Chaan Teng style,something cheaper leaner and tougher liketop round might actually be preferable, becausewe’ll be beating that toughness into absolutesubmission… which we’ll get to in justa sec.Because?That third bit here is, of course, marination.While it’s not strictly mandatory, justlike how a chicken breast benefits from agood brine, so does a well done steak.To make a soy sauce western style brine, justtoss two cups of water to a pot together withtwo tablespoons salt, two tablespoons sugar,a couple cloves of smashed garlic, about aninch of smashed ginger, three dried bay leavescrumpled up… about an eighth of a slicedonion, a half tablespoon of peppercorns, twotablespoons Shaoxing or white wine, and atablespoon of soy sauce.Bring that up to a simmer to dissolve thatsalt, and then let that cool down to roomtemperature.Then just slide in your steaks, and let thosebrine for at least a couple hours.All that said, I do know that in the west,these days dry-brining is a much more populartechnique in home kitchens – and, also totallyworks.I do personally enjoy that hit of aromaticsfrom a wet brine but, there’s no arguingthe convenience of a dry… just a good sprinkleof salt and sugar on both sides, then ontoa rack and into the fridge.On the other hand, compared to that prettyconservative dry brine, a Cha Chaan Teng marinadeis practically the polar opposite.It’s a way to transform cheap beef intosomething tasty, so it can get pretty heavyhanded.To make it, first toss a half teaspoon ofsalt together with a teaspoon of sugar toyour steak, and add in two tablespoons ofwater.Massage that in until the water’s basicallyabsorbed, then toss in a teaspoon of oystersauce, a teaspoon of dark soy sauce, a teaspoonShaoxing, a quarter teaspoon black pepperpowder, a half teaspoon cornstarch, a dollopof worchestershire… and massage that allin.Optionally also hit it with a couple driedbay leaves together with a few slices of onion,massage that all in, and let it marinate forat least three hours and preferably overnight.Then, forty five minutes before cooking, we’llalso be adding in a quarter teaspoon of thisstuff – Chinese meat tenderizer powder.It’s a mix of starch, sodium carbonate andan enzyme called papain that’s basicallythe nuke in your “how can I make this moretender” arsenal.If you can’t find it, just swap for somesodium carbonate or alternatively just includea half teaspoon baking soda in your initialmarinade.Either way, go easy on the ingredient, becauseit can often work a little…too well.Then, our final ‘well done’ component?Sauce.Now again, this isn’t strictly mandatory,but more often than not you do see these sortsof steaks sauced, in a Cantonese context atleast.Now this isn’t a sauce video, so we’regunna be going the lazy route and just usinga bit of Lee Kum Kee’s black pepper sauce.You can also just make this stuff yourselfif you like, and we’ve got a video up hereon the topic… but also, really, feel freeto use whatever kind of sauce you’re feeling.So, for us, we’ll just be mixing a tablespoonof that together with a tablespoon of water,a half tablespoon soy sauce, and a half teaspoonof freshly ground black pepper… and, settingthat all aside.Now.Just like you’d get from a Cha Chaan Tengor a street steak, we are gunna be makinga whole plate here, so let’s try to prepeverything else before charging forward withthe beef, starting with the pasta.That said, before we get into it, I do knowthat a subset of you are probably alreadyvisibly angry at this whole idea of a “ketchupsauce spaghetti”, but just know that somethinglike this definitely isn’t our goal.In a Cantonese ketchup sauce, the ketchupgets cooked first, which significantly mellowsthe ingredient… which is why you probablydon’t interpret something like a sweet andsour sauce or an American barbecue sauce asimmediately ‘ketchup-y’.There’s a few different styles of Cantoneseketchup sauce, so what we’ll be doing todayis our interpretation of our local streetsteak from back in Shunde.To make it, over a medium flame toss threetablespoons of lard to a pot and go in witha half an onion, finely minced.Fry that until it’s lightly browned, aboutfive minutes or so, then toss in 100 gramsof finely minced tomato.Quick fry, then swirl in two tablespoons ofShaoxing wine, or whatever you have around.Cook until the wine’s dissolved, about 2-3minutes, then toss in a couple smashed clovesof garlic together with a few dried bay leaves.Quick minute fry til fragrant, then toss infive tablespoons of ketchups together withthree tablespoons of water.Let that bubble away for another three tofive minutes, or until you can kinda startto hear things frying once again.Then, go in with one cup of water, three quartersof a teaspoon salt, a teaspoon sugar, a halfteaspoon soy sauce, a quarter teaspoon darksoy for color and swap the flame to a mediumhigh.Let that bubble away for about fifteen minutes,or until it’s reduced by about two thirds,and starts to look pretty tomato-saucy.Then go in with a quarter teaspoon MSG, aquarter teaspoon white or black pepper, andthen season to taste – I felt this alsoneeded a touch more sugar, MSG, and pepper.Then just scoop that all out, and reserveto mix in with your spaghetti.Then, besides that, the one thing that seemsto unite all plates of steak the world overis almost an embarrassingly minuscule sideof vegetable.Not sure why, but not going to argue, so we’lljust boil a hunk of corn and a few floretsof broccoli… forty five seconds for thebroccoli, and three minutes for the corn.And now, we can finally cook our steak.So out of the brine, or marinade, or whatever…and if you opted for that wet brine do givethe thing a solid pat dry at first.Then, to fry, as always first longyau… getyour cast iron pan piping hot, shut off theheat, add in your oil, here just a thin smear,and give the pan a swirl.Then, swap the flame to high, and go in withyour steak.At this thinness, it won’t take too longfor the steak to get up to temperature, probablyabout two and a half minutes on each sideto get to the requisite 65C… and definitelyuse an instant read to remove the guessworkif you have one.Then just transfer that steak over for a rest,and while that’s sitting let’s get therest of the plate sorted.So, if using a hotplate like us, first justtoss that over a burner and let that heatup over a high flame.Then, while that’s going, on another burnerfry a bit of ham in with about a tablespoonof lard over a medium flame, and once it’sfragrant, about a minute or two, scooch itup, let the oil drain and reserve.Then, go in some cooked spaghetti – thiswas 50 grams worth of dried pasta – andgive it a quick stir-fry, about a minute,then go in with a quarter cup of your ketchupsauce and mix well.Drizzle in a slurry of a half teaspoon cornstarchmixed with a half tablespoon water, quickmix, and over to the hotplate.So then, once said hotplate’s looking ata surface temperature of about 140 Celsius,toss on an eighth of a sliced onion, and placethe steak on top.Then nestle the ketchup spaghetti in, tosson the semi-superfluous vegetable, top thepasta with the ham strips, and the steak withthe sauce.Optional garnish, why not, and with that you’vegot yourself a tasty well done steak togetherwith some ketchup sauce spaghetti.So this belongs to the category of the oldCantonese soy sauce western food.So steak in that category is a fancy thing,you only do it when you y’know want to celebratesomething, or maybe at a date night…you can go have this, and then afterwardsyou go to a Bing Sutt (ice room) to have somecold milk and red bean drinks, or some shavedice… or some good ol Cantonese Tang Shuisweet soups.And that will be a perfect date night.I know that this is not, like, legit “authentic”western food, but this is what we grew upwith and what we love, and it always hitsthat great nostalgia feeling.So right!Check out the recipe in the description box,a big thank you for everyone supporting uson Patreon… and of course, subscribe formore Chinese cooking videos!\n"