Thai Recipe – Spicy Beef Salad

Thailand has many nice things. The weather, the people, the carefree lifestyle, fabulous food, a low cost of living. But there are a few things it’s lacking, at least for many foreigners, one of which is beef. Or rather, Thailand has beef, but it’s just not very good – although that’s something of a generalisation. There are actually several excellent breeds of beef animals in Thailand. But the ones that are seen everywhere, and the meat of which you’ll find in many curries, are the Brahmans. This breed, which originally came out of India, is tough and insensitive to high temperature and humidity, and can get by with munching more or less anything green. And that’s the first problem: they’re left to graze upon anything that’s handy. Australian and American beef cattle are usually corn-fed and generally pampered, so the resulting flavour of the meat is quite different. 

Another factor that affects the quality of the meat is what part of the animal it comes from. The front part of the animal is generally tougher (and therefore cheaper) whereas the rear quarters are more succulent. The toughness or stringiness is caused by inter-muscle connective tissue – of which the main component is collagen. The best cuts (tenderloin, sirloin) contain hardly any of this, making them a good place to start. And yes, even Thai beef, if cooked appropriately, can be succulent and tender (although the flavour varies quite a bit). The secret is to hit a balance between temperature and the time of cooking, heating the meat until the connective tissue breaks down and the collagen is transformed into gelatin. Most often, that means braising. But while that time-proven technique certainly takes care of the collagen, it has trade-off effects as well. The meat turns brown as the myoglobin (which makes the meat red) is exposed to excessive heat, and it dries out as the water-holding capacity of the meat is greatly reduced. 

At one time imported beef from Australia and New Zealand was a rare delicacy on Samui. But today, just about every half-decent eatery will have it on the menu, as there are so many gourmet importers on the island now. And even the big supermarkets stock a limited range of (usually frozen) cuts. All this is now quite normal, so much so that we’ve already moved onto the next phase. Giant juicy steaks are ten a penny. So let’s hear it for the Japanese (and Australian) strains of prime wagyu beef that everyone seems to be after. It’s so astonishingly tender you can cut it with a spoon. 

But anyway, here is a quick and tasty Thai dish which features beef as the main ingredient – Spicy Beef Salad or Nam Tok Neua. This Thai beef salad has lots of punchy flavour as well as a lovely freshness from the lime and herbs. It doesn’t take long with just a short cook and bit of chopping. It might be missing lettuce, but this meaty salad is definitely not missing any deliciousness. 

Thinly slice the onions and spring onions and roughly chop the mint and coriander. Cut the chilli in a small dice, removing the seeds, and put all of the chopped ingredients in a bowl. Grill the steak to your liking, and then let it rest for a couple of minutes before thinly slicing. Add the beef to the bowl with the herbs and onions. Add the fish sauce and lime juice then toss everything in the bowl.

Dimitri Waring