Shaking Beef

We ate Shaking Beef for the first time several years ago at the Slanted Door, a wonderful restaurant in the Ferry Terminal Building in San Francisco. A year or so later the recipe was published and I saved it. Yesterday while cleaning out a file I discovered it again. All the ingredients were in the house except for fresh watercress, and it wasn't even in the local market. Undaunted we plunged ahead.

The dish is tenderloin of piece cut into serving pieces and marinated in sugar, salt, pepper, chopped garlic and neutral oil for two hours. It is then browned and pushed to the side and sliced red onions and spring onions are added to the wok (or cast iron skillet). At the last minute you add a vinaigrette of rice wine, rice vinegar, dark and light soy sauce, fish sauce, salt, pepper and a little sugar. When everything bubbles you serve it. At the restaurant they serve it over a bed of watercress. There's also a separate dipping sauce of lime juice, salt and pepper.

It's quite amazing in taste and the best part is that it pairs beautifully with Riesling and Gruner Veltliner. The wine of choice last night was the 2007 Leitz Einz Zwei Dry, a clean and crisp Trocken Riesling. The wine cuts through the richness in the beef, but it plays beautifully with the fish and soy sauces and the lime juice. I especially like the texture of this dish as the beef is soft and wonderful and the crispness of the red and spring onions gives one a little crunch. I missed the watercress, but the rest of the meal was wonderful.