Comments on: Bo Luc Lac (Vietnamese Shaking Beef)

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:32:24 +0000

My mom had asked me to cook her some beef that she defrosted, so I asked her what type of flavor she wanted American or Asian? & of course she said Asian so I tried to think of something I could whip up, with no luck I resorted to the internet lol! I made this last night and my parents loved it! Thanks for sharing, it was dee-licious. I actually ran out of thick soy and sesame oil so I just used olive oil and “stir fry” sauce. I can’t wait to try it this way though!

By: bluegrass to lonestar » Blog Archive » Sunflower

bluegrass to lonestar » Blog Archive » Sunflower — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:48:41 +0000

[...] flavors were subtle and melded well together. The place is apparently known for it’s “Shaking Beef“, so next time we go we’ll have to try [...]

By: ravenouscouple

ravenouscouple — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:56:38 +0000

hotbanana: You sure can! sometimes dark soy sauce and thick soy sauce are used interchangeably. Let us know how it goes for you!

By: ravenouscouple

ravenouscouple — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:44:01 +0000

Hi Trang and Betke: Thanks for your thoughtful insights regarding bo luc lac… literal translations of Vietnamese words can be problematic but for better or for worse shaking beef is one of the most common English name that this dish goes by and so that’s why used it.

By: betka

betka — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:30:39 +0000

Actually, I believe that "luc lac" is a verb meaning to shake. See the Vietnamese online dictionary definition: here It's rather "quite ridiculous" to think of "luc lac" as cube. Look it up.

By: hotbanana

hotbanana — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:45:57 +0000

Hi, I just found your webpage and totally loving. For this recipe, I was wondering is it ok if i substitute dark soy sauce for the thick soy sauce?

By: Cooking Mame

Cooking Mame — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:10:01 +0000

YUM! I’m making this dish tonight along with tomato paste fried rice! I don’t have watercrest but will use baby spinach instead!
I love your website and the photos are just AMAZING!! I must have spent 2 hours lastnight reading your recipes. Keep up the great cooking!!

By: Rasa Malaysia

Rasa Malaysia — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:17:02 +0000

Trang – thanks for your comment, this recipe is actually from a Ravenous Couple, they are Vietnamese, but other Viet recipes I made them on my own. I think I have pretty much have the fundamentals down for Viet cuisine. :)

By: Trang

Trang — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:41:08 +0000

I was very surprised when reading some Vietnamese recipes in your blog, they are exactly the same with how we cook in our country. I was surprised because they were introduced by a foreigner, thank you for this. I’ve also tried some of the other recipes from China and Thailand. All of them were really tasty. Thanks a lot. Your site is really really wonderful :)

About the name of this dish, many people explain that “luc lac” is the description of how beefs move to and from in the pan, so they translate the word into English as “shaking”. However, they maybe don’t know that the word “luc lac” has another meaning, which is “cubes”. This is to describe the shape of the beefs, which makes this dish different from the very popular Vietnamese stir fried beef. And I think the latter is more reasonable because in Vietnamese, “luc lac” is not a verb, it’s quite ridiculous to understand it as “shaking” or “shaky”.

Just wanna share something from my knowledge :) Hope you’ll find it interesting. Looking forward to other Vietnamese recipes from you. Thanks.

By: Quynh-Vy

Quynh-Vy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:26:35 +0000

wonderful and delicioussss

I’ve tried many recipes from internet as well as home cook but had not achieved the taste and texture of Bo Luc Lac (shaking beef) until this one.

Very juicy and tasty

thanks again