街市THE WET MARKET
Beef fillet
牛柳
The 牛柳 on a café menu (black pepper beef on a sizzling plate, Chinese-style beef, diced beef) is tenderloin by name, but the shop uses a cheaper cut sliced thin, pounded and tenderised with the bicarb-and-cornflour marinade, not a whole fillet. In Australia eye fillet is the true tenderloin and dear; scotch fillet is the best pan steak; the café's cheap route is oyster blade, rump or beef schnitzel (thin-cut topside) beaten thin, and Asian butchers sell pre-sliced, tenderised beef for stir-fry. The rump for stir-frying is the 牛冧 record.
Cautions: read first
- Keep marinated beef refrigerated; a whole-muscle steak can be cooked to taste.
Preparation
Cut 1 cm thick, beat with the back of a knife, marinate half an hour in light soy, sugar, cornflour and oil, with a pinch of bicarb for extra tenderness.
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
Australian name · eye fillet (true tenderloin); oyster blade, rump or beef schnitzel for the café cut
Where · Every supermarket and butcher; Asian butchers sell tenderised beef for stir-fry
What to ask for · Eye fillet for true tenderloin; scotch fillet is the best pan steak
If it is not there · Oyster blade, rump or beef schnitzel beaten thin, with the bicarb-and-cornflour marinade
Where · Every supermarket and butcher; Asian butchers sell tenderised beef for stir-fry
What to ask for · Eye fillet for true tenderloin; scotch fillet is the best pan steak
If it is not there · Oyster blade, rump or beef schnitzel beaten thin, with the bicarb-and-cornflour marinade