Vietnamese Style Beef and Cucumber Salad Baguette

Vietnamese Baguette

Brisket is a delicious, economical cut of beef—when paired with different seasonings and ingredients, such as the Vietnamese flavours in this recipe, its versatility really shines.

Mark Stower , Director of Food and Service

  • Preparation time: 30 mins
  • Cooking time: 180 mins plus 30 mins resting
  • Serves: 10

Method

Step 1

In a large bowl, mix the marinade for the meat by combining the soy sauce and fish sauce with the sugar, ginger, red chilli, lemon grass, garlic and 2 of the spring onions (reserve the other 2 for the salad later).

Step 2

If the brisket is rolled, cut the strings to open it out flat and place it in the marinade overnight in the refrigerator.

Step 3

Take the brisket out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 130 ̊C, ready for braising. Place the brisket into a large roasting tray along with the marinade. Pour 200ml of water into the marinade bowl and mix in all the leftover marinade and then pour this over the meat.

Step 4

Cover the whole roasting tray with tin foil, forming a good seal to prevent the steam from evaporating out of the tray when cooking. Place into the oven and braise for 3 hours until tender. When cooked, remove from oven and leave to rest in the tray for 30 minutes.

Step 5

To make the salad, first tear the little gem lettuce into individual leaves and wash thoroughly. Peel the cucumber and thinly slice it. Place the cucumber in a small bowl and add the 2 remaining spring onions, lime juice and zest, mint, coriander and sesame oil.

Step 6

While the brisket is still warm, slice thinly or pull into shreds and place a little in the bottom half of each baguette. Top with 2 little gem leaves and 4 slices of tomato. Finally, spoon over some of the cucumber salad, put the baguette top back on and serve.

Nutrition

Brisket is a cut of beef that comes from below the shoulder and along the breastbone of beef cattle. The muscles in this part of the animal support its weight, and therefore, the meat contains a large amount of connective tissue or cartilage.

In fact, brisket apparently comes from a word used in the late Middle Ages in England—brusket—which in turn is derived from the word for cartilage used by the Vikings—brjósk.

Because the meat is rich in connective tissue, brisket requires long and slow cooking to make it tender. The end result is a delicious, soft, cooked meat that is easy to shred and has a very rich flavour.

Although brisket is higher in fat than some other cuts of beef, the fat can easily be removed either before or after cooking.

Brisket, like all beef and other red meats, is rich in important minerals, especially iron and zinc, and in B vitamins.

Dr Juliet Gray, Company Nutritionist