Bistek
Jul 1st, 2009 by Robert Colinares | 12,868 Views | Print Post
My family loves this dish. Even my picky American wife likes it and definitely a favorite among Filipinos. It is somewhat pricey for most families to serve on their table all the time, but it sure is a treat when they do. I have eaten this dish many times, but I liked it even more when I tasted my ex-father in-laws version.
I don’t have his recipe, but from what I can remember he didn’t put any black pepper or garlic in it. So I made mine just like that, but I had to make a few test runs to get the measurements right.
The funny thing is you can mess up this one and it still tastes good. This has a very short ingredient list, but it will make you come back for a second plate every time. As Rachel Ray says Yum-o!
Ingredients:
2 Lbs. Round Roast (lean beef)
1 Large red onion
1 Cup of soy sauce
1 Cup of water
7 Packets of frozen calamansi or fresh ones
½ Tbs. MSG
Corn oil for frying
In a large bowl marinate beef in soy sauce, water, calamansi, and msg for an hour. Heat frying pan and add 2 Tbs. of corn oil and fry meat in batches until they all have good sear marks on both sides. Remove meat from the pan and set aside. Repeat the process for the next batch. You will need to add more oil each time you fry more batches of meat. When you are done frying, add all the meat back into the frying pan and add the remaining marinade to the pan. Let it simmer for 5 minutes on medium heat and then add the onions and let cook for another minute. Serve with rice and enjoy your Bistek!
Tip 1:
When buying the meat, have your butcher slice the meat no thicker than 1/8 of an inch. If you have to slice it yourself and don’t have an electric meat slicer you may do so. The easiest way to do this is to partly freeze the meat. It will make it easier to slice thinly. Just make sure that you do not freeze it solid otherwise you will have to thaw it out and try to do it again.
Tip 2:
Pot roast meat is not the most tender cut of meat. Cutting the meat against the grain will make it more tender, although meat cut against the grain is not as presentable as it is when it is cut along the grain. Bistek meat is sliced very thinly so this is not going to be a big factor for this particular dish. As for myself, I cut mine along the grain. You decide which cut you prefer and let the butcher know before you have it sliced.
This looks so good… going to give this a try.. will have to use the lime I get here…
Linda, lemon would be the best substitute for Calamansi. for the measurement above 2 lemons should be enough.
i made it! and it turned out really good! thank you for posting this recipe=)
You’re welcome Jennifer! I’m glad it turned out good for you. I remember when I first tried cooking this dish and I didn’t have a recipe to go by. All I really remember is that my ex-father in-law didn’t put any garlic or black pepper in his. It took me a few tries before I was satisfied with the result. So what did you end up using? Calamansi or Lemon? Let me know!
-Robert
i had to use lemon, there was no stores near by that carry calamansi where i live. can you make kare-kare?
Jennifer,
I actually have never even tasted Kare-kare. It’s one of those dishes we have in the Phlippines that didn’t seem to appealing to my taste buds for some reason. But all my friends and cousins love it. I know it is one dish that is very popular. Maybe I am missing out. One of these days I would like to taste and try cooking it. By the way where do you live now?
hi there. i just thought i’d swing by to thank you for this recipe. it’s uber good, i’ve never tried any bistek as good as this, no kidding! even if my mom’s gonna be sad when she finds out that i find your version tastier than hers, haha. i’m sooo bad… but anyways, thanks for sharing this. keep them coming!!
)
more power to you!
-berns
it looks so good…I love bistek…I’m going to try this dish sometime this week. I will try the chicken afritada first tonight. However, I have a question, since the beef is hard to cook; although, since it’s thinly slice, is the beef not chewy if you fry it? The reason I ask is that I normally put water (of course with the soysauce and onions) to cook the meat and let it simmer until the beef is tender and the water becomes sauce. Then, I add a little bit of oil then the fresh round onions. Your version is easier and scrumptiously looking. I’m looking forward to your answer. Thanks for this marvelous website…It is indeed a helpful website.
I always make sure that once a month I eat Bistek for lunch or dinner. You have nice images, especially how you served the onions. I love onions on Bistek.
I love bistek. It’s a play on the word beefsteak. The dish is also commonly known as bistek tagalog or beefsteak tagalog. =D
Hi Robert,
Your site is just awesome! Bistek is one of my favorite dishes. Am new to food blogging and you inspire me… more power!
i wonder if there’s any calamansi here in norway
this is my first time on ur site and I can’t get enough of it..everyday I have been cooking different Filipino food and guess where I’m getting the ideas from .. of course from U!!! thank u !! I thougt I would never be able to cook different Filipino food until I found this site and my husband loves it.. hope u keep posting more.. oh taking pictures of the food and d ingredients help me alot too.. that’s d other reaason y I kiv this site cos u already know how it looks Luke when u go n get the ingredients..so thank u for taking pics of d ingrdnts..
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In lieu of buying soy sauce and calamansi, you can buy Toyomansi by mother’s best. tastes just as great with 1 less ingredient to buy!
http://www.asiamex.com/proddetail.cfm?CFID=37244082&CFTOKEN=79885227&ItemID=411&CategoryID=30&SubCatID=54