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 SHAKING BEEF
Our signature dish has an interesting history. When we first opened the Slanted
Door, I was always on the lookout for good deals on good ingredients, and I
found one in the unlikeliest of places. Airline food service companies were
purchasing medallions of filet mignon to serve on board, leaving local meat
suppliers with the filet tail, which no one really wanted. Somehow, I got my
hands on them, and our shaking beef was born. I started buying up all the filet
tails around town, and when there were none left, I started buying whole filets.
Over the years, we’ve continually increased the quality of the meat we purchase,
and four years ago, we switched to filets from organic, grass-fed cows in Uruguay.

1½ pounds filet mignon, 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef, 1 table-
trimmed of excess fat and spoon of the oil, 1 teaspoon of the sugar, and the
cut into 1-inch cubes salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Let marinate
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil at room temperature for 2 hours.

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground
black pepper
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
3 green onions, white and green
parts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 bunch watercress, tough stems
removed
DIPPING SAUCE
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground
black pepper
¼ cup lime juice
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar,
mirin, light and dark soy sauces, fish sauce, and the
remaining tablespoon of sugar until the sugar has
dissolved. Set aside.
3. Heat a wok over high heat until a drop of water
evaporates on contact. Add ½ cup of the oil and
heat until shimmering. Add half of the beef to the
wok in a single layer and sear for about 3 minutes,
until a brown crust forms on the bottom side. Flip
the cubes and cook for 1 minute on the second side.
Remove half of the oil and set aside. Add half of
the red onions and green onions and cook, stirring,
about 30 seconds. Add half the soy sauce mixture
and shake the pan to coat the beef. Add half of the
garlic and half of the butter and shake the pan to
distribute evenly. Transfer to a platter and keep warm.
Wipe the wok clean, add the reserved oil, and return
it to high heat. Repeat with the remaining half of
the ingredients.
4. To serve, arrange the watercress on a platter and
top with the beef. To make the dipping sauce, stir
together the salt, pepper, and lime juice in a small
bowl. Place alongside the platter for dipping the beef.

Serves 4

192 THE SLANTED DOOR

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 SINGAPORE SLING
This drink originated at the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, where
the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, and Charlie Chaplin enjoyed the
house sling. It’s a drink that we have always wanted to be good but that has
never lived up to its reputation—that is, until we found Dale DeGroff’s recipe
and modified it to use fresh-pressed pineapple juice.

1½ ounces London dry gin, Combine all the ingredients except the garnishes in
such as Beefeater’s a mixing tin. Add ice and shake hard for 10 seconds.
½ ounce curaçao, such as Cointreau Strain over fresh ice in a collins glass. Garnish with
the cherry pinned with a toothpick to the lime wheel.
¼ ounce Benedictine
¼ ounce Cherry Heering
½ ounce lime juice
½ ounce pineapple juice
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Cherry, for garnish
Lime wheel, for garnish

100 BRANNAN STREET 97

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THESLANTEDDOOR
 Copyright © 2014 by Charles Phan
Photographs copyright © 2014 by Ed Anderson

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an im-
print
of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House
LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon

are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

is on file with publisher

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-60774-054-4

eBook ISBN: 978-1-60774-580-8

Printed in China

Cover Design by Emma Campion

Design by Bullet Liongson
Prop styling by Ethel Brennan

Photos on page 150 by Olle Lundberg and Art Gray.

Photo on page 153 by Wain Owings.
Photo on page 14-155 by David Battenfield.

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