Steak with Ketchup Sauce Spaghetti

OLD SCHOOL SOY SAUCE WESTERN WET BRINE

* Water, 2 cups
* Salt, 2 tbsp
* Sugar, 2 tbsp
* Garlic, 2-3 cloves, smashed
* Ginger, ~1 inch, smashed
* Dried Bay Leaves (香叶), crumpled
* Onion, sliced, ~1/8
* Peppercorns ~1/2 tbsp
* Shaoxing wine -or- white wine, ~2 tbsp
* Soy sauce ~1 tbsp

1. Bring all of these ingredients up to a simmer to dissolve the salt and slightly cook the aromatics. Transfer to a bowl and cool down to room temperate (this will likely take ~30 minutes to cool). Slide in the steaks. Brine for at least three hours in the fridge.
2. Alternatively, for the dry brine, just sprinkle over a bit of salt and sugar - ~1/2 tsp each – and place on a rack in the fridge.

CHA CHAAN TENG MARINADE

For one ~250g steak (give or take ~50g)

* Salt, ½ tsp
* Sugar, 1 tsp
* Water, 2 tbsp
* Oyster sauce 1 tsp
* Dark soy sauce 1 tsp
* Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine 1 tsp
* Black pepper powder, ¼ tsp
* Cornstarch ½ tsp
* Worcestershire sauce, ~1/8 tsp
* Optional aromatics: ~2 dried bay leaves torn into pieces, bit of sliced onion
* To tenderize: Chinese meat tenderizer powder ¼ tsp -or- sodium carbonate ¼ tsp; water, ½ tbsp; oil to coat, 1 tbsp

1. Note that Kansui (lye water) can also be used as the ‘sodium carbonate’ here.
2. Marinade for a day, then add the “to tenderize” ingredients 45 minutes before cooking. If you’re using sodium carbonate in place of papain, you don’t have to be *as* paranoid – in my experience, with papain, any longer than ~45 minutes can risk making the steak mealy.
3. You can also use baking soda if you like. Add ½ tsp together with the salt and the sugar. Because we won’t be doing the “to tenderize” step, also coat the steak with that 1 tbsp oil after mixing everything in the initial marinade.

BLACK PEPPER SAUCE

Mix together 1 tbsp black pepper sauce – Lee Kum Kee or homemade – with 1 tbsp water and ½ tbsp soy sauce. If using the store bought sauce, also add in ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper.

KETCHUP SAUCE

* Lard, 3 tbsp
* Onion, ½ medium. Finely minced.
* Tomato, 100g. Finely minced.
* Shaoxing wine -or- red/white wine, ~2 tbsp
* Garlic, ~3 cloves, smashed
* Dried bay leaves ~3
* Ketchup 5 tbsp together with 3 tbsp water
* Water, 1 cup
* Seasoning: salt, ¾ tsp; salt, 1 tsp; soy sauce ½ tsp; dark soy sauce , ¼ tsp
* Final seasoning: MSG ¼ tsp; white -or- black pepper ¼ tsp

1. Over a medium flame, fry the onion in the lard until it begins to lightly brown, ~5-8 minutes. Add the tomato and mix. Add the wine, and let it cook. Once the wine’s completely cooked away, ~2-3 minutes, add the garlic and the bay. Fry until fragrant, ~30-60 seconds. Add that 5 tbsp ketchup together with that 3 tbsp water. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the water is cooked away, and you can begin to hear the sauce ‘frying’ again.
2. Add the water and the seasoning. Swap the flame to medium high, let it reduce for ~15 minutes. Once reduced by about two thirds, remove the garlic and the bay. Add in the ‘final seasoning’, then season to taste. Reserve.

TO MAKE THE PLATE

1. Boil 50g of dried spaghetti in salted water according to the package, or until just past al dente. Shock with cool water to stop the cooking process, then oil the noodles to prevent sticking. Set aside.
2. Boil a hunk of corn together with a few florets of broccoli. Boil the broccoli for ~45 seconds, and the corn for ~3 minutes. Set aside.
3. Remove the steak. If using the Cha Chaan Teng marinade, remove any aromatics before frying. If using the wet brine, thoroughly pat the steak dry before frying.
4. Fry the steak over a high flame with a thin shmear of oil until it hits ~65C. For the thinness that we were doing, this should take about 2.5 minutes on each side. Transfer the steak to rest while cooking everything else.
5. Start heating up a hotplate over a high flame. On a separate burner, fry the spaghetti:
6. In ~1 tbsp lard, fry a bit of julienned ham (or spam) over a medium flame. Once browned and fragrant, ~1-2 minutes, slide it up the side of the wok, drain the oil, and set aside. Add the spaghetti, stir fry for ~1 minute. Add ~1/4 cup of the ketchup sauce, mix well. Drizzle in a slurry of ½ tsp cornstarch mixed with ½ tbsp water, mix well, ~30 seconds.
7. Once the hotplate is ~140-150C, shut off the heat and add in ~1/8 of a sliced onion. Slide the steak on, nestle in the spaghetti and the vegetable. Top the spaghetti with the ham and the steak with the sauce.