Choosing a cut of beef for dendeng balado

[KennethT]

Hey everybody, I've been thinking about making an Indonesian dish called dendeng balado - beef jerky with chilli sauce.  While dendeng typically translates to jerky, it's not an air dried beef jerky that most people in the West would know, but thin slices of beef that have been braised in an aromatic sauce, drained, and then shallow fried until dry.

 

I've had it looking like this:

 

 

or this version (less dried):

 

 

So, my question is, what cut of beef do you think I should use for this?  I imagine that it shouldn't be too tender or expensive of a cut - maybe a sirloin?  All of the Indonesian references that I've seen refer to cuts that don't exist here or don't even refer to a specific cut at all - just say "take a chunk of beef", haha.....

 

[rotuts]

@KennethT

 

youve got the right idea 

 

go for flavor , at an attractive price .

 

sirloin flap meat might be perfect

 

ie  sirloin tips , but ask for that cut whole ,before they cut it  into tips. 

 

commonly goes on sale from time to time.

 

 

[AlaMoi]

many cuts can be used.  the real issue is 'how it is cooked'

for such dishes, I much prefer to do a long braise, followed by overnight chill, second day reheat. 

looks like:

 

top round/bottom round . . . all work - if they are properly braised to temps that 'dissolve' connecting tissue.

makes for an entirely controllable "shred factor"

 

[KennethT]

Thanks both.  I assumed that it would be A) a cheap cut and B) one that doesn't have much intramuscular fat - so very lean, so I think round is a great choice.

[weinoo]

I would think sirloin/top round.

 

Have you ever been to the jerky place on Canal Street?  Ling Kee Beef Jerky  There's also a Malaysian beef jerky place in Chinatown...https://malaysiabeefjerky.com/

 

 

[KennethT]

17 minutes ago, weinoo said:

There's also a Malaysian beef jerky place in Chinatown...https://malaysiabeefjerky.com/

This type of jerky is called bak kwa... it's loved all over Singapore and Malaysia - totally different than the dendeng.... but differently very tasty!

[IndyRob]

I don't know anything about this dish, but surely it's not a treasured cut.  Obviously, it's something that needs a *lot* of help.  I'd tend towards bottom round.

Edited 15 hours ago by IndyRob (log)

[rotuts]

@AlaMoi

 

I agree with you on a braise , and waiting until the next day so that some Jus that was squeezed out of the meat

 

can be reabsorbed by the meat.

 

this is just the sort of cooking that SV excels at .  you can get tenderness at a lower temp , keeping some of

 

the jus and flavor in the meat ,  you have the results in a sealed bag for later  , etc

 

also , the sirloin flap has a lot more flavor over both top and bottom round

 

but the spices used for this type of dish would probably overshadow that

 

so , again , @AlaMoi , your point makes sense :  top or bottom round , on sale would do the trick.