Marinate Steak In This Flavorful Dipping Sauce For A More Delicious Cut

When it comes to packing a hunk of steak with as much flavor as possible, there are many directions in which a home cook can go. We like the variety offered by beer marinades, but this non-alcoholic tipple can make beef cuts taste amazing too. Our pantries are home to a cavalcade of ingredients that will elevate a steak from good to great, but it's always worth casting the net a little wider in search of ways to add flavor. If you've got a bottle of nuoc cham sitting in your cupboard, chances are you already know it makes a wonderful marinade for steak. If not, now's your golden opportunity.

A star of Vietnamese cuisine, nuoc cham (pronounced "nook chum") literally means dipping sauce, and is a quick and easy way to infuse your steak with lots and lots of flavor. At the heart of it is a fish sauce – the same one that brings oodles of umami to a tomato sauce — but it's blended with garlic, chiles, lime juice, and a dash of sugar. Together they create a sweet, sour, salty, and umami symphony that, when used as a marinade for steak, will make it shine.

As well bringing as all that flavor, when used as a marinade, nuoc cham's acidity will help tenderize the beef, so each bite is velvety soft. However, we wouldn't recommend letting it sit in the dipping sauce for more than four hours, lest it go too far in breaking down the meat's proteins, ruining the texture.

There are almost as many cuts of beef as there are ways to cook them, but many of them would be enhanced by a slick of nuoc cham. This Vietnamese staple comes from nuoc mam, a "pure" fish sauce that is thinned out with lime juice, water, and sugar, and can be found in millions of restaurants and households. It's as commonplace as ketchup in the country, but with much, much more nuance.

As for how it tastes? Well, nuoc cham is very much a personal experience. Some people find it has a mineral tang, others may detect a sweet, almost caramel note, while the fish is more reminiscent of a fresh catch, rather than something overwhelmingly "fishy." Like the Korean sauce we suggested to pep up baked beans, it's not easy to describe, but foodies who like it have it on everything.

You can make your own nuoc cham at home, but it's easy to find commercial versions in grocery stores, though we'd recommend swinging by your local Vietnamese outlet for a more authentic bottle. As well as infusing your next batch of steaks with an array of flavors, cut them thinly and re-use that marinade as a dipping sauce. You can also try nuoc cham with traditional dishes like noodles or spring rolls, but it's amazing slugged over tacos, will make a bowl of rice sparkle, and makes a delicious salad dressing.