Đà Lạt's Essential Dish: Crunchy Beef for Adventurous Travelers

Beef, a common dish, but have adventurous souls tried 'Crunchy Beef'? Rarely does any dish match its taste, allure, and local essence! There are numerous routes to elevate this dish, but it becomes extraordinary when saved for a Dalat motorbike trip.

'Crunchy Beef' – A Delight for Adventure Seekers

Unlike regular tourists, adventure seekers prioritize experience. Camping in the woods, cooking instant noodles becomes a joy. These wanderers, skilled in fixing bikes, setting up camps, navigating trails, are genuine chefs with unique dishes. If planning a Dalat off-road journey, try this delicious, nutritious, budget-friendly dish. Its simplicity and use of available resources make 'Crunchy Beef' a special treat. Ingredients and tools needed:

• Fresh, high-quality beef

• Soy sauce, pepper, seasoning powder, cooking oil, five-spice powder

• Garlic, ginger, chili

• Foil paper

• Steel wire

• Cucumbers

Making Crunchy Beef

• Step 1: Choose fresh, high-quality beef

• Step 2: Slice the meat

Slice the meat into large, 0.5 – 1 cm thick pieces. Avoid cutting too thin to prevent dryness, burning, and loss of sweet aroma. Also, cut across the grain to avoid toughness. Cutting along the grain can make the meat harder to cook.

• Step 3: Marinate the meat

Marinate the meat with soy sauce, pepper, seasoning powder, and cooking oil to a lightly salty taste according to your preference. Avoid marinating with fish sauce or salt as it may make the meat release more water. Your beloved travel companion for the trip to Dalat will appreciate it.

Next, finely chop garlic, ginger, chili, and mix them with the marinated meat. Finally, marinate with five-spice powder and pepper to enhance the flavor. Marinate for about 20-30 minutes to allow the meat to absorb the spices evenly.

• Step 4: Crunchy wrapping

Place the meat on a large piece of foil. Try not to stack the slices on top of each other; spread the meat into a long horizontal strip. Wrap the meat tightly with foil. Place the wrapped meat on the inside of the motorcycle's exhaust pipe (the outer side with heat insulation will cook the meat). Use wire to wrap around the exhaust to hold the meat securely. Roll and tie the excess wire neatly to avoid entanglement with the wheels or brakes.

Everything is ready. Now, all you need is a not-too-long but steep slope to heat the exhaust and slowly cook the meat. When the meat is fragrant, making the person behind you salivate, it's time to remove the wire, unwrap the foil, cut a few slices of cucumber, and enjoy the incredibly delicious meat.

Why make grilled beef while traveling to Dalat by motorcycle?

You can certainly make this delicious dish anywhere, but the perfect recipe for you is to make it when traveling to Dalat. Why? The reason is simple:

On the way to Dalat, near the foot of the pass leading to the city, you will encounter a small market. This means you don't need to prepare food and utensils at home. Just pull into the market, buy beef, spices, and browse through the dried goods section to buy some foil and wire – and you're done.

Ask the vendor to cut the meat as you like, then marinate it and take it with you. The rough gravel road before reaching the pass will make it difficult for you to travel fast. The time from the market to the foot of the pass is enough for the meat to absorb the spices evenly. The sign to start the 'fire' is the gas station at the foot of the Prenn pass. The travel experience in Dalat recommends filling up here before climbing the pass. The steep pass will quickly deplete your fuel, and if you run out of gas in the middle of the pass, it's truly tragic. Because, along the Prenn pass, there is no single gas station waiting for you.

When stopping to refuel, you begin to take out the marinated beef to wrap. Why start 'wrapping beef for cooking' only here? Because if you wrap the meat too early, the exhaust won't be hot enough to cook the beef. The exhaust only gradually warms the meat on flat roads, and this makes the meat less delicious and sweet. When you reach the foot of the Prenn pass, you can start your favorite 'cooking' activity. The Prenn pass is quite long, with a steep slope that makes your exhaust hot. With the heat emanating, the chunks of beef will cook fragrantly behind the foil.

Remember to take the meat out of the wrap when you're near the end of the Prenn pass. If you leave it for too long, the meat will dry out and burn when you enter the city center.

Enhance your off-road journey to Dalat by stopping at the Prenn Pass summit, finding a spacious and safe spot, admiring the scenery, and savoring the delicious, flavorful beef along with refreshing cucumber slices in the cool atmosphere of Dalat's highland sky.