Lemongrass, fish sauce and a hot grill — street food you can build at home

Walk through any Vietnamese market at dinnertime and this is the smell that stops you: beef and lemongrass hitting charcoal. The marinade is a short list doing serious work — lemongrass and garlic pounded rough, fish sauce for depth, brown sugar for the char. Thin strips of BBQ steak take it all on in an hour, thread onto skewers, and need barely five minutes over a ferocious grill. Serve them over cool vermicelli with herbs and a bowl of nuoc cham, and dinner tastes like a holiday.

1 hr 30 mins 4 servings Prep 1 hr 20 minsCook 10 minsMain CourseVietnamese

Ingredients

  • 380g Your Farmer grass-fed BBQ steak, sliced into 1cm-thick strips
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1 tbsp white sugar (for the nuoc cham)
  • 60ml (1/4 cup) water (for the nuoc cham)
  • 2 tbsp lime juice (for the nuoc cham)
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce, extra (for the nuoc cham)
  • 1 birdseye chilli, finely sliced (for the nuoc cham)
  • 1 small clove garlic, extra, finely chopped (for the nuoc cham)
  • 200g dried rice vermicelli, cooked per packet, to serve
  • Sliced cucumber, mint and coriander, to serve
  • 8 bamboo skewers, soaked in water (or metal skewers)

Instructions

For the marinade

Pound the lemongrass and garlic to a rough paste in a mortar (or blitz briefly), then stir through the fish sauce, brown sugar, oil and white pepper.

2 stalks lemongrass3 cloves garlic2 tbsp fish sauce1 tbsp brown sugar

Toss the beef strips through the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour (up to 4). Soak the bamboo skewers in water while you wait.

380g BBQ steak8 bamboo skewers

For the nuoc cham

Stir the white sugar into the water and lime juice until dissolved, then add the extra fish sauce, chilli and extra garlic. Taste — it should sit in balance between salty, sour and sweet.

1 tbsp white sugar2 tbsp lime juice2 tbsp fish sauce1 birdseye chilli

To grill and serve

Thread the beef strips onto the skewers ribbon-style, keeping them flat and snug so they grill evenly.

Heat the barbecue grill to its hottest. Cook the skewers for 2–3 minutes per side until charred at the edges and just cooked through — the sugar chars fast, so stay close.

Rest the skewers for a couple of minutes, then serve over the vermicelli with cucumber, mint and coriander, with the nuoc cham spooned over or alongside for dunking.

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Your Farmer CSA grass-fed beef share — vacuum-sealed steaks, roasts, mince and sausages, paddock-to-plate NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Grass Fed Beef Share
From $176.67

The Marinating Cut, in a Different Register

Most of the year, the BBQ steak earns its keep under honey-soy or a paprika rub. This is the same skill set pointed somewhere brighter. The cut comes off the oyster blade — an open-grained shoulder muscle that takes marinades deeper and faster than the tight premium steaks — and lemongrass, fish sauce and sugar are about as rewarding a combination as you can hand it. The skewer part matters more than it looks: strips cut to an even 1cm and threaded flat cook in the same five minutes, where uneven chunks give you raw middles and burnt tips on the same stick. High heat is non-negotiable — the sugar needs to char, not stew. One lemongrass note for first-timers: only the pale bottom third of the stalk is tender enough to eat. Peel the woody outer layers, chop the rest fine, and pound it — bruising is what lets the fragrance out. Your Farmer® grass-fed beef gives these skewers a depth the street-stall version would respect, and there's a BBQ steak in every Pack A and Pack C box of the grass-fed beef CSA share.

Swaps and Variations

Rump strips work at the same timing, and lamb takes lemongrass beautifully — strips off loin chops, same marinade, same fire. Serve the skewers in lettuce cups instead of over noodles for a lighter, hands-on dinner, or tuck them into a crusty roll with cucumber, coriander and a drizzle of nuoc cham. If Vietnamese flavours are winning your table over, the Vietnamese-inspired beef pho is the slow-simmered end of the same tradition, and our guide to steak on the barbie covers the fire-craft that makes any skewer better.

Storage and Leftovers

The raw strips can go straight into the freezer in their marinade for up to 3 months — they season as they thaw, which makes the second round of skewers a ten-minute dinner. Nuoc cham keeps a week in a jar in the fridge and improves nearly everything it lands on. Cooked skewer meat keeps 3 days; strip it off the sticks and toss it through a noodle salad with the leftover herbs and a fresh splash of the sauce, and lunch is settled.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to soak the skewers?

Bamboo ones, yes — 30 minutes in water stops them burning through before the beef chars. Metal skewers skip the soak entirely, just mind the hot handles.

I can't find fresh lemongrass — can I use paste?

Yes, about a tablespoon of lemongrass paste for the two stalks. It's softer and less citrusy than fresh, so add an extra half-teaspoon if the marinade tastes flat.

How spicy is the nuoc cham?

As spicy as you make it. One birdseye with seeds carries real heat; deseed it for mild, or leave the chilli out entirely and serve it sliced on the side for the adults.

Can I cook these without a barbecue?

A grill pan over the highest heat your stove has works well — cook in two batches so the pan stays ferocious, and expect a little honest smoke.

Can I marinate the beef overnight?

Up to 4 hours is the sweet spot. Beyond that the fish sauce and sugar keep working on thin strips and the surface texture starts going soft rather than tender.

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