Jack Lee is a Vietnamese chef who is very successful in the US. He is often referred to in Vietnamese media as a chef of stars in recognition of his background as private caterer to American celebrities like actress Angelina Jolie, television icon Oprah Winfrey, actor Stephen Baldwin, and singer Randy Jackson.

Passionate about enhancing the mood of any celebration, Chef Jack Lee enchants guests with some of the world's best delicacies.

Chef Jack Lee (Photo: afamily.vn)

Chi: Welcome to VOV24/7’s Food Delight. We welcome again Chef Jack Lee who will tell us today about his special recipe for rib-eye steak. Perfectly cooked rib eye steaks are full of flavor and melt in your mouth. There must be some secret here. Let’s ask Jack Lee.

Lee: Today I’m doing rib-eye steak. With a little thyme, garlic and butter, we heat up the pan. We need to heat the pan very hot with a little oil. The secret is to keep the meat very dry, salt and pepper and seal the beef one minute on each side.

Chi: Today, Jack is using American beef. A rib steak is a beef steak sliced from the rib of a cow, with the rib bone attached. In the United States, the term rib eye steak is used for a rib steak with the bone removed. Jack Lee, how long does it take to cook the beef?

Lee: You cook the steak 3 minutes on each side. The total is 6 minutes. Every minute, you flip the steak. You shouldn’t cook one side for 3 minutes because it’s gonna burn. So 1 minute here, 1 minute there, so the heat comes into the middle.

So you achieve a perfect medium beef steak. After you cook it, you have to let the beef steak rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Chi: What is the purpose of that?

Lee: So the juice goes back into the meat, and the blood when you cutit, goes back into the meat. You need to let the meat rest.

Chi: I see that at the end, you add some garlic. At home, when I cook, generally I marinate the beef with some oil, garlic, and salt. Why don’t you use garlic from the beginning?

Lee: It depends. A lot of Asian cooking, for 1-minute quick cooking, you can add the garlic first. But for beef steak or salmon, when you cook something for a long time, you add the garlic at the end, because if you add it too early, the garlic will burn. The garlic is so little, and the meat is so big, right? It’s common sense. You cook the meat till it’s almost done. Then you add the garlic to infuse the flavor, and the thyme and butter, and you have a perfect beef steak, very delicious.

And I would like to serve it with a little mashed potato, and also with a little barbecue sauce, if you like. It’s optional.

Chi: When do we add the barbecue sauce?

Lee: The barbecue sauce is put on at the end, because if you put it on too early, it will dry up. It will reduce and become too salty. You add it at the end, it’s OK, on the top. Because your meat is already flavorful.  If you add it too early, it’s not a steak, it’s a stew.

Chi: It seems it doesn’t take long to cook a perfect steak. I can smell the strong aroma of the steak. Do we need to season with a lot of spices to produce a strong flavor?

Lee: You don’t have to use too much spice, because we want to taste the natural flavor of the beef. US beef has flavor in the meat already.

(Photo: johnhenrys.net)

Chi: Should we serve the beef with some salad?

Lee: For me, I love Vietnamese salad with a lot of Vietnamese herbs. With tia to, a little mint, it’s fresh. I like to use lemon dressing. Because lemon and olive will cut the grease. You balance the grease of the beef. You will not be overwhelmed by the fat.

Chi: Jack Lee, you have cooked for many celebrities. Do you often serve them rib-eye steak?

Lee: Celebs want to eat lean steak. So we use different cuts of beef, because they want lean beef. Some celebs want rib-eye for little fat. So it depends. Some want lean beef, some want rich flavor.

Chi: So, now we know how to cook a perfect rib-eye steak, thanks to the help of chef Jack Lee. We hope to see you again on our show in the future, Jack.

Thanks to everyone for listening. For VOV’S Food Delight, this is Kim Chi saying good bye until next time!