Skip Béarnaise: Dip Steak In This Easy-To-Make Sauce With Triple The Flavor

To some, no steak is complete without a generous slathering of flavorful sauce. Sure, you've got steakhouse classics like béarnaise, peppercorn, or chimichurri to choose from, but if you're looking to broaden your steak sauce horizons and give your steak even more flavor, take a cue from Laotian cuisine and try jeow som, a seriously punchy dipping sauce.

Jeow som roughly translates to "sour sauce," a fitting name for a condiment built around a lively balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy flavors. It's commonly served alongside a whole assortment of grilled meats, making it a natural partner for steak. The secret to its deliciousness lies in contrast. Rather than leaning on one single dominant flavor, jeow som layers several together to create an accompaniment that's anything but one-note.

@nenawithluv

🇱🇦 Jeow som – lao sour dipping sauce This Lao dipping sauce is a staple for every household. It pairs with literally everything! Steak, chicken, seafood, tofu, mushroom. Tbh you can just drink it 🤪 Everyone has their recipe, this is mine. This is totally customizable so adjust to your taste. 🌶️ 10 Thai chili peppers, this is a perfect medium spice for me! I like some spicy but not too much where I can't enjoy it 🧄 5 garlic cloves 🤍 1 palm sugar or 1 tbsp sugar (start off with 1 tbsp then add more to taste) 🐟 1/4 cup fish sauce 🍋‍🟩 1 lime, juiced (start with half a lime first then add more to taste) 🌱 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped Will you be making jeow som as your next dipping sauce?

♬ original sound – nenacreates

Red chilis are central to many versions of the sauce, and Thai bird's eye chilis are an excellent choice if you want to truly capture that fiery Southeast Asian flavor. These small but mighty peppers pack serious heat, giving each and every bite a welcome kick. To balance the steak's deep, savory flavor, umami-rich fish sauce adds saltiness and complexity, while a small (or large) dash of MSG can dial up the steak's savory notes even further. The sauce's main appeal — its sweet-and-sour character — comes from lime juice and palm sugar. The lime delivers sharp acidity that helps cut through the richness of the steak, especially if you're working with well-marbled ribeye, while palm sugar rounds out the savory, spicy, and bitter notes with a gentle sweetness — like a Thai take on a sweet and sour sauce. Finally, garlic and chopped cilantro bring aromatic depth and freshness, keeping the combination lively rather than overwhelmingly rich.

The most common way to pair jeow som with meat is as a dipping sauce, but it could do even more as a marinade; it's already got all the elements for delicious flavor. You've got garlic, cilantro, chilis, and salty fish sauce all floating in a liquid base, ready to carry flavor right into the steak. But beyond those surface-level reasons, there's also a scientific one for not thinking twice about using jeow som this way.

We're talking about the lime juice. It's particularly useful if you're working with a lean, budget-friendly cut like skirt or flank, which typically contain a higher amount of collagen and connective tissue than more premium cuts like ribeye or tenderloin. Here, a marinade makes a huge difference. The acid in lime juice — citric acid, to be precise — helps tenderize the surface of the meat by loosening up its proteins, which lets the flavors of jeow som's vibrant aromatics sink in deeper. Pair that with plenty of salt, which dissolves and works its way into the meat to season it from the inside out while helping the steak hold on to its moisture, and you've got yourself an affordable weeknight meal that tastes like a million bucks.

Just don't leave your steak sitting in a marinade for too long. An hour to two tops is plenty before the lime juice does its job too well and turns the surface of your steak into a mushy, over-tenderized mess. One more thing to note: While a jeow som dipping sauce recipe rightly calls for plenty of lime juice, go easy on the lime in a marinade. Too much acidity can quickly cause your meat to take on a harsh, bitter taste.