Beef Brisket with Chu Hou Sauce 柱侯牛腩 (Cantonese: chu hou gnau lam) is a classic Cantonese dish that is extremely popular at any Cantonese restaurant. You can find it as a rice, noodle or clay pot dish. Chu Hou sauce is the southern Chinese version of bean paste 豆瓣醬 (dòu bǎn jiàng). Chu Hou sauce is smoother in texture and has a stronger soy sauce flavour. It’s a good sauce to add when braising or steaming meats. Since it’s thick, it can also help bind marinades to meat when marinating.
Chu Hou sauce was invented during the Qing Dynasty in Foshan, Guangdong by a chef named Leung Chu Hou. Beef wasn’t popular at the time, but he used his special house sauce to create delicious meat dishes. His restaurant was very busy and he eventually also opened a sauce shop. It wasn’t until after he died, to commemorate his culinary skills, people started calling his sauce Chu Hou sauce so that his name could live on forever.
Beef Brisket with Chu Hou Sauce 柱侯牛腩 traditionally uses beef brisket, beef tendons and white radish then braised until tender. Brisket, however, has one fatty part and one lean part. The lean parts can be quite tough no matter how long you braise it for. Nowadays, with beef being more economical and consumers having higher income, other parts of beef that have a more even marbling of fat are used. These meats include rib finger meat which is the meat between the ribs and also boneless short ribs. In Chinese butchery, the finger meat is also part of the brisket, 牛抗腩 (niú kāng nǎn).
In my Beef Brisket with Chu Hou Sauce 柱侯牛腩, I’ll show you how to make a delicious dish that will turn you from a cook to a chef! I can assure you that most chefs couldn’t compete with this recipe. And, it’s not difficult to make either. I used a combination of simmering boneless short ribs (from Costco), rib finger meat and beef tendons to make this dish. I think it’s the perfect fat to lean ratio with good marbling. Adding tendons is not only good for you with its high collagen content, it can also help thicken your sauce. For me, the white radish brings it over the top good! You’ve got to try this one!
Looking for more recipe ideas? Check out my Hong Kong cafe recipe section, the Hong Kong Style Borscht with Oxtail 牛尾羅宋湯 is one of my favourite soups!
Beef Brisket with Chu Hou Sauce 柱侯牛腩
Ingredients
- 450 g Rib finger meat
- 450 g Beef tendon
- 450 g Simmering short ribs (boneless)
- 800 g White radish (lo bak)
- 1 stalk Green onions , chopped
- 4 slices Ginger
- 4 cloves Garlic , chopped
- 2 Shallot , halved
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 4 Star anise
- 2 tsp Fennel seeds
- 2 tsp Black peppercorn
- 6 Bay leaves
- 20 g Rock sugar
- 2 L Water
Ingredients for sauce mixture:
- 3 tbsp Chu Hou Sauce
- 2 cubes Red fermented bean curd
- 1 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 2 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
Instructions
- Cut meats and tendon into 3.5 cm or 1.5” pieces. Set aside
- Pour 2 L water into a pot. Add cut tendons. Bring to a boil. Cook at low-medium heat for 1 hour
- Prepare ginger, shallots and garlic. Set aside
- Combine 3 tbsp Chu Hou sauce, 2 cubes fermented bean curd, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tsp dark soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar in a bowl. Set aside
- Prepare 1 cinnamon stick, 6 bay leaves and 20 g of rock sugar and set aside
- In a spice bag, add 4 star anise, 2 tsp fennel seeds and 2 tsp black peppercorn and set aside
I used a tea bag and it worked well - After 1 hour, add the rest of the meats to the water and cook for another 15 minutes
- Remove meats and tendon from the pot and set aside. Do not discard water
- In a wok or pot, add 2 tbsp oil. Fry ginger and shallots for 20 seconds on medium-high heat. Add garlic and fry until aromatic
- Add all the meats and tendon into the wok. Stir-fry for 1 minute
- Add sauce mixture to the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute
- Add the saved water until most of the meat is covered. Discard any remaining water
I don’t cover all the meat with water since I’m braising at low temperature. I don’t anticipate too much evaporation and too much water will dilute the sauce. Mixing it every 15 minutes will prevent the meat from drying 
- Add all the ingredients in step 5 and the spice bag to the wok
- When the liquid begins to boil, turn the heat down to low and cook for 1 hour. Mix with a spatula every 15 minutes for even cooking
- Peel and roll cut the white radish to approx the same size as the meat or slightly larger. Set aside
Roll cut is cutting a vegetable at an angle and rolling it 90 degrees after every cut. This allows for faster cooking time and regardless of the size of the white radish, you can cut them to a fairly uniformed size 
- After 30 minutes of braising the meat, add the white radish, mix well. Continue braising for another 30 minutes and mixing every 15 minutes
- Chop green onions and set aside
- When time is up, check the meat for tenderness. If the meat is still tough, you may braise it for another 15-30 minutes
- Taste test to make any adjustments if necessary
- Fish out the spice bag, cinnamon and bay leaves
- If there is too much water, you can turn the heat to high and allow for some evaporation to thicken the sauce.
This may be the case if you didn’t add any tendons. Tendons are high in collagen that help the sauce thicken. You may also choose to make a slurry from corn starch and water to thicken the sauce - Serve with rice or noodles. Sprinkle with chopped green onions
Looks delicious and really good recipes on your website! Just want to also put out a public warning for persons with allergies to peanuts. Chu hau sauces have sesame paste as an ingredient and some sesame pastes are made using peanut butter. One brand I bought had it in the ingredient list on the label, but not listed as an allergen. Eating braised beef dishes prepared at a restaurant carries a potential risk also. A family member has peanut allergy and had a reaction recently from takeout braised beef brisket.
Hi Ben, Thanks for the 5 stars, I really appreciate it! Yes, people with nut allergies have to be very careful when choosing sauces. Thanks for the warning! Happy cooking!
Just tried your recipe for Chu Hou brisket with Daikinand the whole family really enjoyed it. Very tasty and flavourful and definitely worth a recipe print out for my go to meals. I used beef finger meat for the entire recipe but will try with the tendon and simmering brisket next time.
You have many more mouth watering recipes that we will for sure, check out.
Hi BM, thanks for trying my recipe and the 5 stars! I really appreciate it! Finger meat is the best, but then tendon is so good for joints and skin. Sometimes I also add some wheat gluten too. The wheat gluten soaks up all the flavour and is really delicious. Please try more of my recipes and let me know how they go. All the best and happy cooking!
Hi Auntie Emily: Thank you for the recipe! I have made the Braised Beef Brisket several times now and each time it is delicious! (I didn't have Red Fermented Bean Curd. Is there something else I can use in its place?) I used "Beef Finger Meat" but this time I will add tendon. My husband loved it so much that he asked me to make it for Christmas dinner when the extended family comes over. I look forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Hi Caroline, I'm so sorry I'm replying so late! Thank you for trying my recipe! The red fermented bean curd is definitely replaceable or can even be omitted. Adding it gives the taste a bit more complexity but it also helps to tenderize the meat. The Chu Hou sauce, since it's also made from fermented soy beans, can also help to tenderize. You could add any kind of fermented soy paste like miso or 甜面醬 （sweet fermented soy paste which is usually not sweet). Please let me know about the other recipes you've tried. Happy cooking!
Such a great recipe. Everything was very easy to follow and most importantly the beef turned out delicious! Very true Cantonese flavours 🙂
Hi Tiff, thanks for trying my recipe! I try to make everything authentic to the region the dish is from. Hope you'll be trying more recipes! Happy cooking!
This is an incredibly delicious recipe, thank you for sharing, Auntie Emily. It reminds me of my childhood, growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I cheated by cooking everything in a stove top pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time, the dish still came out amazing. Firstly, cooking the tendon for 20 mins before adding the other meat for another 20 mins and in the end added carrots (I didn't have radish) for another 10 mins. Carrots were a little bit too soft so I'd add 5 mins to the meat but reduce the carrot cooking time by 5 mins. The meat & tendon were just the right tenderness. I tried a different "ngau lam" recipe without the Chu Hou sauce but we love this one better. The Chu Hou sauce really gives it so much flavour.
Hi Chris, thank you for trying my recipe and I'm so glad you it worked for you! Chu Hou sauce, besides giving the beef great flavour, it also acts as a tenderizer. The fermented soy is great for tenderizing meats. You can also use "fu yu" or "lam yu". I use "lam yu" to tenderize char siu. Hope you'll try more of my recipes! Happy cooking!
Thank you, Auntie Emily, for sharing this recipe! It is SOOO good! Reminds me of home!
Hi Chris, I make this dish at least 4 times a year, it's one of my comfort foods. I'm glad you like it! Happy cooking!