Thai beef salad

Thai beef salad: rare sliced beef with lime juice, fish sauce, chilli, lemongrass, mint, and shallots. The combination is simultaneously hot, sour, salty, and aromatic: one of the most demanding multi-variable pairings in the calculator. The chilli brings real heat, the fish sauce adds umami and salt, the lime provides sharp acidity, the lemongrass and mint add aromatic freshness, and the rare beef adds protein and iron. High alcohol amplifies the chilli heat. The wine must stay below the heat threshold, cut the lime-and-fish-sauce sourness, and have enough aromatic character to engage the herb complexity.