Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook (25 page)

SERVES 4

1½ pounds 780 grams
center-cut filet mignon

4 ounces 113 grams
blue cheese,
at room temperature

2 tablespoons 28 grams
olive oil

Fine sea salt

4 tablespoons 56 grams cold
unsalted butter,
diced

A few sprigs
fresh thyme

½ cup 115 grams good
red wine

Take a large piece of cheesecloth, dampen it with cool water, and wring it out. Wrap it around the meat and then smear the cheesecloth with the blue cheese so that the entire piece of meat is covered. Wrap the entire thing in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 48 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

Unwrap the meat; carefully remove the cheesecloth and discard. Put the meat on a plate and set a large cast-iron or other heavy ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pan, and once it begins to shimmer, season the meat with salt and put it in the pan. Sear the meat until the bottom is a deep golden brown, about 5 minutes, then flip the meat, and put the pan in the oven to finish cooking. For medium-rare, cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 120°–125°F (49°–52°C).

Take the pan out of the oven and add 2 tablespoons (28 grams) of the butter and the thyme sprigs. Baste the meat constantly until the butter has stopped foaming. Transfer the meat to a cutting board and cover loosely with foil and a kitchen towel to keep warm.

Pour the oil and herbs out of the pan, discard them, and set the pan over medium-low heat. Pour in the red wine and stir with a silicone spatula, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Bring the wine to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and add the remaining 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter. Swirl the butter into the wine until the butter is absorbed and the sauce thickens and turns glossy. Immediately pour the sauce into a serving bowl.

Slice the chateaubriand and serve immediately with the sauce alongside.

WRAPPED AND SMOTHERED IN BLUE CHEESE; UNWRAPPED, AFTER CURING

We love the technique of wrapping proteins in cheesecloth, applying a strong seasoning to the outside of the cheesecloth, and then wrapping and refrigerating to let the flavors transfer. It works beautifully and the layer of cheesecloth protects the ingredient inside, making it easy to remove the cure when it’s ready. We’ve used it with meat, fish, and vegetables with miso, cheese, herb purees, and wet spice mixtures for the outer seasoning layer.

ROASTED SHORT RIBS

MOST PEOPLE THINK TO BRAISE SHORT RIBS, BUT ROASTING
them is much easier and really emphasizes the deep meaty flavor of this cut. Slow-roasting allows the outside of the rib to caramelize while the meat slowly becomes tender and the fat renders, becoming like the outside edge of a great well-seasoned roast of beef: crispy, chewy, tender, and rich. It’s a messy dish meant to be eaten with fingers and whatever other utensils are deemed necessary and happily accompanied by a great red wine.

SERVES 6 TO 8

8 meaty
bone-in beef short ribs
(about 4 pounds 1.8 kilograms total)

4 teaspoons 24 grams
fine sea salt

3 tablespoons packed 40 grams
light brown sugar

2 teaspoons 4 grams
smoked paprika

Use a knife to remove any silver skin and surface fat from the short ribs. In a small bowl, stir together the salt, brown sugar, and smoked paprika. Season the ribs all over with the seasoning mixture, rubbing it into the meat. Put the ribs on a wire rack on a baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered overnight.

Preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C).

Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and roast for 3 hours 30 minutes, basting occasionally, until tender and caramelized. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

RIBS SPRINKLED WITH SEASONING

SLOW-COOKED PORTERHOUSE

YOU MAY WONDER WHY ANYONE WOULD GO TO THE TROUBLE TO
cook steak
sous vide
at home. The simplest answer is that it’s the best way to ensure a perfectly cooked, flavorful interior and a nicely charred exterior; in other words, you’ll never overcook an expensive cut of meat again. To add richness and depth of flavor to the finished steak, we caramelize the fat layer on the outside of the porterhouse before cooking the steak sous vide. The sauce uses caramelized brown butter solids to further enhance the beefy flavor of the meat.

One important tip to make this method foolproof: Do not salt the meat before you cook it in the water bath. Salt pulls all of the juice out of the meat as it cooks, which leaves you with perfectly pink, bone dry meat. Saving the salt for the final cooking period ensures that after cooking sous vide you will have juicy, flavorful meat, ready for the grill—which is the right time to season.

Pair with
Tomato and Nori Salad
or the
Lemon Roasted Potatoes
for a great summertime meal.

SERVES 2

12 ounces 345 grams
unsalted butter

¾ cup 120 grams
nonfat dry milk

¾ cup 195 grams
ketchup

¾ cup 180 grams
prepared horseradish

⅔ cup 155 grams
brewed coffee

1 (2¼-pound 1-kilogram)
porterhouse steak,
2- to 2½ inches about 5 cm thick

¾ teaspoon 4.5 grams
fine sea salt

Fleur de sel,
for serving (optional)

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the dry milk powder and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, until the solids turn a rich caramel color, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.

Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Reserve the butter. Put the milk solids into a blender with the ketchup, horseradish, and coffee. Turn the blender on low, then increase the speed to high, and puree for 1 to 2 minutes until it is smooth. Strain the brown butter steak sauce through a fine-mesh sieve and reserve in the refrigerator.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Use a paring knife to score the fat on the long side of the porterhouse in a crosshatch pattern. When the pan is hot, hold the porterhouse fat edge down in the pan to sear and render the fat, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to caramelize the fat for 2 more minutes until it is completely golden brown. Remove the steak from the pan and transfer it to a wire rack set over a baking sheet and refrigerate it to cool.

Preheat a circulating water bath or large pot of water to 131°F (55°C); see
this page
.

Put the steak into a vacuum bag with 4 tablespoons (56 grams) of the reserved butter, saving the rest for another use, and seal. Alternatively, put the steak and butter into a zip-top bag, remove the air, and seal. Cook in the water bath for 3 hours. You can finish the steak on the grill immediately or transfer to an ice water bath to cool the meat down, about 30 minutes. The chilled steak may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours before grilling.

To reheat the steak, preheat a circulating water bath or large pot of water to 131°F (55°C); see
this page
.

Put the steak, still in its bag, in the water bath and let it cook for 10 minutes to warm the steak through. Open the bag and put the steak on a large plate, discarding the butter, pat it dry, and season with the salt.

To finish cooking, preheat a grill so that it is extremely hot, at least 500°F (260°C).

Grill the steak, flipping it every 30 seconds, until the exterior is evenly marked and deeply caramelized, about 3 minutes. Transfer the meat to a platter to rest for at least 5 minutes. Put the meat on a large cutting board. Use a knife to remove the filet and strip loin from the bone. Slice the meat into ½-inch (13 mm) slices and rearrange the meat around the bone on the platter. Serve immediately with fleur de sel, and the brown butter steak sauce.

VARIATION
SLOW-COOKED HANGAR STEAK

SERVES 8

ANOTHER WONDERFUL THING ABOUT SOUS VIDE COOKING
is that you can take a less expensive steak, like hanger, one of our favorite cuts, and turn it into a dish as special and delicious as a pricey porterhouse. Also known as the hanging tender or the butcher’s steak, hanger steak is characterized by its slightly gamey flavor due to its position inside the rib cage near several internal organs. It is usually butchered into two slightly irregular, long steaks because there is a layer of connective tissue that runs through the center of the meat. Combining two methods—slow-cooking at a low temperature to soften and gelatinize the connective tissue and then grilling to sear the outside and add a smoky flavor—results in a truly superior steak that’s pink throughout and has a surprisingly deep, juicy flavor. Note that you may need to special order the whole hanger steaks from your butcher; hanger steaks often come butchered in two to remove that connective tissue, which, in this recipe, softens and becomes deliciously edible, eliminating waste.

Follow the recipe for Slow-Cooked Porterhouse, substituting two 2¼-pound (1-kilogram)
whole hanger steaks
and making the following alterations: Skip the pan-searing step. Cook the hanger steaks in the water bath for 24 hours instead of 3. When seasoning with salt before grilling, increase the amount to 1¾ teaspoons (10.5 grams)
fine sea salt.
Grill for about 6 minutes, flipping the meat every 30 seconds or so. Let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice each hanger steak crosswise into ¾-inch (2 cm) slices.