When you finish cooking the steaks, remove them from the pan. Remove pan from heat. Add ½ cup brandy, or cognac. I’ve used vodka, it also works. Return pan to high heat, and cook until liquid reduces by half. Remove the steaks. Add 1 cup cream ( or ½ cup cream and ½ cup beef stock for a lighter sauce) and 1 tbsp butter. Cook until reduced to a thick sauce. Return steaks to pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Serve with steaks covered with the pan sauce.
Cook time will largely be determined by how thick your steaks are.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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Sear the outside of the steaks in an oven-safe pan on the stovetop. (Relatively high heat.) In butter, I'm pretty sure.
Then he finishes them in the oven. One recipe he makes calls for the filets to be crusted with a combination of coarsely ground coffee & peppercorns, then served with caramelized onions.
Yummmmmm.
Found the recipe. It really is excellent, and he says it's not very hard to do. One of my close friends requests it every time she visits...and I request it pretty frequently, too.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: Coffee on steak? Seriously?
I think there's a place in Philly that uses Kona coffee, and they've gained quite a positive reputation for it. Heck if I can remember the name though.
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
I don't know if it's seared but the way I cook a steak is I put it on the grill or whatever heat source and leave it there until it looks delicious(with a cut to check the deliciousness/how raw it is inside). Seasoned with garlic salt.
Yeah. It's really good. It's the combination of flavors & textures--the tangy-sweet, gooey onions plus the crunch of the coffee (kind of a dark flavor) & peppercorns plus the tenderness of the steak...add some good red wine and you really can't beat it.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Season the steak with plain old salt and pepper. For steaks roughly 1" thick, I usually figure about 3-4 minutes per side. ETA: 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Usually turns out a nice medium rare.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
A friend taught me the finger test and it changed my life. I personally prefer salt, pepper and Tony's.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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For Alton Brown's recipe, if it's the one I'm thinking about, I'd like to stress the importance of letting the meat reach room temperature throughout before cooking. Otherwise it will be much more difficult to acheive even cooking.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Wow, that's really cool! (The recipe and the finger test.) I love Alton Brown, and every idea of his that I ever tried worked out extremely well. I have both (the first two) of his cookbooks and read them cover to cover like novels.
The only question I have with the finger method is how gentle is gently? I seem to be able to get a range of hardnesses of my thumb muscle at each "setting" based on how gently or firmly I press my fingers together. If I go with the gentlest setting that allows me to still keep my fingers touching, will that make my steaks come out too rare?
As an almost non-meatatarian, though, perhaps I don't need to get too wrapped up in steak cooking techniques. It's making me hungry just thinking about it. Mmmm, time for a good old soy protein shake! Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Liz- I'm adding that onion jam to my menu for dinner tonight. It now includes: Chicken breasts with a balsamic vinegrette pan sauce, peppered risotto, roasted broccoli, and onion jam.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
The onion jam was big at my house too. My wife said it was the best meal she ever had. Maybe it was that good or maybe she had low expectations. Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I did the Alton Brown steak with the Liz onions. I also made a large baked potato and some Sister Schubert's rolls. It was very good.
We had our daughters here and I made some steak (sirloin) for them. We got out the fancy plates and nice glasses. Everyone got dressed up and we made a few toasts.
We said we were going to make this a tradition.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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That's terrific! I'm so glad that you all liked the onion jam. I told my husband how you served it, Paul--he thinks that sounds like a delicious pairing, and we'll try it sometime.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Tonight I did Alton Brown's seared steak recipe and, somewhat inspired by Paul's directions, after finishing the steak "resting" period and removing it from the pan, I returned the pan to heat, added some brandy and about 3 tbsp of butter, half a large sliced sweet onion, and some sliced mushrooms. Then after that had bubbled for a bit, I added some milk (lacking cream) and cooked until the liquid thickened.
Ohhhh that was good.
Thank you, everyone, for the inspiration. Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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