<h6>Some Ideas on Steak Sauces</h6>

food/steak sauce

Some Ideas on Steak Sauces

Richard Richardsen, Studio Pass
If you want a steak that looks nice ( no grey line ) it should be cold. This can get a bit drawn out but if a high tech piece of meat is your goal it's usually done like this: Take the steak out of it's package and season it. Put it o a plate and let it sit several hours uncovered in the fridge. The salt will draw out the water in the steak, mix with it and form a hypertoinc solution on the surface that will then diffuse back into the steak seasoning it through. The dry air of the fridge will dry off the surface of the meat ( using a rack will get both sides dry ). While still cold sear the steak. Lots of controversy in that. "ripping hot vs 375" "flip often or leave it alone". I'm no expert but I find 425 with flips every 10 seconds yields a deep brown caramelized surface with little penetration as the flipping uses the room air as a heat sink pulling it away from the meats center. 425 avoids pyrolizing ( burning ) the flesh and is easier to limit than "ripping hot". Meat will sear nicely at temps of 375° to 425° so a blistering hot, hard to control 600° pan is really not needed. Lots of folks use torches to sear. I find they just char the flesh ( which is gross unless minimal ) and are near impossible to control. Grills unless, you have a pro infrared, will overcook the interior by the time the surface is right. Convected and radiated heat won't slam the surface like conducted heat will. Grills do impart a nice flavor though. So char some hickory and then stop it in water. Dry it and simmer in oil. Use the oil to sear. Add what you like to a vac bag and vac down. I use a lab vacuum pumps that will get way down..20 microns or less ( chamber vacc's, even the good ones, don't get near that ) which seems to hold juice in the meat better than a Minivac or Vacmaster. Sous vide is the blandest cooking on the planet so it needs help before and after. After the SV bath your original sear will be a bit soggy so you touch it up in a hot pan. There's a lot more but most of it is covered on this blog or the other good food sites.

Martin
Don't overthink the sauce. The great Paul Bocuse used to throw a bunch of chopped shallots into a pan that he used to cook his steaks in butter, sprinkle flour over the shallots, added an entire bottle of Beaujolais, reduced it into a syrupy consistency, added whatever salt and pepper he desired, and poured it over the steaks. The idea is to simply reduce the wine with the pan dripping (with sous vide the reserved juices), add some butter and anything to add flavor (shallots, herbs or whatever), and enjoy. Remember, if the wine is mediocre the sauce will be mediocre, too. Only use wine you would drink. It can be cheap, but it should be drinkable.

Edwin Dodd,Studio Pass
Sauce modification idea - I am not a trained chef but worked as a chef/kitchen manger at a country club in NM for a few years working through college. With regard to the sauce as written, that its a very advanced sauce. I would suggest a little flour and butter to thicken and stabilize the sauce for most home cooks. Once you have it the consistency of a thin sauce with a small amount of flour and butter then finish the sauce with the addition of the last of the butter to tighten the sauce and give it the shine and taste.