Inspired to make this dish after watching a Masterchef Canada episode and coming across an excellent piece of organic-fed, free range steak. Timing is important for all three components — teamwork essential!
Serves 3
Time: 🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪💪
Ingredients:
For the steak:
1 rib-eye steak (around 200-250g per person)
Thyme
2 garlic cloves
Canola or corn oil
Salt and pepper
For the fries:
3 large potatoes, unpeeled
Canola or corn oil
Salt
For the Béarnaise sauce:
2 small shallots
Splash of lemon juice
Splash of white wine
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon water
Salt and pepper
Tarragon (fresh or dried)
30g unsalted butter
Method:
1. Bring steak to room temperature between layers of kitchen towel
2. Cut potatoes into desired shape and thickness
3. Heat a neutral-flavoured oil, such as corn or canola oil, until a piece of potato placed in the oil will start having small bubbles, followed by more active bubbles; around 150’c
4. Blanch potatoes in this oil until slightly soft in the centre – test with fork
5. Remove and set aside
6. Finely chop shallots and soften in a pot over gentle flame with a squeeze of lemon juice and a splash of white wine, until liquid is almost completely gone
7. Spoon the shallot reduction into a mixing bowl
8. Add two egg yolks, water, black pepper, and tarragon
9. Whisk over a water bath (bain marie) until you see glimpses of the bottom of your bowl, around 3 minutes
10. Remove from bain marie
11. Heat butter on very low heat, until three layers form: foamy milk solids floating on top, middle layer of golden fat, and heavier milk solids on the bottom
12. Skim away top layer and pour out middle layer, leaving the bottom layer: this is your clarified butter
13. Add a few drops of clarified butter to your whisked yolks (sabayon) and whisk
14. Once the butter is able to be suspended in the yolks, add a few more drops and whisk
15. Once you’re confident the oils are suspending successfully, add the remaining clarified butter in a thin stream
16. Check seasoning
17. Add additional lemon juice to bring to desired consistency; keep warm over the bain marie, flame off
18. Heat small frying pan until smoking hot
19. Add vegetable oil and cook steak to your liking; tip: if using, add garlic and thyme only after the first flip, otherwise it might cook too long and burn, imparting an unpleasant bitter flavour
20. Let steak rest for roughly the same time you cooked it
21. While steak is resting, reheat the frying oil until considerably hotter than the first time — test with a piece of potato, which should bubble actively; around 190’c
22. Return potatoes to the oil for the second frying, until golden — this time to crisp the outside
23. Drain fries on kitchen towel and set aside
24. The steak should be rested by now
25. To plate, gently pull steak apart, with the help of a serrated knife, into distinguishable portions: the fat cap, the spinalis, the longissimus, and the longissimus Costa rum (if you’re lucky!)
26. Serve steak with fries, Béarnaise sauce, and coleslaw on the side
Nat & E Homecooking 