Posted by Lucy Baker, May 26, 2008 at 1:30 PM
In one memorable episode of Top Chef's Season Three, the contestants were asked to make Padma Lakshmi breakfast. Hung Huynh (who went on to become the season's Top Chef) prepared the winning dish of Steak and Eggs with Papaya, Banana, and Grand Marnier Shake. Really two recipes in one, you could easily prepare each half (the steak and eggs, or the shake) and enjoy it on its own. But together, the contrasts between sweet and savory, light and hearty, create something extra special.
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Posted by Jenn Smith, December 12, 2007 at 10:30 AM
As any Iron Chef viewer can tell you, if Bobby Flay had a formula for success, it would look something like this:
Grilled (Meat) + (Chile Rub) + (Fruity Sauce) = Main Course.
Because I live in New York and can't grill a thing at home, I pan-seared these steaks (for the record, I think that there is no better way to prepare a steak than to grill it, but you work with what you have). Despite these transgressions, the sharp, gently spicy rub was a success and would be equally delicious on lamb or dark-fleshed pork as well.
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Posted by Blake Royer, December 6, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Skirt steak is one of the more compelling reasons that a ridged, cast iron pan is a worthy investment for your kitchen. It’s one of the best cuts off the grill—a high fat-to-meat ratio helps keep it rich and moist—and it adapts incredibly well to off-summer adventures on the stove. This particular recipe is from The Best of Gourmet: A Year of Celebrations
, an über-fancy, photo-laden dinner party cookbook that has hidden in its less-glamorous final 100 pages a collection of absolutely spot-on recipes.
A food-processor sauce comes together in the same amount of time it takes the steak to finish cooking and rest. Flank steak would also work for this recipe, a similar, leaner cut that’s sometimes easier to find, and which has a more profound beefy flavor (though with less fat, it’s harder to cook perfectly). Either way, cutting the meat across the grain is essential—on a flank cut, the grain usually goes lengthwise along the steak, while on skirt it's crosswise. You can further thwart the inevitable chewiness of both these cuts by slicing on the bias at a 45 degree angle, which helps make thinner slices.
At first I’d thought about serving the steak on a bed of greens with extra sauce, allowing the cilantro-garlic pesto to seep down and season everything. But if I’d had some flour tortillas in the fridge, this would have been rolled up with some chopped onions and another sprinkle of the cilantro.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, September 24, 2007 at 4:00 PM
This is the way to start the week. Although there are a few more ingredients than I usually like to think about on a Monday, most are pantry items, and the others don’t cost that much. That includes the steak—if you can find it. Here in Ohio, skirt steak only appears at specialty meat markets, but it’s still cheap. I got my fancy-pants certified prime cut for less than $5. Combined with chimichurri, it was probably the best skirt steak I've ever had.
Don’t forget about the sauce. Sure it takes up the bulk of the ingredients, but it only takes a matter of minutes to blend. It's Argentinean spin on salsa verde, and Argentineans seem to know a few things about steak.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, September 5, 2007 at 2:30 PM
According to the Lobels, the folks who wrote the book we're featuring this week, cowboy steaks are "big, brawny, extra-thick, bone-in rib-eye steaks weighing in at about two pounds each."
They take a while to grill—about 30 to 35 minutes—but they take on a nice crust while you're at it. You probably don't need anything else to accompany them, but the recipe that follows includes a spicy chipotle mayo.
The recipe is from Lobel's Prime Time Grilling.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 24, 2007 at 5:00 PM
Steak can be the perfect last-minute dinner. A good cut can be seared and served in minutes, but it can also be expensive. Usually the quicker and easier it is to prepare, the more expensive the cut tends to be. And it doesn’t always have the most flavor.
I pulled this from the Chef on a Shoestring, and London broil certainly is an apt addition to the pantheon of cheap cuts. The pound-and-a-half cut I picked up was right around $5.
I can safely say I’ve never loaded a steak with this much seasoning. It felt wrong. It looked wrong. I’m not sure if you could even tell that there was meat underneath. I was dangerously close to rubbing all the seasoning off. Thankfully, I let all those spices sear on the hot skillet and imbue the meat with a wonderful chile aroma. Even though I marinated this tough cut for about as long as it took to preheat the oven, I ended up with a highly flavorful, tender dinner.
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