As a child, my mother was a big believer in the power of the grill. London Broil, the occasional Filet Mignon, BBQ Chicken, Rockfish - nary a week went by during the warmer months that one of these tasty treats was not served up direct from the grill. The charred-on-the-edges piece of meat was typically delicious with a slight crunch on the outside and a delicate pinkness to the middle (I was a big fan of ‘medium rare’ as a kid) and was welcome even in my years of dedication to and worship of Chinese take-out and pizza delivery.
After I left the nest, however, I couldn’t quite get red meat to do that; mostly because I didn’t have a grill. But even when a grilling option presented itself, I still just didn’t enjoy red meat as much. A rare prime rib at Nye’s Polonaise in St. Paul, Minnesota was a nostalgic treat from my days tagging along to grown-up functions at rental halls with my grandmother and great aunt. It was juicy, savory, and the kitsch factor was fantastic - but it wasn’t what I wanted from red meat, exactly. (BTW, if you are EVER in Minnesota - you MUST go to Nye’s - best night out of polka/kareoke/vintage-style dinner/tiki-ness I’ve ever had!) In Paris, I ordered a lovely something-meaty-in-peppercorn-sauce but felt that the meal just tasted like...well, peppercorn. In fact, even the frites that came with the meal ended up tasting of peppercorn (not exactly what I was hoping for after a day spent scaling the narrow stairwell of the Sacre Coeur). In Mainz, Germany, I enjoyed the garlic-butter concoction that was served with every kind of meat - it was tasty and artery clogging just like meat should be; but couldn’t meat be better than this?
My home experiments with red meat were even worse. Beyond adding a packet of Old El Paso taco seasoning (still my taco seasoning of choice) to ground beef - I couldn’t seem to get any flavor into my steak. Kebabs, stir fry, teriyaki, glazes, marinades, sauces...the meat either stopped tasting like meat or just seemed like a waste of money - all I was doing was murdering this poor animal for a second time by drowning it in preservatives and processes.
For me, the best red meat restaurant dining experiences always involved some sort of thick, dark sauce on the meat that stuck to the steak as if it had oozed from it. Surely there was some sort of soy-teriaki-marshmallow-molasses base to these sauces? Surely there was some deep dark secret that no one was sharing with me.
Leave it to Julia Child to show me the light. Her basic red-wine reduction recipe for steak was my first attempt ever at a reduction of any kind. Just a bit of the steak juice mixed with some butter, garlic, onion (I was plum out of scallions) and red wine was all it took to get amazing flavor OUT of the steak. Instead of trying to mask the steak with some processed flavor, the red wine reduction actually brought the flavor of the steak center stage and highlighted it. I felt as if I had been saved...from a lifetime of badly prepared meat dishes.I even got creative with the leftovers. I sliced the cold leftover steak into 1/4” thick strips and pan seared them in the very-hot left-over red wine reduction (there wasn’t much left to be honest). I also pan ‘fried’ some shrimp in olive oil, rosemary, basil and garlic and served it to myself with asparagus and goat cheese (pictured). The perfect bite (a bit of shrimp, a bit of the seared off, red wine soaked steak, and a daub of goat cheese) was possibly the best flavor combination I’ve ever cooked myself.
Now, as a rule I don’t order a lot of beef when I go to restaurants. I prefer to order things that don’t make me sleepy or too full. However, reeling from my revelation that GOOD SAUCE can make beef into something extraordinary, I tossed caution to the wind last night at a local Egyptian restaurant called Abou El-Sid. Last night I ordered the Abou El-Sid Beef Tournedo.
This was, again, well sauced beef. I seem to be on a roll. The sauce was creamy and rich, with chicken liver and green peppers used to flavor it.
I ended up almost eating my finger as I ran it around the plate trying to get every last drop of the delicious sauce to hit my every taste bud - lest I waste a single droplet.
I don’t think I’ll be eating any more beef than I used to. I think it will still be only once a month or so - for the sake of my ever-expanding mid-section and ever-thinning wallet. But now I know that when I do crave the indulgence of red meat, I can give in and not be disappointed.
