I know my contribution will be lost in the storm of suggestions above, but here’s how we do it in the pug house:
Take the steak out of the fridge an hour or two before cooking. Letting it come to room temp will prevent the “cold red middle” syndrome. Heat the oven to 350. Liberally cover the steak in cracked black peppercorns and sear the holy hell out of it on both sides in a red-hot ovenproof skillet or grill pan; just a few minutes per side will do. Then pop the steak in its skillet into the oven for about 5 minutes. This is called “oven-finished”, and it results in a lovely, evenly medium rare steak. Sprinkle with kosher salt and serve (preferably with homemade french fries, Dijon mustard and a Bordeaux).
Tryt cooking it the way japanese staekhouses do-plop the staek into a very hot frying pan, and sear one side for 3-4 minutes. Then, turn is over, and repeat. Then, slice it into thin slices (around 1/2" thick), and sear the exposed sides-eat the slices hot from the pan. NO MARINADES-just salt pepper, and a little garlic!
This is the way to cook a slightly tough stek-it results in well-done meat that is still juicy and tender.
When I’m forced to do a steak on the stove, it is very similar to publuvr’s way, and depending on my mood, finished similar to Chefguy’s. Load the bejeezus out of it with coarse black pepper, some kosher salt, and rub with olive oil. Let sit for about 30 minutes. I’ve compared it without the salt side-by-side on two nearly identical steaks and noticed no loss of moisture except on the very outer edge which comes out much more crisp and carmelized when salted and rested a bit. I love a dark, crisp shell on steak, so I salt first.
Turn on the oven fan, open the kitchen window, then toss into a very hot, dry pan for about 2 to 4 minutes, depending how you like your beef cooked. Flip and cook an equal amount of time on the other side. If doing more than one, hold in the oven on low.
If I’m in the mood for a sauce, my standard is to add a bit of flour, maybe a teaspoon, to the pan juices, get a dark brown roux going and then add whatever is handy… wine, stock, even water. Maybe 1/2 cup. Thow in a palmfull of peppercorns, and if I’m in the mood, a little onion, garlic or mushrooms, and let it go until the pepper softens a bit and it gets to the thickness I like. Then a bit of cream and a good wad of butter to finish it off.
The classic method is to sear in a very lightly oiled and very very hot pan and place into an oven to finish. If you have an thermometer, use it to tell when the center reaches the doneness you want. There are other methods, but this is the most accurate. 125 for rare, 135 medium rare, 145 medium and 160 well done.
Since you have bacon wrapped, the best thing is to use either a maple syrup glaze or just salt and pepper. I would go with S&P personally. The bacon is there probably because the meat is very tender, but lacking a lot of flavor such as tenderloin. An excellent piece.
If you feel comfortable making a sauce, then classically it is bordelaise, but not that simple to make and a bad bordelaise isn’t that good. I would recommend cooking some mushrooms (crimini or portos), getting some rosemary roasted potatoes or good mashed potatoes (ok call it whipped to be fancy) and a good red wine
Please, for the love of God don’t put any god damn cracked pepper on your steak! Seasoned red salt please. Pepper kills the flavor.
What I would do is to make a stir fry out of it. Get onion, green pepper, mushrooms, or whatever vegetable you like, cook with butter in a pan.
Take your steak that you have marinated all night in Dale’s marinade sauce, slice thin and cook in another pan with some oil. You know how to do it. Shake on some good ol’ fashioned Tabasco if you want some heat. Take that bacon and either cook itin a side dish or eat it for breakfast in the morning. The bacon has prpbably provided the salt you need anyway.
Marry the steak, and the vegetables together. Sprinkle on some soy sauce or tariyaki for additional flavor, serve over good steamed rice. Or, you could go for the Korean route. Same ritual with the meat and vegetables, except you buy some good romaine lettuce. Peel the lettuce down to leaves, place a small chunk of meat in the leaf, roll up and eat. Good stuff. Go to the Korean market to get some kimsche. Must have a kimsche appetizer. Kam-sa-ni-da!
Or, you can go the Mexican route, do everything above and buy yourself some tortillas instead. Gracias!
Also, beer is the preferred alcoholic beverage for steak, not red wine. Lastly, to state again, throw the “cracked pepper” in the trash.
Eating meat does not a carnivore make; most of us are omnivores.
No salt on red meat before cooking or it gets tough. I insist on fresh ground peppercorn mix (ground very fine, not cracked) on my steak but some might not prefer it. Too bad you can’t grill it; that’s how I love it best - black and blue, on the fire
To stretch out a steak prepared that way, consider grilling some portabellas, some red bell peppers (the outside gets black by the time the inside is soft and sweet but that’s ok; put it in a paper bag and peel it in a few minutes.) Wrap strips of steak up with strips of the other two things in tortillas with a little fajita seasoning and maybe some guacamole. Keep it simple but elegant; good stuff.
If the steak must be broiled so be it; I actually don’t eat steak unless we’re grilling anyway.
I have an old Life cookbook - it’s huge and obviously picture-based (quite stunning to look at really) and the steak section is enormously simple, since someone brought up sauces. Cooking is simplest of all; minimal seasoning and proper heat; mostly it’s the cut and quality that’s the issue.
For dipping or "sauce"ing, the only thing discussed are flavored butters. Butter whipped with a little garlic is one. (I told you it was old ) I doubt a steak wrapped in bacon needs sauce of any kind, but as a purist (who rarely indulges in steak, meat, or fatty foods) I’d go with a softened whipped (lightly flavored) butter.
So you’re going to marinate a good steak overnight so all you can taste is the damn sauce, and then pour soy or teriyakki over the poor thing, but you have an issue with cracked pepper?
Amen, Zoid. Then again, would you take culinary advice from someone called corndog man?
Tobasco on a good steak? I love my Tobasco Sauce, but like Worcestershire, it has a tendency to mask or kill any flavor it’s blended with. Save it for your stews or pizza or whatnot. Tobasco has no place near a good steak. A good steak should taste like the essence of meat. It should be at most medium rare, if not still moving, and subtlety of flavor must be preserved. Peppercorns and salt are okay…in fact, de rigeur. Tobasco, A1, ketchup, etc, have no place near a good steak. If you like steak with A1 sauce, do yourself a favor and buy a cheaper cut.
Beer. I love beer. Beer is one of my closest friends. But a good steak goes with wine. No exceptions. A deep, full-bodied, dry red. Try a Cabernet Sauvignon or Chateua Neuf du Pape or a nice Burgundy. The sweet and warm grape flavors combine perfectly with the meat juices and enhance the taste of steak. Beer does not. Beer goes with anything spicy or acidic.
Chefguy and lissener, I’ll try it with beer (mmm… Beer) and the roux. I don’t make beef stock very often, but I have some homemade smoked turkey stock in the freezer that will surely be better than water. Maybe the liquid from rehydrating some dried mushrooms?
But first, I have to go get a deer - I’m all out, as the backstrap is the first thing to go.
Nevermind - to heck with the venison, I’m dying for a good beef steak right now! And we have an excellent butcher right down the road. I shall cook me up a storm for my boyfriend and children tomorrow night!
Bacon-wrapped filet mignon! With mushroom reduction sauce! And green beans with garlic. Yumm…
I have heard this quote in more than a few places:
“The secret to a good steak is to start with a good cut of meat and don’t do anything to ruin it.”
Things that ruin it:
Strong Marinade
Overcooking
Any tomato based sauce
If it’s a good cut of meat it really doesn’t need marinade. The stronger ones will drown the flavor of the meat. Something subtle isn’t too bad but less is more.
There is no surer way of being silently ridiculed by a steakhouse staff than order a well done steak with ketchup. The more the sucker is cooked the drier it becomes. Virtually any steak sauce can do a wonderful job of imparting flavor-but if you want to taste the steak leave it off. I won’t use anything stronger than a light mushroom sauce and even then it always goes on the side.
I’m gonna recommend a commercial powdered marinade: Adolph’s Marinade in Minutes™. Instructions say to mix it with water, but I use whatever red wine I’m serving with dinner. Put Adolph’s sodium-free tenderizer on first, then let the meat sit in the marinade for just a few minutes (15 min, max.).
This is the only topping I permit on my steaks. I brought some whole corn-fed beef filets with me the last time I went to Denmark. Imagine my chagrin when I asked everyone at the party how they wanted their steaks, only to hear a unanimous chorous of “well done!”
They didn’t like the Napa Valley Vichon Chardonnay (too dry!) nor the Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon (eew, red wine).
Flaming Philistines!
I recently had to watch a good pal of mine take one of the finest organic fork-tender ribeye steaks that I’ve had in years (probably something like $15.[sup]00[/sup] a pound) and completely smother this masterpiece of bovine degustation with frickin’ A-1 Sauce. Words cannot possibly express my distress at having borne witness to this desecration. Somehow, we have managed to remain friends.
Oh my lord, corndog man, what are you thinking? You think simple crushed peppercorn is overpowering, but you want to marinade it in DALE’S overnight?!? And seasoned red salt?!? And Tabasco?!? All three of those are more overpowering than peppercorn on their own.
For those unfamiliar with Dale’s, it’s basically soy sauce, but with liquid smoke and about a cup of salt mixed in. Ugh, the stuff destroys everything it touches.
) I doubt a steak wrapped in bacon needs sauce of any kind, but as a purist (who rarely indulges in steak, meat, or fatty foods) I’d go with a softened whipped (lightly flavored) butter.