My wife made some steaks yesterday. We have always in the bast broiled them, but this time she seared them on the stove. They were pretty good.
But she put gravy on them. I thought this was weird. But she said she had gravy on steak all the time as a kid. I always thought of steak as being something you eat either with a sauce (Here I distinguish betweena “sauce” and a “gravy” as follows: a “gravy” is made from the metled fat of the meat. A sauce is not) or with nothing on it at all.
My question is: Is it usual to put a gravy on a steak? (Other than a Chicken Fried Steak, of course.) Or rather, is it unusual?
Whatever the answer to the question is, it turned out to be damn good. And all she added to anything was a little salt and pepper. I was very suprised by this.
It can certainly be done. Hell, by your defintion of gravy, most of the steak IO cook for myself has gravy, as it’s made from the pan drippings (I know there’s some stupid little French phrase for this that sounds all fancy but just means pan drippings in French.)
I cook a steak (usually ribeye) in a pan, then deglaze with creme. I add garlic and tons of black pepper.
As somebody who doesn’t like gravy pretty much at all, I’d say that while it’s okay to put gravy on your steak, I’d prefer that you didn’t put it on mine. So, unless you have an intimate knowledge of the recipient of your food (As I’d assume your wife does of you) and know that they’ll want gravy on it, please put it on the side.
IMHE, it’s uncommon to put gravy on the steak. I normally have a potato with my steak, and maybe some steamed veggies, so I make a gravy from the pan drippings, and use it on those.
Gravy on your steak may get you into the same debate as steak sauce vs. no steak sauce. Purists will tell you a quality, well prepared steak requires no additional flavors. But if you’re working with low-quality shoe leather then sure, go ahead and put ketchup on it if you must.
And thats just how the words sound. Realistically, I mostly consider gravy and sauce to be interchangable words, since most people probably interchange them anyways.
Also, “Gravy” tends to bring up memories of that thick, grey, country, southern stuff. “Sauce” tends to bring up memories of fancier concoctions with wine, brandy, cream, and shallots. I, for one, like my steaks fancy-ized.
I agree that “gravy” sounds thick and cloying, but “sauce” sounds light and appropriate with steak.
I like to drain out the burnt cooking fat, deglaze the brown crust with a good splash of white wine, reduce it, take it off the heat and swirl in a couple of big pats of cold butter. Add a big pinch of finely chopped parsley and/or chives. And it does help to disguise a less than stellar steak.
Growing up in Louisiana, we ate “Steak and Gravy” fairly often. It was cheap beef, covered in flour and cooked in a pan. The flour and beef juices made the gravy. We also put the extra gravy over white rice.
I learned later in life that all of these things are very strange to people outside of central Louisiana.
Now I want some steak and gravy, with white rice, and purple snap peas
After sauteing meat or other items in a skillet, a brown crust will form on the bottom of the pan, composed of caramelized meat juices. It’s utterly delicious stuff, and to cause it to form a sauce, pour a liquid into the pan, and over heat, scrape up the brown stuff. It will dissolve into the liquid and a well-flavored sauce will result. Popular liquids to use in deglazing are wine, stock, water or tomato sauces. Some say that acidic liquid like wine does the best job, but any of them work fine.
