Killer Strip Steak with Port Reduction Sauce

BobS

I was feeling like hammered he$$ when I got home from work and it was cold and windy, so decided to cook inside, but this this is one cook that goes outside easily.

This is an adaption of Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Port Cherry Reduction Sauce, that I got off the Cooks Illustrated TV program.

The modifications I made were to use a NY Strip and since I did not have dried cherries or cranberries, I used currents. WOW!! This is a keeper. I don't think I ever saw my wife's plate so clean.

I started with a 2 pound, bone in, NY strip that I deboned to make it easier to cut in two portions. Note that I did not say that I cut it in half. :woohoo:



The secret for this recipe is that you cook the pepper before you coat the steak. This leaves the flavor, but takes away a good bit heat from the black pepper. There is actually a chemical reaction that takes place and changes the isomer of the chemical that makes the heat -- an oil, I think.

The next picture is 5 Tablespoons of fresh cracked pepper, being poached in EVOO for 7 minutes, prior to cooling and coating the steak.



Here is the coated steak, before cooking.



To cook, I used the reverse sear method, by first putting it in the oven at 250 F, to bring up the internal temp before the final sear on the stove. Susan likes hers on the done side of medium, so I put hers in first. It took a total of 36 minutes to bring hers up to 125 internal. The long slow cook lets the enzymes do their thing to make the meat more tender. It also produces a great cooked product! The smoke alarm only went off for about 5 seconds during the sear. Not bad, all things considered.

Here is a shot of her steak after the oven and before searing.



The sauce is a reduction of 1 1/2 cups of port with 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar with the addition of shallots, fresh thyme and finishing with butter. DANG!!!

Here is the finished plate with some left over risotto with leeks and truffle oil (killer recipe from MrBrOwn).

Unknown

Good cooking!

Sorry for not being here more, but the font, the spacing and the site make my eyes hurt. I enlarged the font but it still bugs me.

We joined people for a reopening of a fancy cafe in our state, and the curse of our state's poor cooking skills continued. Chicken served raw, then when I bitched, it was returned to me after having been thrown under a broiler, burnt bits painted with tasteless port reduction (not nice like yours) and still raw. The dessert was a failed cake that fell and was hard as a brick. They need lessons. But around here, I think it is hopeless.

Only the "eggers" have me believing people know how to cook in the US because here, it is incredibly horrible.

Eggtucky

Nice cook Bob! This one is a def try for me. i love pepper crusted steak and the tip for poaching in EVOO is a great one. I can see this one on the egg also! Good job!

Chef in the Making

that steak looks great and thanks for the info on reducing the heat. My wife and neither am I a real big heatfan but we sure love pepper encrusted steaks

stike

that looks great. i gotta tell you, i am a sauce fiend. when i started making pan sauces, i felt like i was king of the kitchen. simplest way to make you look like a genius!

really looks good.

BobS

stike wrote:

that looks great. i gotta tell you, i am a sauce fiend. when i started making pan sauces, i felt like i was king of the kitchen. simplest way to make you look like a genius!

really looks good.

strike,
I feel the same way about the pan sauces -- they are great. Technically, this does not qualify, because it is made entirely aside from the steak cook, but I have to say that I looked at the pan where I seared the steaks and thought that it would have been great to pour the sauce in there to get all the pan juices! I was just in too much of a hurry to eat!!

I guess you could do the same thing on the BGE, if you wanted to do the sear in a skillet.

stike

my favorite cook. haven't done it in a while...
can't see the sauce i guess, but it's there. cognac et al. steak au poivre! mm mm mm and this is pan seared on the egg, sauce made in the pan.



some other sauces off the egg:

tequila, rum, and garlic/brandy sauces with their pan-seared scallops



wild mushroom lasagna with a great bechamel (sauce was stove top, but the lasagna was egged)



my infamous "all-day" wellington sauce for Christmas dinner

and on the plate


and a magnificanet bleu cheese sauce done in the pan from a pan-seared tenderloin... the cheese was a year old. i'm still here to tell about it.