Killer Strip Steak with Port Reduction Sauce

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).