To make your day you sometimes just need a nice charred, medium-rare steak; topping it off with the Best Steak Sauce Ever and watching it slowly dripping off over the side! So good! That’s the plan for today. The hard part for me is figuring out which kind of steak to buy. Most of the time I have to rely on what looks good at my local grocery/big warehouse store.

Which Steak to Cook Tonight and How Should I Cook It?

Ribeye, Skirt Steak, Tri-tip, Filet…which Steak do I pick for today!

To make the Best Steak Sauce Ever, do you need to buy the best quality steak available? Should I be buying Wagyu and Prime steaks all the time? The direct answer is NO! Using methods like Sous Vide or Reverse Sear can certainly make any quality meat more enjoyable!

SOUS VIDE: I would consider using the sous vide method of cooking if the steak I am cooking is a tough piece of meat or has a lot of extra fat that needs to be rendered like a rib eye. We can buy a choice quality of steak and cook it at the perfect internal temperature resulting in a “Prime-like” tenderness. Check out my discussion of Sous Vide here.

REVERSE SEAR: A typical way people cook a steak is to season the steak and cook it entirely over a hot grill until they achieve a nice crust. The problem with this method is that it is hard to achieve the desired result without overcooking the steak. The reverse sear method entails cooking your steak over indirect heat until you achieve the perfect internal temperature. At that point, you cook over your hot grill until you get your desired crust. Check out my discussion of the Reverse Sear method here!

DIRECT to INDIRECT HEAT: Get the crust first by cooking directly over a hot grill, charcoal grill, or cast iron pan. Then pull the steak off the direct heat and place the steak over indirect heat until you reach the desired internal temperature. You might try placing your steak on a very hot pan and basting it with butter until you get a nice crust. Then finish your steak off in the oven.

NOTE: If a Filet is your steak of choice, you need to keep an eye on it while it cooks. There is not a lot of marbling in this steak which means it is easy to overcook. You have a little more “play” cooking a Rib Eye since there is typically a lot of fat that needs to be rendered first.

What About the Sauce?

I truly believe a great steak doesn’t need anything on it except a little salt and pepper. Being a sauce/gravy kind of guy, I can appreciate the variety of sauces that taste particularly good on a steak. Let’s mention a few of my favorites; chimichurri, peppercorn, red wine reduction, whiskey/bourbon, and bearnaise. We are making a sauce that is similar to a Steak Diane which has as its main ingredients Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and Brandy/Cognac.

Many sauce recipes will include Cognac or Brandy. I like using B & B. As detailed on the Bénédictine site, it is an “elixir; a subtle alchemy of 27 herbs and spices carefully sourced from around the world”. It adds some sweetness and a wonderful flavor to whatever dish you are making.

Turning a Compound Butter Into the Best Steak Sauce Ever!

Occasionally I will make a compound butter to top off my steak. It is typically unsalted butter combined with your favorite herbs and spices. Check out the recipe below for a list of the primary ingredients in making my Steak Compound Butter. Place a slice of compound butter on a hot steak to turn your steak into something special. You can make this “butter” beforehand, place it in the fridge and have it ready whenever you have the need. To turn the compound butter into the Best Steak Sauce Ever, I just add some broth, gelatin, tomato paste, and a little cream. So good!

Do you have to use compound butter only on steak? Absolutely not! Use it on fish and vegetables. Use it on whatever dish of yours that needs a little extra something-something!

Try experimenting. You never know when you might find your next family favorite!

I hope you enjoy the recipe and as always, thanks for Spending Time in My Kitchen!

The Best Steak Sauce Ever!

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Recipe by David Frank – Spending Time In My Kitchen

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

Primary Ingredients
1 small 1 Shallot, minced
4 4 Garlic cloves, minced
Drizzle of olive oil
8 Tbl 8 Butter, softened (1 stick)
2 Tbl 2 Brandy B & B
1/2 1/2 Lemon, juice and zest of the lemon
1 Tbl 1 Dijon mustard
1 Tbl 1 Worcestershire powder (2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce if powder not available)
1 1 Chive, small dice
1 1 Green onion, small dice (use up to the light green area of the green onion)
1 tsp 1 Horseradish, fresh (from the refrigerated section at the grocery store)
Additional Ingredients to Make a Sauce
2 tsp 2 Tomato paste
32 oz 32 Beef stock
1 1 Packet, gelatin
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 Cup 1/4 Cream, optional
Parsley, chopped (Garnish for the steak)

Directions

Take your butter out of the fridge and allow it to soften and come to room temperature.
Add minced shallots and garlic to your saute pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Cook until shallots are soft and translucent. Place shallots and garlic into a small bowl. Let shallots and garlic come to room temperature then place them into a food processor.
Add softened butter and all the remaining Primary Ingredients to the food processor with the garlic and shallots. Pulse until well combined.
Remove the compound butter from the food processor and place it in the middle of a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll the butter and twist the ends so that the roll is in the form of a log about 2 inches in diameter.
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Place the compound butter roll in the fridge for 2 hours. Cut into 1/4 inch rounds when serving with your steak.
Turning Your Compound Butter Recipe into a Sauce
Add room-temperature beef broth and gelatin powder to a saucepan. Whisk until well combined. Let sit for 5 minutes for the gelatin to set.
Add 2 – 3 pads of compound butter into your saucepan with the broth.
Place the pan on the stove over medium heat. Whisk until well combined.
Place B & B and tomato paste in the same saute pan you cooked the garlic and shallots. Cook over high-medium heat until you flame your B & B and burn off the alcohol. Should only take a minute or two. (Check out the video below)
Add your broth ingredients in the saucepan into the pan with the roasted tomato paste and B & B.
Reduce your sauce over medium heat until you get the sauce consistency that you desire. Taste to see if salt and pepper are needed. Pull off the heat and let your sauce sit for a few minutes. Stir before serving.
Time to plate: Place your steak on a warm plate. Add a pad of your butter if desired. Ladle your sauce over your steak. Enjoy!!