Cote de Boeuf

Celebrate America's birthday by eating one of its animals -- as I plan to do.

Behold, the perfect steak:



Here is what it looked like before it was trimmed, frenched, and tied:



That's not actually my steak (the top picture is, however). But I neglected to take a "before" picture. That's pretty much what this looked like before I had at it. It's a single rib steak, cut about 1.5" to 2" thick.

This is a classic cote de boeuf cut. Not to be confused with a cowboy ribeye, which is -- as often as not -- neither frenched nor tied. On Top Chef they popularized the term "Tomahawk" for something like this, but that was long bone ribeye, frenched definitely, but I don't think it was as agressively trimmed and tied.

Cook this in the pan to sear and form a crust, finish in the oven. Use the trimmings from the rib to make a sauce. Delicious.

I find that removing the big nodules of fat prevents burning, and makes the steak cook more evenly. There is enough marbling -- plently -- to moisten it without the big hunks of fat.

Tying is essential. If you trim it properly, the steak will look like a flabby mess. In this case, there was a long ribbon of meat on the outside of a huge node of fat. Without tying, it would be hangning off the rest of the steak. Tying not only holds the steak together, it helps to ensure even cooking. Once the steak is finished, let it rest for 5-10 minutes, then take the strings off. It will hold its round shape perfectly.

It's already aged, but trimming and seasoning it early (at least a full day before cooking) and then leaving it in the fridge on paper towels to draw out some of the water, improves the flavor markedly. I use salt & pepper only; kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. A 2-1 ratio of salt to pepper. I salt the steak rather agressively.

One of these can easily feed two; two can feed four. With leftovers. To serve it that way, however, it's best to slice it before you put it on the plate. That's the froggy way, anyway. The steakhouse way is one steak per person, which is more than anyone can -- or at least should -- eat at one sitting.

There's a lot of things you can do, it depends on what kind of sauce you want and what you have on hand. If you have homemade stock, glace, or demi-glace, by all means now is the time to use it. If not, you should at least make a pan sauce. The point is not to let the trimmings go to waste.

Here's what I do, at a minimum.

Take some of the pure fat from the scraps and render it. You probably will not need all of it, as rib steaks can contain a lot of fat. Then throw in the meat scraps and get them good and brown. Then add chopped carrots, celery and onion (2x as many carrots as onion & celery). Tomato paste is optional. Then add liquid. Stock is nice. Glace is better, but somewhat wasteful. Demi-glace is decadent, but unlikely to be lying around. Wine also works. NEVER add store beef stock. If you don't have real beef or veal stock, better to use store chicken stock and brandy (1:1). Sounds odd, but it works. Simmer for a long time. Strain. Reduce. Put it in the pan after the steak is done. Scrape up all the fond. Add the juice from the plate where the steak is resting. Whisk on high heat briefly. Optional: pour into small saucepan and reduce some more.

OR: make a "bordelaise." Take some wine and simmer shallots, and some herbs. Reduce by about 2/3s. Use that to enrich the faux-demi you have made (described above). It's not a real bordelaise without marrow, but close enough.

Friday.