STEAK II

Holding hands with the man from Rio
Would you care to explain

A little follow-up to my post a couple of weeks ago on Steak. I had received a mail from HS requesting Ale, Red Wine and a Steak (in that order) when he returned from the exotic East. I wanted to try a different cut of beef so I wandered down to Jack O’Shea’s in Knightsbridge to see what he had on offer. The Onglet caught my eye. This cut, also know has hanger, is becoming a more common sight on restaurant menus, indeed I had some the other day at El Gato Negro.

If you buy the whole steak as I did you get two thick strips of beef that have a slight offally but not unpleasant whiff. As with my last steak, I salted the meat a few hours beforehand, and got my extra-large grill pan as hot as possible. I gave the steaks about a minute and a half on each side and then put them on a hot plate in a low oven for about five or six minutes.

I was so excited by the successful cooking I forgot to take pictures but the result was a dark crusted exterior, a beautiful ruby red interior - it looked as good as any resto version. After resting there were loads of meaty juices which made an impromptu gravy. The taste of the meat was excellent: clean tasting and deeply beefy. There isn’t a lot of fat in this cut of meat but this had the advantage that you could eat more of it (hurrah) as it wasn’t too rich or fatty. A Watercress Salad and a big Gigondas were the only accompaniments but in the future I could see some frites and béarnaise being involved.

I now understand why Onglet is also known as the Butcher’s Cut (they want to keep it for themselves) and I can wholeheartedly recommend it if you’re looking for something a bit different. It’s much cheaper than the other prime cuts too. Oh, and there were some marrow bones in the mix as well...

Welcome home Hermano.