When it comes to creating a stunning meal at home, few things say decadence like a great steak! Getting that steakhouse crust on the outside of your meat is the epitome of the steak experience, and it’s always been the most challenging part of steak at home. Thanks to a clever technique from food icon Alton Brown, Alton’s Thermal-Shock Porterhouse, there’s a great way to bring the best steakhouse experience to your home. The key is using a pizza stone under your oven’s broiler and letting it heat up for a full hour at high. If you’re worried about your ceramic stone cracking under the thermal shock, just be sure to put the stone in the oven before you turn it on, or you can use a metal Baking Steel like we do.
To go with our steak, we selected some beautiful multi-colored carrots, fresh leeks, and asparagus from Specialty Produce. These are going to get roasted while the steak cooks. In order to bring out the flavor of our steak and roasted vegetables we first make a sizzle butter. Melt a pound of unsalted butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat then add in garlic, and fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary. Continue to cook the butter slowly, stirring occasionally, for 30-40 minutes until the bubbling stops and it becomes more clear. Once your sizzle-butter is ready, remove it from the heat and strain out the herbs and solids.
When the oven has been heating for 30 minutes it’s time to prepare the steak. We had three large filet steaks that we simply tied with butcher’s twine around the circumference to help them keep their shape. Then, generously season each side of the steak with Kosher Salt. Once seasoned, lay the steaks flat on a small tray and put them in the freezer for 30 minutes while the oven continues to heat. The freezer will chill the outside of your meat without freezing the center.
With about 10 minutes to go, it’s a good time to get our vegetables ready. If your carrots are nice and small you can leave them whole, or if larger, cut them in half. We lay out all our vegetables on a Parchment Paper covered Sheet Pan. Then taking our Silicone Basting Brush we coat all the carrots and asparagus with some of our sizzle butter and season with salt and pepper. We then put the vegetables in the oven to roast, on a lower rack under the Baking Steel.
After the full hour of heating your oven and Baking Steel, and half an hour of freezing the steak it’s time to carefully put the meat on your searing hot surface. Use some large tongs so you don’t have to get your hands near the heat and quickly put each steak down onto the hot surface, leaving room between them. After 5 minutes flip the steaks. Leave them for another 4 minutes for Medium-rare, 5 for Medium then remove the steaks to an oven-proof plate and cover with foil. Allow the steaks to rest like this for 5 minutes, this will give the juices time to redistribute in the meat.
While the steak is resting, baste the cut leeks with the sizzle-butter and put them on the Baking Steel for 5 minutes to roast and char slightly. We then put all the ingredients together. Lay out the asparagus and carrots, then add some of the leeks, and finally the steak. Take a little more of the sizzle-butter and baste the top of the steak right before serving. Now you too can have a steakhouse experience in your own home!
Servings: 2-3
Ingredients
- 2-3 steaks 1-1/2 inch thick, Fillet or other favorite cut
- Kosher Salt
- 4 large leeks, dark green sections trimmed
- 1 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 6 leaves fresh sage
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Pinn's Plate 