Sunday, August 07, 2016

Sunday steak dinner

Tonight's steak dinner, made with a lovely beef tenderloin.


Above: beef tenderloin done two ways—one butterflied, then sliced flank-steak style and adorned with chimichurri; another more "standard" filet mignon style, topped with bacon. Sides: mashed potatoes with pan-fried mushrooms and gravy, along with oven-roasted Korean sweet squash (Kor. dan-hobak; Jpn. kabocha) sprinkled with roasted pine nuts.

The mashed potatoes were made by boiling potatoes, then adding milk, butter, salt, pepper, garlic, and parmesan cheese. The oven-roasted squash was dusted with cayenne pepper and a tiny bit of salt, then pan-fried in a bit of oil to obtain a sear.

Below: the remainder of the tenderloin, chopped up Korean-style, with a Worcestershire dipping sauce. Overall, the tenderloin came out well, but still a bit chewy, despite being plenty rare in the middle. I tend not to sear beef at super-high temperatures because I'm afraid the smoke will cause my smoke alarm to go off. As a result, searing takes longer for me, which means that a tenderloin has time to get a bit tougher. I should trying brining next time.*




*Actually, that link leads to a Serious Eats article that shows something more akin to salt-curing than to brining.



No comments: