Sauces and Toppings


 
Alan S.

Alan S.

TVWBB Member
I'm typically very pleased with how my steaks come out and while it's hard to beat the flavor of, say, a NY Strip grilled with kosher salt and coarse black pepper rubbed in, I sometimes want to step things up a notch.

This is where a nice sauce would do the trick. Whether it's a basic brown butter sauce or something more involved. I saw someone do a bourbon sauce with onion and bacon that looked amazing. I have also had the pleasure of being served a steak with a bit of crawfish etouffe on top.

So what is a good source for ideas and recipes on sauces and toppings? Sure, people post up threads on their cooks that sometimes contain sauces and such, and I enjoy stumbling across those as they show up. But is there a more condensed place to learn more?
 
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Yeah... so I just noticed there is a sub-forum devoted to this topic, so I'll check that out, yeah....

Still, anybody that has some specifics or any references, I'd love to see it.
 
Alan, I use Paul Kirk's book Championship Barbecue Sauces and haven't been disappointed with any recipe I've tried, in it he also teaches us how to make rubs, marinades and mops, I bought mine from Amazon 5-6 years ago and it's still my go to book.

Between him and K Kruger on this site I haven't gone wrong, they have both taught me a lot.

Karl
 
Alan, a great steak needs just 3 things, salt, pepper and a pat of butter. Save the sauce for ribs or Q.
 
I don't think steak gets better than with a brown butter sauce. That said, you're talking about complex sauces which you may have more luck with on a foodie site.
 
I have been googling my arse off to find sauces that look like something I might want to try. It's hard to find a good collection in one place. The sauces in the sub-forum here are largely BBQ sauces naturally. I'd love to find a few good sauces for steak, chicken, and pork. So far, my favorite for steak is a simple red wine reduction:

heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat;
add 1 medium shallot, finely diced, and simmer until translucent (the recipe I found said to go 1 minute, but I usually go longer to get it good and soft);
add 1 cup of red wine, scrape, stir, and simmer until you have around 1 TBS of liquid left (play with temps so that you hit this about the time your steaks come off);

shortly before you're ready to serve it:
stir in 2 TBS of butter, 1 TBS at a time until melted; and
stir in a splash of heavy whipping cream.

It's easy, unhealthy, and great with tenderloins (or over roasted broccoli, or baked potatoes, or a lot of things).

I found what looked like a decent recipe for a green peppercorn sauce, but it tasted a bit too much like gravy on my first attempt, so I have a lot of tweaking to do on that before I'm ready to share it. If you find a good one, please share it with us.
 
A thick ribeye, salt, pepper, a little granulated garlic, grilled to med. rare, covered with some sauteed baby bella mushrooms and a shallot, and a pat or two of butter. With a nice merlot to wash it down.
 
I Love Chimichurri sauce on steak particularly flank or flat iron steaks. Check out Steven Raichlen's "Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades. Great book.
 
Bob H. said:
Alan, a great steak needs just 3 things, salt, pepper and a pat of butter. Save the sauce for ribs or Q.
Click to expand...

Agree, but every once in a while, I like to change things up. I cook onions and shrooms in Worcestershire. Once the onion and shrooms get tender, I add a little corn starch to thicken things up.
 
Im usually the salt and pepper with a smear of butter kind but,............variety is the spice of life.
So here is my recipe for a compound butter that works great with any kind of red meat, particularly
wild game and lamb.

Mack's blue cheese and fennel butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp.
3 oz. blue cheese.
1 TBSP coarse ground black pepper.
1 TBSP whole fennel seeds, toasted, cooled then crushed.
1 TSP whole grain Dijon Mustard.
1 TBSP kosher salt
1/2 TSP W. sauce.

Whip butter in a food processor till whipped. Add remaining ingredients, hit the pulse button till
ingredints are well mixed. Spoon out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, roll into a log twist ends and
freeze till hard. When ready to use slice off a disc, drop onto steak a few minutes before serving.
This will keep in the freezer for months.

Enjoy, Mack
 
Google "Morton's peppercorn sauce" for a quick to make delicious sauce for steak. It is easy to make and can be refrigerated and reheated. One word of advice, demi-glace is expensive, use Better Than Buillon instead.
 
Thanks for the replies and suggestions. To those who go for the purist/no-sauce route, I completely understand! I just want to develop some sauce skills and occasionally mix things up a bit.
 
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