Steak & BJ Day

Today is "Steak & BJ day" and we're giving all you girls out there the perfect steak recipe for a successful celebration. The BJ you will have to sort out yourself, but check out VICE's 101 guide if you need some "hands-on" tips.

We got our meat from Anni's Pølsemakeri as usual. A premium entrecôte. By now our kitchen closets are filled to the rafters with spices from Il Buongustaio. We decided to make Hasselback potatoes and a ramson mayo to go with it. Simple. Perfect.

Ingredients

400g Premium Entrecôte. Look for that great fat marbling.
8 medium potatoes
100 g Røros butter
100 g cheddar cheese
8-10 champignon mushrooms
1 tbsp whole black pepper
Maldon salt
Fresh thyme

Homemade ramson mayo:
2 egg yolks
3 dl rapeseed or other neutral oil
1 tsp Dijon
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp ramson paste
A squeeze of lemon juice
A knife edge of cayenna pepper
Salt & pepper

The job starts now (and finishes later)

Pepper
Roast the whole black pepper in a pan until it starts "popping". Gently crush with a mortar and pestle. Make sure not to grind it too fine. Sift the pepper so you separate the larger pieces from the fine powder. You can use the powder for the mayo and the crushed pepper corns for the steak and potatoes. Dry the meat with a paper towel and line the steaks up on a cutting board. Rub with oil, then salt and pepper. Leave in room temperature while you ready the potatoes.

Potatoes
Hasselback potatoes is a special kind of oven roasted potatoe that originates from Sweden. Don't peel them, except for one straight cut underneath each potato that will help them stand. Now, cut thin slices all across the potatoes, making sure to leave about 1 cm which you don't cut through. Use a wooden kitchen spoon as a helper. Place them in an oven safe form. Melt the butter and brush the potatoes. Pop in the oven on 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, then activate the hot air fan and increase the temperature to 230 degrees C for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are getting golden brown. However, you should reapply more butter every 10 minutes or so. When they are don take them out and sprinkle with Maldon salt and roasted pepper. Then grate cheddar all over, making sure to get in all the cracks.  Finally activate the grill program in your oven and give them a final shock at 230 degrees C so they really get that crispy crust while the inside stays mushy. Pay attention so the potatoes or cheese doesn't burn.

Flippin' steaks ain't no problem with our new kitchen tong from the Sous Vide store at Mathallen.

Steak
While the potatoes are working their magic in the oven you prepare the steak. These are some steak cooking tricks that any good girlfriend/wife should know. Just as every gentleman should too. A mix of oil and clarified butter in the pan is ideal. Medium high temperature. Place the steaks in the pan. 2 minutes each side max. Never press or pinch the steaks, but you can move them around the pan to distribute the heat. You are looking to get a caramelized crust on each side. The wonders of the Maillard reaction!

Wrap in aluminum foil. Leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes. Then unwrap and pop in the oven on 180 degrees C for 4-8 minutes. The time in the oven completely depends on the thickness of the steaks. We had one steak that was 1,5 cm which got 4 minutes, the other piece was closer to 2,5 cm and we left it 6 minutes. This is if you want a medium rare steak. (Which you do!) If you only have one oven like us, try to time this to when the potatoes are still cooking at the same temperature. Meat goes out again and back in the aluminum foil. Let it rest at least 15 minutes this time, or until everything else is ready. Wrap in an additional kitchen towel if you need to keep it longer. If the garnish takes too long to finish you can pop the meat in together with the potatoes on 230 degrees C grill program for a final minute just before serving.

Mushrooms
In the same fatty pan that you cooked the steaks at first, you now fry the thinly sliced mushrooms. While they soak up all the goodies and become ready you whip up a ramson mayo. Doing this by hand makes you feel like a real chef, and works out your lower arm which could come in handy later.

Mayo
Making mayo by hand is all about good equipment and understanding how emulsion works. Wet a towel and place on the kitchen counter. Steady your best mayo mixing bowl on top. The wet towel will help to hold it still. The main equipment you want to invest in is a heavy whisk. Heavy tool means less work for your arm. Crack two eggs and remove the whites. Save for an omelette later if you don't like to waste food. The yolks goes in the bowl together with a tsp of Dijon. Start whisking until the mixture is a foamy cream. If you do this you almost cannot break the emulsion. Add a few drops of oil and keep whisking. As you see the mixture suck it up and thicken you can keep adding more oil. Flavor with vinegar, lemon, cayenna pepper, salt, pepper and the ramson paste. Taste to perfection.

Congrats! You are ready to celebrate steak & BJ day.