Morimoto-style steak with garlic-soy jus

The last 3 weeks of work have been positively brutal. In addition to working 14 hour days, this past week Mrs. Dude had to travel out of town for work. On queue, Bbq Jr. developed a fever of 102°F. Well, I'm pleased to say, we all survived. The hard work has paid off. Mrs. Dude is home. And Bbq Jr. is feeling better. This past weekend we decided to sleep in, relax and have a few glasses of wine.

Well, to enjoy a family dinner in total rest & recovery mode, steak is the perfect dish. It's fast. It's easy. And delicious. In this particular case, I decided to try Morimoto's recipe for steak from Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking. (I confess, I cheated because I used up all of my veal stock. I substituted out Better-than-bouillon.):

6 garlic cloves
3 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp Better-than-bouillon beef paste
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup mirin
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 small onion

Shave the garlic and ginger on a microplane grater. Grate the onion on a larger grater. Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan and boil for 10 minutes.



Set aside for the flavours to meld, at least one hour.

2 beef sirloin steaks
salt and fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut up

Remove the steaks from the fridge a good hour before cooking.



Set a heavy pan on the stove (I use cast-iron). Add the oil to the pan, and heat the pan over high heat for up to ten minutes. You want a screaming hot pan. Crazy hot. White hot. From the book:

At my restaurants, I instruct my chefs to heat the pan for a full 20 minutes. Your kitchen smoke alarm may disagree, but heat it as long as you can.

Sear the steak for 2 ½ minutes per side. As the second side finishes, turn the heat down to medium, and add the butter to the pan.



As the butter melts and browns, spoon it over the steak.



Cook for about one and a half minutes for rare. (For more cooked than this, put the steak into a 450°F oven for a few minutes in between searing it on both sides, and adding the butter to the pan. Interestingly, Morimoto only offers instructions for rare steak).

Remove the steak from the pan, and spoon the browned butter over the steak. Let rest at least five minutes before serving. Spoon over with the jus (the onion/garlic/ginger gamish you set aside earlier) before serving.



I like this method for steak. The crazy hot pan, and the gingery/beefy goodness of the just is particularly tasty. Mrs. Dude said this was one of her favourite preparations of steak. Yum.

Served with: