Do Any Of You Have a Steak Brandy or Cognac Butter Reduction Recipe?
Ten or eleven years ago, I went to a steakhouse in Omaha, Nebraska during a trip home from college. The chef that day had decided to make either a brandy or cognac reduction sauce using the drippings from the beef. Feeling adventurous, I decided to order off menu and see what it was like. The word incredible doesn’t even do it justice. I remember them mentioning there was butter in it. It had a high, bright flavor, most likely lemon, which offset the almost obscene level of richness in the sauce itself (the consistency of which was like a thin gravy). It remains the single best steak augment I’ve ever had in my life. The next time I returned, nobody had any idea what I was talking about, they couldn’t find the chef who made it, and it was lost the ages. I will figure it out somehow, someway, someday.
With the weather cold, the skies dark, and the final days of autumn giving way to winter’s approach, Aaron and I decided to stay home, turn on the fireplaces, break out one of the new Staub dishes we picked up during that sale I mentioned, make some comfort food like a pot roast, and play Dragon Age Inquisition. Between the two of us, we’re probably 100 to 125 hours into it on a combined basis, neither anywhere near the end of the plot. In any event, this gave me an opportunity to try my hand at the reduction sauce; all those beef drippings, waiting there in the pot, practically asking for experimentation.
We are closer but it still eludes me. I might have to go totally in excess to the point of ruination – just dump in cups of butter and wine – to see how far I can take it. I might also need to add more salt. It needs to be reduced down to the point it’s a demi-glace, that’s for certain, but sauce mastery remains on my future study list. I’m going to have to move it up on the agenda, maybe to this upcoming summer. I know a few of you are old hands at this sort of things so if you have any suggestions, or recipes you think might come close, send them my way, please.
We made a red wine pot roast using a chuck roast cut, golden potatoes, sweet vidalia onions, carrots, and a few other staples. It is enough food to serve 4-5 people or, in the case of just us since we were home by ourselves today, provide leftovers for later in the week.
We seared the chuck roast before putting it in the Dutch Oven so it would lock in the juices and flavor …
I think Rosemary probably smells better than almost any other herb in the world.
The scent was so comforting as the dish simmered in the oven, the meat breaking down and the vegetables softening.
I spent my time exploring Thedas in Dragon Age Inquisition, nestled between the Coca-Cola Christmas tree and the fireplace.
It was good but the sauce isn’t that sauce I had all those years ago … I need to find it. I need to be able to create it. There’s nothing like it, at least that I’ve ever had, anywhere in the world.
I’m thinking maybe I’ll replay the game when I’m done, maybe doing something totally unlike me – a rogue, perhaps? With poison and knives? I’m not sure. Surely a bunch of you have picked it up, already. What’s your experience so far?
