Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

In Our Backyard: Porterhouse steak, for two

I was in the supermarket last week, and in the butcher department showcase were some thick and wonderful-looking porterhouse steaks.
VKA-steak-532001.jpg
A hot, heavy cast-iron skillet is perfect for cooking a fine porterhouse steak.

I was in the supermarket last week, and in the butcher department showcase were some thick and wonderful-looking porterhouse steaks. I instantly got a craving for one and remembered that in my always-hungry youth, I could easily scarf down a whole one, no matter the size.

Now in my 50s, I simply can’t or don’t wish to eat that much meat anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a porterhouse steak now and then.

You see, what I do now is cook, slice and serve that porterhouse to yield two portions, one for my wife, and one for me. It’s not hard to do and you end up with a most splendid dinner where you sample two different portions of meat, tenderloin and strip loin.

A porterhouse steak is a crosscut steak cut through the bone from the loin. It is similar to a T-bone steak in that on one side of that T-shaped bone is the tenderloin, and other side the strip loin. However, because a porterhouse is cut further down the loin, it’s a wider steak with a tenderloin portion that is larger.

The Canadian Beef Grading Agency (beefgradingagency.ca) assigns a grade to the carcass steaks are cut from, such as Canada A, Canada AA and Canada AAA. The more abundant the marbling — the fine white streaks of fat running through lean beef — the higher the grade.

Logically, the higher the grade, thanks to that marbling, the more tender and juicy the steak will be. That’s something to keep in mind when you’re choosing what type of porterhouse steak to buy.

I’ll sometimes cook the steak on the barbecue. But when I’m in the mood for a richly seared steak that I’ll serve with a sauce, I cook it in a heavy skillet, such as a cast-iron one, which is what I did in today’s recipe.

I like to buy a porterhouse at least two and a half centimetres thick. With that thickness, you can nicely sear the meat while still ensuring the inside remains juicy and not overcooked.

I also like to let the steak warm at room temperature for an hour or so. If you cook it when icy cold it won’t cook evenly. Also be sure the skillet and cooking oil is hot before adding the meat. If it’s not, you won’t get a dark, deep and marvelous crust.

In today’s recipe, I give an approximate cooking time for cooking the steak rare to medium-rare doneness. However, the best way to gauge doneness is by touch.

A steak becomes firmer as it cooks and to see how it is progressing, lightly press it in the centre with your tongs or, carefully, with your finger. A very rare steak will feel quite soft; medium-rare steaks will be somewhat soft, but offer a little resistance. A medium steak will start to feel firm, but still have some give in the middle. Well-done meat will feel very firm.

Gauging a steak’s doneness by touch takes practice. To see how your skill is progressing, cheat and make a small incision into the thickest part of a steak and peek inside to see how it’s cooked. After a while, you’ll become a pro at judging doneness and won’t have to do this.

In today’s recipes, after the steak is cooked it’s removed from the pan and allowed to rest a few minutes to set its juices. While that occurs, you finish off the hunter sauce that’s served with the meat.

That sauce is mushroom-rich and flavoured with such things as beef stock, tarragon, garlic and shallots. You make the sauce in a pot, and then transfer and finish it off in the skillet the steak was cooked in.

To do so, after the steak is out of the pan, before adding the sauce, you deglaze the pan with some red wine, which will lift of any tasty brown bits stuck to the bottom. Now in goes the sauce, you bring it to simmer, and it’s ready to serve with the meat.

The sliced meat and sauce pair well with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable such as buttered green beans flavoured with lemon juice.

eakis@timescolonist.com

Eric Akis is the author of the book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.


Porterhouse Steak for Two with Hunter Sauce

Juicy beef, seared, sliced and served with a mushroom sauce. The sauce will likely yield more than two servings, but any leftovers can be placed in a container and frozen for another time.

Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus warming time

Cooking time: About 20 minutes

Makes: 2 servings

 

For the hunter sauce

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 lb. white or brown mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

3 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp dried tarragon

2 cups low sodium beef stock

Add the butter and oil to a small- to medium-sized pot set over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add mushrooms, shallots and garlic and cook until tender, about four to five minutes. Mix in flour, tomato paste and tarragon and cook two minutes more. Slowly, stirring steadily, mix in 1/2 cup of the stock. When the mixture is very thick, slowly mix in the rest of the stock. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook until lightly thickened, about three to four minutes. Remove sauce from the heat, cover and set aside until steak is cooked.

 

For the steak

1 (at least 2.5 cm thick) porterhouse steak, warmed at room temperature 1 hour.

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup red wine

Pat the steak dry with paper towel. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a cast iron or other sturdy skillet set over medium-high. When hot, sear the steaks three to four minutes per side, until deeply seared and rare to medium-rare in the middle. (Cook the steak a little longer if you like it more well done.)

Remove the steak from the skillet, set on a plate and tent with foil. Drain any fat in the skillet. Pour in the wine and simmer until reduced by half. Pour in the hunter sauce and bring to a simmer. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to low.

Take the steak off the plate it has rested on and set on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to carefully cut the meat off the bone. Slice the meat and arrange it and the bone on a serving platter or board. Spoon the sauce in the skillet into a sauce boat. Serve the sauce with the sliced steak for spooning on top of the meat once plated.