I need new ideas for steaks!!!!

When writing menus i grab a couple of brews, flip through some cookbooks and go from there. Usually a recipe or picture will spark an idea for a dish. Also consider clientele and what they will or won't eat of course ;).
As for HAVE to have meats, thats par. You probably serve prime rib so ribeye steak is great for cross utilization. Filet and NY are a given.

hth, danny

There's a restaurant in NYC called Dylan Prime, which offers patrons the opportunity to customize their steaks with different crusts and sauces. You might see if you can find out more about what they do.

But, hey, do you mean you don't know any other sauces or condiments? You're the CHEF, man. :chef: :eek:

Maybe this is a dumb question but when you say you "peppered" them, was it a steak au poivre with a cognac (or brandy) based sauce? Steak au poivre is my preferred way for preparing steak.

Cuban mojo marinated grilled steaks are fantastic.

Dry rubs can be pleasant.

It's kinda lowbrow but just plain beef gravy is good on steaks, as is bechamel.

With sauteed mushrooms?

A butter sauce?

With garlic butter?

I've never heard or seen it done before, but alfredo would probably make a wonderful sauce for steak.

The Chiinese do a peppered Steak with onions dish that I really like. They use steak cut in thin strips but should transfer to a whole steak too.

Marinate with a soy/rice wine and just a hint of garlic for a bit. Pepper heavily, Cook over high heat. Sear off onions, add some marinade, reduce a bit, serve all over steak.

Yummy.

Perhaps serve it with some rice and stir fried vegies. Needs no particular other Asian touches, IMHO.

Phil

I have always liked compound butters with my steaks. A little old hat perhaps but still good. Things like a rib steak mirebeau with anchovy butter, maitre d'hotel butter is actually nice with a steak,
roasted peppers, garlic etc. Wine, brandy etc.
Use your imagination, stuff 'em too!

We did garlic butter on steaks last year at Scout Camp and it was well received.

There are some fun savory preserves to use on steaks too. Garlic Jelly, Red Pepper Jelly, Onion Jams/Marmalades, perhaps a bit of each?

Phil

Simple and classic prepartions have always worked for me. Try steak frite, carpetbagger, bordelaise, rossini, etc. Maybe blackened even. My feeling is you can easily ruin a steak by trying too hard.

Kuan

Charred onions with Bourbon/Ginger redux

Smoked tomato fondue and Feta with a tapinade crust

Nesteled with candied shallots and roast garlic

Come on chef! you can think of some things..

Your filets will need the most help because there the least flavorful,but rib eyes,ny steaks should just be salted and peppered and grilled till rare and enjoyed.

Think about your sides with these meats, make them stand out in a way to compliment your beef selections. A good peice of beef should be prepared with little fuss (but excellent quality and cooking vessels) I mean carne asada,tartare,capacchio rely on quality instead of overly thought out sauces.

mmmmmmmm,, steak

we all need a little motivation once in a while suzanne, i understand that steak seems a simple dish, but it's always nice to see what your piers are doing. i see no need to belittle folks for asking questions. as far as the steak, the sky is the limit. i have to agree with most that you can salt and pepper my meat and drag it over the grill and call it dinner, but something as delicious as steak can be accompanied by anything hearty and robust(think of what you would like with a good oaky cab.) i also agree with kuan that a blackened steak can really tempt the taste buds. i have recently run a simple ribeye special i call a cowboy steak. salt,pepper,and gentle amounts of cumin and chili powder grilled ,,,,top with carmalized slices of onion and sweet bell's marrinated in tabasco chipotle sauce(if you haven't tried it, its fantastic) good luck chef


oops,,,, new thread,,,,,, post reply whats the diff.

Edit: That's okay, soussweets; I moved your reply into the thread where it belongs. (No hard feelings. :) )

One of my favorite toppings for steak, recently has been to saute mushrooms, onions, garlic and anaheim peppers, then deglaze with a hefty amount of worchestershire sauce ( and I do mean a hefty amount!!!). Then finish off this with a good amount of cold butter swirled in (monteed). The butter helps to smooth the worchestershire sauce and make the sauce kind of creamy.

Re: I need new ideas for steaks!!!!

edited post. but still...............

Leave my mom alone! :) :D

I think we all need to take a deep breath.

There's no need to get so personal. We are a community of chefs and food enthusiasts. That means we are allowed, even encouraged to come here and seek inspiration. I've done it, we all have to some degree. It doesn't mean we plagiarise other people's ideas, it just means that we trust each other's good taste enough to ask for them. What's so wrong about that? Isaac is not the first chef to do so. You think Thomas Keller's ideas are 100% original? He started out exactly the same way.

On the other hand, maybe you could have avoided some of this controversy by sharing your own ideas first. So, getting back to topic, what have you decided on?

isaac,
I think this is a place you can bring ideas and bounce them off. I hope you will continue to do so. Perhaps Cul247 just had a bad day. I've certainly had my share of them!

I had some onions on a steak last night. I thought, when I ordered, "yeah, right, onions on a steak. It's gonna be like always". But it was different, and I liked it. The thing about onions is that, even though they have a distinctive flavor of their own, they will take other flavor when cooked, and in that they can take on a unique thing that is what you do to them.

It's hard when you are under the thumb to impress/produce. If I were you, I would go with what you know. That's what they say about writing - "write about what you know". I think that kind of thing can apply to cooking as well. What do you know about the meats, apart from the everyday expected thing, that can help answer your question? How do you eat at the end of the night when you are putting something together , and you have some leftover meat and mushrooms? What do you nosh on? What is good to you?

RF

All I can say is wow. One of the reasons I sent money to Nicko/ChefTalk was that there was ALWAYS a giving spirit here to share, to have the patience with others who are maybe not as experienced, in other words help our community to grow. In a way it is a mentoring program albeit long distance. If you take CC's post for example, he not only gave some suggstions but other hints to maybe stir Issacs juices. Next month will be my 29 yr. in this crazy business, I've cooked more steaks than I'd like to think about but I still read the post and thought about the different suggestions weither I currently do something like that or not or what I'd do different w/ that idea or maybe try it as it is stated. As I remember, this is Issacs first Exec. Chef job, think back to your first one and all the pressures to succeed that you placed on yourself maybe then you won't be so harsh in your tone. I think that maybe this is one of the times to keep your fingers off the keyboard.

Just my thoughts anyway.

And here is what I am currently doing:

Compound butters- I love them, the mouth feel, the flavors - currently dijon,garlic,worchestershire salt and pepper

A cabernet Ailoi reduce Cabernet to a syrup and add to ailoi

Gorganzola topped

a roasted NY strip instead of Prime Rib

I hope these help a little. Hang in there and remember no matter how big we may be now we all started where you are at one time. Good Luck.

amen........

well said foddiger!

These are a couple I'm playing with.

Filet topped with Crabmeat and Gargonzola.

Mushroom Horseradish sauce.



Matt Boz

What about offering a Rib Steak that, I think, is cut off from the rib roast and arrosed with either a Jack Daniels or whiskey sauce? Perhaps substituting some old Armagnac glazed onions and mushroom peelings.

Try equal parts whole coffee beans and whole black pepper. Whirl in a coffee grinder and coat the steak with that. Then grill (or whatever your prefered method of cooking is).

Lisa

coffee crust is great. i blend finely ground kona beans with brown sugar and completely coat the steak,,, then serve with a chocolate adobo sauce, mmmmmmmmmmm

O no I meant no harm

Please if I offended anyone I'm sorry. I of all people know what it's like to get advice and help from CT'ers. I was just being, well, off. Isaac if I did get under your skin my apologies. I'll edit the post right now. :o

Wild shrooms..I especially like porcini , hen of the woods, morels, with steak. Sauteed scallions whole yummmm...I like the whole blue, shroom onion combo. Still rib steak with a pile of caramelized onions , and onion rings works...

As I've said in the past "think outside the box". While personally not a big fan of using coffee grounds (if not ground enough it can leave a lasting textural unpleasantness imho) but it is thinking differently which I applaud.
Think of Chinese fish with meat sauce. That doesn't mean there's sauce in the meat, it only means it's the same sauce that's used with meat. So think differently. I like the idea of crab so think crab cakes. Perhaps a filet seasoned with Old Bay and Blue Crab meat. Surf and Turf in one. Use a salt crust, plank it etc.

In other words stop thinking about what to do with a steak and think how you could add steak to a different dish and then incorporate that dish into the steak. Turn it around you might find some interesting results.

Hey Ya'll. What's up!
CT is the place to brainstorm. I stopped reading after a few post. Anyway, I personally think it's more of a challabnge to marinate or alter the flavor of beef and maintaining the intergrety of the taste of beef. I myself prefer marinades that accent the flavor of beef although some diners prefer condiments. I love to get some smoke flavor with any cut.
Isaac, I'm sure you have already figured this out already(hope you add some smoke) the more important thing here is, are you done with that candycoater?Wasn't that you?
BTW, you'l;l never please everyone, my wife prefers her steak flames and then all the jellies,sauces etc, me I'm lazy, infuse the flavor or top it, I just don't have the energy to be cuting dipping, stroking,swabbing etc.
Caught three nice rainbow trout last weekend 9ft 5 wt..... midge

One of the most delicious pieces of the animal I've eaten was a small bit of marrow, fried until just crispy on the outside. I don't know whether that would accompany a piece of the flesh well, but might it work as part of an earlier dish to lead into the meat dish? Or perhaps with some seafood (herbed scallops?) as part of a new-fangled surf & turf dish.

I'm no pro.
Just thinking as I type.

Good luck with the new menu. Where's the restaurant?

I have to identify with Isaac here. I don't think it matters how long you've been doing the job, you can get a 'writers' block. A friend, a chef, once remarked to me that it was hard work being original. It's very tiring too. It too easy to choose an old favourite.

Xmas being over and the associated bookwork complete I now feel like changing things with a big C. My menu always has a Fillet Steak and I've tried loads of things, but...., looking back at past menus I seem to end up choosing one of maybe a dozen. I feel I'm getting boring, but my customers don't. They're a conservative lot, customers, so don't start getting to outlandish.

Currently the steak is being pan fried with a sauce made with demi-galce ( I still use it ), red wine, redwine vinegar and pickled walnuts.

Happy New Year

Isaac, we garnish our filet with a small piece of braised beef rib, finished in tons of sliced shallots and reduced beet juice with vinegar. The sauce is wine, beets and beef jus. Very Michel Guerard.