Steak with Butter and Ginger Sauce
Like Oven-“Grilled” Steaks, this is a great way of cooking steaks indoors without sacrificing a good crust or setting off the smoke detector: sear the steak quickly, then remove it from the pan before building a quick sauce in which you can finish cooking the meat. This is such a good technique, with so many options, that you’re sometimes likely to eschew the grill just to do it this way. Use fairly thin steaks for this recipe. Judging the doneness of thicker ones can be tricky, and inevitably the sauce evaporates before the meat is cooked through. The ideal setup for four people is four small, boneless steaks, cut from the top blade, sirloin, or rib. But two larger steaks will work nearly as well, as long as they’re thin. And though it isn’t necessary to use butter in this preparation, a small amount—there is little more than a teaspoon per person in the recipe—adds not only creaminess but also flavor.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 4 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the steaks and cook until nicely browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, another minute or two. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the steaks to a plate.
Step 2
When the skillet has cooled slightly, return it to the stove over medium heat. Add the butter and, when it melts, the ginger. About 30 seconds later, add the soy sauce and stir to blend. Return the steaks to the skillet, along with any of their accumulated juices. Cook the steaks for a total of about 4 minutes, turning three or four times. (If at any time the pan threatens to dry out entirely, add a couple of tablespoons of water.) At this point, the steaks will be medium-rare; cook for a little longer if you like and serve with the pan juices spooned over.
Variations
Step 3
Use garlic or shallots and a few leaves of tarragon instead of the ginger, and vinegar in place of the soy sauce for a French flair. Season the steak well with salt before you add it to the pan.
Step 4
Go Mediterranean: Substitute extra virgin olive oil for the butter, garlic for the ginger, and fresh lemon juice for the soy sauce. Be sure not to forget to salt the steaks.
Step 5
Give it a Thai accent: Substitute minced lemongrass for the ginger and nam pla for the soy sauce. You can substitute peanut oil for the butter or not.
Step 6
Add any minced herbs you like to the sauce, at about the same time you return the meat to the skillet.
