There is a new Italian grocery store that opened up near me complete with an amazing meat and seafood counter (not to mention the deli!). I was have a couple people over and was feeling the love for a great steak, but everything seemed to but cut fairly thin. I talked to Gino the butcher (yep, Gino) and he said that’s what his customers like, but like any good meat man, he appreciates a nice thick steak. I let him know what I was after and he personally cut me four bea-u-ti-ful 1 1/2-inch thick New York strips (aka shell steaks).
These steaks were actually for the next night, so I took them home and gave each on a liberal sprinkle of my homemade steak seasoning and stuck them in the fridge overnight to get that seasoning deep into the meat. You can find the steak seasoning recipe in my post on Porterhouse 101. BTW – you may want to make a double-batch of this seasoning as it’s pretty great on burgers and chops too.
There is nothing better than a great steak simply seasoned and grilled, but a couple spoonfuls of a full flavored steak sauce will always bump it up a couple notches… and I’m not talking A-1 here.
The red wine is reduced and fortified with flavor from shallots, garlic, rosemary, thyme and black peppercorns. Some additional flavors are then added along with some tomato paste for a little body and some butter at the end for a silky rich sauce with just enough acidity from the wine to enhance that amazing cut of beef.
This sauce literally takes about 15 minutes to make and you really don’t have to do a lot until the last couple minutes when you whisk in the butter.
The steaks were taken out of the fridge about an hour before grilling. I set up the grill for direct high heat grilling and made sure that it preheated a good 20 minutes. I generally leave a cool-zone with low to no heat to move the steaks if they are cooking too fast or flaring up.
I rubbed the steaks with some olive oil (not extra virgin) to get that great sear and professional-looking grill marks and set the steaks at a 45-degree angle over the hot grates and cooked for 3 minutes; used tongs (never a fork) to lift and rotate the steaks 90-degrees and cook for another couple minutes for cross-hatch grill marks. Repeated on the other side and cooked them to 130°F to get to a perfect mid rare once transferred from the grill and allowed to rest about 10 minutes.
- 2 cups red wine
- 1 large shallot, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 8 sprigs thyme
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon beef base (boullion), I use Superior Touch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into four pieces
- Add the red wine, shallot, garlic, rosemary and thyme sprigs, and peppercorns to a medium saucepan.
- Bring to a boil and reduce until you have 1 cup. Strain and return to the pan. Whisk in the remaining ingredients, except the butter. Bring to a low simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk in the butter one piece at a time until completely incorporated before whisking in the next piece. Remove from heat. Best if served warm.
- The sauce will keep for a couple weeks in an airtight container. Gently reheat before serving.
Cheers and Happy Grilling!
~Jeff
I was always taught that a good steak didn’t need sauce. After looking at the sauce recipeI might be inclined to change my thinking. It almost sounds good enough to eat without the meat.
Thanks, Peyton. I have to admit to eating a few spoonfuls straight as I was cleaning up!
That sauce sounds delicious. But paired with that steak, it has to be amazing. Looks great as always.
Thanks, Jerry! The combo was pretty spot on! The sauce is pretty easy to make. Give it a go and let me know what you think. Cheers