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Broiled Beefsteaks with Bacon
Procure six small, tender beefsteaks of five ounces each, pare nicely and lightly flatten them evenly with a cleaver. Mix on a plate a tablespoon oil, a teaspoon salt, a half teaspoon pepper, and gently roll steaks in seasoning. Arrange on a broiler and broil on a lively charcoal fire for six minutes on each side, remove, dress on a dish, spread a very little melted butter and arrange six slices freshly broiled bacon over them and serve.
A plain charcoal-grill recipe of the sort that filled hotel kitchens a century ago. The only real decisions are cut, thickness and heat.
- What the steaks areSix portions of five ounces each suggests small individual cuts from the tenderloin or a trimmed sirloin, probably no more than about half to three-quarters of an inch thick once lightly flattened, though the recipe gives no thickness. Modern portion steaks tend to run larger, 8-10 oz; buy two or three larger steaks and divide them if small ones are not available.
- "Pare nicely"Trim off outer gristle, silverskin and any ragged edge so the steak sits flat on the grill. Leave a thin rim of fat if there is one.
- Flatten lightly, not thinThe cleaver here is used flat-side down to even out thickness so the steak cooks uniformly, not to tenderise. Heavy pounding on a tender cut ruins the texture.
- The oil-and-seasoning rollA tablespoon of oil for six steaks is barely a film, which is the point: enough to keep them from sticking and to help the seasoning adhere, not enough to flare. A teaspoon of salt across roughly two pounds of meat is on the light side by current taste.
- A lively charcoal fireDirect heat over coals burned down to a grey ash, hot enough that you can hold a hand five inches above the grate for only two or three seconds. A gas grill on high or a heavy ridged pan over high heat will do.
- Six minutes a side is too longOn a genuinely hot fire, six minutes per side takes a 3/4-inch steak well past medium. Figure three to four minutes a side for medium-rare and go by an instant-read thermometer: 130-135F for medium-rare, 145F for medium.
- Rest before dressingThe recipe sends the steaks straight from grill to platter. Give them five minutes off the heat before the butter goes on, or the juices run out onto the dish.
- The baconBacon of this period was likely cut thicker than most supermarket streaky bacon, though the recipe specifies nothing beyond "six slices freshly broiled bacon". Broil or grill thick-cut rashers separately until crisp at the edges but still pliable, and lay them on at the last moment so they do not steam.
- YieldSix servings as written, one steak and one rasher each, with a vegetable or fried potatoes alongside.
The International Cook Book belongs to the era of the large hotel and restaurant kitchen, where a chef worked to standard portions and wrote them down that way: six steaks of five ounces, six slices of bacon, one to a plate. The charcoal broiler was the professional grill of the period, a grate over a bed of coals in a brick or iron firebox. Pairing beef with a strip of bacon was partly a matter of flavour: the bacon supplied both richness and salt without a sauce to make. The instruction to "dress on a dish" is service language rather than cooking language, a reminder that these recipes were written for cooks sending plates out to a dining room.