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Entrecotes, Bordelaise
Lightly flatten and trim two tender sirloin steaks of one and a quarter pounds each. Mix on a plate one tablespoon oil, one teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper, repeatedly turn the steaks in the seasoning, arrange on a broiler and broil for six minutes on each side. Dress on a hot dish, pour a Bordelaise sauce over the steaks, sprinkle a little freshly chopped parsley over and serve.
A two-line steak recipe that assumes you already have Bordelaise sauce made and a fire hot enough to sear. The sauce is the work; the steak is six minutes.
- The sauce is the recipeBordelaise is a red-wine reduction with shallots, thyme and bay, finished with demi-glace or a strong beef stock, and classically enriched with poached beef marrow. It needs to be made before the steaks go on, since it cannot be hurried and the meat will not wait.
- Entrecôte is not sirloinThe French entrecôte is cut between the ribs — a boneless rib steak or ribeye. The book calls for sirloin instead, which may reflect differences in American butchery terms; either works, but a well-marbled ribeye is closer to the French intent.
- Steak size1 1/4 lb per steak means two portions each, or a thick single steak for a very hungry diner. Two steaks at that weight serve three to four people..
- "Arrange on a broiler"At the time this most likely meant a hinged wire gridiron set over live coals rather than an overhead element. A ripping-hot cast-iron pan or a charcoal grill comes closer to that crust than a domestic oven broiler.
- Six minutes a sideThat timing suits a steak about an inch and a half thick over real coals, and lands around medium. Judge by internal temperature instead — 125F for rare, 130-135F for medium-rare — since a thinner steak will be grey through in twelve minutes.
- Rest before saucingThe original dresses and sauces immediately. Give the meat five minutes on a warm dish first, or the juices thin the Bordelaise on the plate.
- SeasoningOne teaspoon salt and a tablespoon of oil turned repeatedly over 2 1/2 lb of meat is a light hand by current standards. Salting more generously, and 40 minutes ahead, gives a better crust.
Entrecôte means literally "between the ribs," and the cut is often said to be the standard Parisian bistro steak — sold by weight, grilled hard, sauced simply. Sauce bordelaise takes its name from Bordeaux and its red wine, and the classical version is defined less by the wine than by the poached beef marrow whisked in at the end; marrow was cheap, gelatinous and prized, and modern versions often read as merely a wine reduction. The International Cook Book, usually dated to the first decade of the twentieth century, was assembled by Alexander Filippini, long a chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the house style of that kitchen: a great deal of technique assumed, the mother sauces taken for granted, and the recipe itself reduced to timing and plating. Readers who could not already make a Bordelaise were not the audience.