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Sirloin Steaks, Bearnaise
Lightly flatten and trim two tender sirloin steaks of one and a quarter pounds each. Mix on plate a tablespoon oil, a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper, repeatedly turn steaks in it, then broil on brisk fire for eight minutes on each side, pour a Bearnaise sauce on a hot dish, dress steaks over and serve.
A plain grill-house formula from an era when the sauce, not the seasoning, carried the dish. The recipe assumes you already have Béarnaise on hand, and the cooking times assume steaks far thicker than most people buy today.
- The hinge: the sauce is made separatelyNothing in these lines tells you how to make Béarnaise, because a cook using this book was expected to know it: a reduction of tarragon, shallot, cracked pepper and vinegar, strained, then mounted with egg yolks and butter over gentle heat and finished with chopped tarragon and chervil. It must be held warm, never hot, or it splits — plan the sauce first and the steak second.
- What a 1¼-lb sirloin steak meansAt this weight each steak is a thick slab rather than a single-serving slice, and was probably meant to be carved for more than one person, though the recipe does not say so. A supermarket sirloin of 8 to 10 oz is a different animal and will not survive the timing below.
- "Brisk fire" and eight minutes a sideA brisk fire is the hottest part of a live coal grill or a broiler fully preheated with the rack close to the element. Eight minutes a side is a long time even for a very thick steak, and on anything under an inch and a half it is well past well done. Cook to temperature instead — about 125F at the centre for rare, 135F for medium-rare, allowing for carryover.
- Flattening and trimmingLight flattening evens the thickness so the steak cooks uniformly under fierce heat; it is not tenderising, and a heavy hand ruins the texture. Trim the outer fat to a thin cap rather than removing it, and score it so it does not curl the steak away from the fire.
- The oil, salt and pepper plateTurning the meat repeatedly in oil and seasoning on a plate is a working cook's shortcut, done minutes before the steak goes on. White pepper is the usual choice with pale sauces, often said to be for appearance; black pepper will do, though it tastes sharper and shows against the sauce.
- Sauce under, not overPouring the Béarnaise onto the hot dish and laying the steaks over it keeps the seared crust dry rather than soaking it.
- RestingThe original moves straight from fire to dish. Give the steaks five to eight minutes off the fire before they go on the sauce; slice them across the grain at the table.
Béarnaise is generally traced to the Pavillon Henri IV at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the 1830s, the name usually said to honour Henri IV, who was born in Béarn and known as le Béarnais — though the attribution is traditional rather than documented, and the sauce is an emulsion of the same family as hollandaise, sharpened with a tarragon-and-vinegar reduction instead of lemon. Steak with Béarnaise was a staple of the hotel and restaurant repertoire of the period. The entry's brevity suggests the author saw no need to explain the sauce, the fire or the cut.