Steak

Finger food is a great way to get kids eating real food. These little strips of beef are juicy and tender, with a crunchy panko bread crumb crust—delicious served with the slightly sweet orange dip. Just add a colorful vegetable (carrot sticks, broccoli spears, cherry tomatoes, or bell peppers), and you’ve got a great kid’s meal.

Jamie is always in search of good Asian food, which is one of his favorites. We must have had this salad somewhere along the way, because it found its way into Jamie’s kitchen recently. With lime, soy sauce, cucumbers, peanuts, and rice noodles (which you can find in the Asian foods aisle of most supermarkets), it’s a whole new set of tastes that will no doubt appeal to anyone looking for something new to try. It’s also a perfect place to park your leftover steak.

Growing up in the South, we were surrounded by three-bean salads, which are something of an aquired taste. We ate up Mama’s beans and ham hocks, but give us kids a cold bean salad and we’d be out the backdoor. Well, now we’ve seen the error of our ways—plus canned beans seem to be better these days, less mushy and more flavorful. Here we toss them with spicy cheese and leftover ham for a main-course salad that’s delicious served with cornbread.

London broil is a great, affordable way to serve steak to a crowd, and it’s nice and thick, which makes it our favorite cut for grilling or for a sandwich the next day. Or you can slice leftovers, throw them in a pan, and make the world’s best steak and eggs for breakfast. We brush the meat with balsamic vinegar, then broil it for a tangy-sweet glaze. You’ll be amazed how many compliments you can get from such a simple recipe.

A porterhouse is a big hunk of a steak that combines two cuts that are separated by a bone: there’s the soft, rich tenderloin on one side, and the firm and juicy sirloin on the other. There are two secrets to a great grilled steak: the quality of the meat (see the note about wagyu beef on page 92), and the seared crust that locks in the steak’s juices and flavors. You get the crust by cooking the steak over dry heat in a very hot grill or smoker.

This is my favorite steak. I like the chewiness of the cut and the faint marbling of fat, just enough to keep it well lubricated. And I find it a good size for the single cook. A skirt steak of approximately 14 ounces gives me three fine meals. First I have a piece of rare steak quickly sautéed and garnished with a little pan sauce of wine and shallots; then I have a few slices of it cold for lunch with a piquant sauce; and finally, later in the week, I’ll use what remains in a delicious baked dish with mushrooms and breadcrumbs, an inspiration of the late Mireille Johnston, whose books taught us so much of what regional French home cooking is all about—thriftiness, inventiveness, and good taste.

From Russia with love! Our stroganoff has all the velvety richness of the original comfort-food favorite, with just a little kick (we can’t help ourselves—we’re from Texas, where Tabasco sauce is practically a food group). Our secret ingredient is tomato soup! We added the soup to brighten up the overall flavor of the dish. But don’t worry, our variation of this classic is still enough to make you want to Cossack-dance your way back for seconds.

Rib eye is my favorite cut of steak, especially when it’s on the bone. It’s big and fatty and luscious. And when you add a dry rub, it goes from delicious to delicious-PLUS. Enough said.

Junior Pepper lived down the road near my great-aunt Carrye, who was a widow. (Almost all the older ladies out that way are widows, it seems.) Junior Pep, as he is known to all, makes the rounds checking on his lady friends a couple of times a week and calling their relatives if anything seems amiss. He has always been a ladies’ man. Junior Pep raised cattle and when I think of pepper steak he always comes to mind.

Ropa vieja translates literally to “old clothes,” which is what the shredded meat, visually, may bring to mind. The smell and taste of this dish, however, are nothing short of heavenly. Please don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. There is only a little bit of chopping required; the whole point is to put a bunch of things together and forget about it for hours (although you’re welcome to taste along the way if you prefer—or can’t resist!). The shredded meat should stand for at least 15 minutes before serving, but if you have more time, let it stand longer, as it just gets better and better. This dish’s origins are Caribbean, so serve it with other foods from the same region, especially white rice, black beans, and plantains.

The most important thing about preparing filets mignons is to use a light hand with the steaks themselves. To bring out their melting tenderness, absolutely all they need is a little salt and pepper and to be sautéed in some butter or olive oil. Here, they are drizzled with an elegant reduced balsamic sauce with deep, almost molasses flavor and a welcome bite at the finish. Try this dish with Brazilian Leeks (page 142). The filets are also wonderful with the heartier Shiitake-Wine Sauce (page 167).

The trick here is to add a lot of seasoning to the dredging flour and then use the leftover seasoned flour to make the gravy. Serve with Garlic Mashed Potatoes (page 149).

As its name suggests, flank steak comes from the flank of the beef, between the ribs and the hips. I’ve been eating and loving flank and skirt steak, which comes from the same area, my whole life, since they are used abundantly in Latin cooking. For some reason, these cuts have yet to reach a wider audience. This is curious to me, for what flank steak lacks in tenderness it more than makes up in fabulous beefy flavor. Cut it across, not with, the grain so it’s less chewy. This tangy marinade is great for any cut of beef. As with any marinade, the longer you can let the steak sit in it, the better it’ll be.

At Beso these tacos are served as an appetizer, but some people love them so much that they make a meal of them, ordering VeraCruz Corn (page 151) on the side. Guests often look at the dish’s name and exclaim, “I don’t like spicy!” but I always assure them that the chili powder adds only beautiful color and nice flavor. I promise it does not pica, as my Aunt Elsa would say, meaning that it’s not spicy.

So you feel like steak? This one is a monster! For all of the card-carrying carnivores out there, this dish will turn you on. Porterhouse is a great cut because it’s like two for one—on one side of the steak you have the tender filet and on the other, the firm New York strip. Grilling with wood chips is a common way to infuse flavor into meat, but for extra oomph, I turn to herb-infused smoke instead. Tossing damp woody herbs like thyme (rosemary would work here as well) directly onto the fire lends a distinctive earthy essence. The intoxicating smell makes your belly grumble and always has a “wow factor” with guests. Serve with Roasted Garlic (page 238) and/or Porcini Worcestershire Sauce (page 242).

I love thinking of alternatives to your classic steak and potatoes. This main course salad is hearty without being heavy and contains all of the elements of a balanced meal—meat, starch, and vegetables. Grilled beef, crisp fennel, chewy fregola (see Note), and bright oranges are finished with a drizzle of briny green olive tapenade in this Mediterranean-inspired skirt steak salad. Varying texture and temperature play a powerful role in the makeup of this dish, adding a whole other dimension. I’m a believer that opposites do attract; hot and cold—the grilled meaty steak and the cool crunchy salad—play off each other. Tapenade is a rich olive spread popular in the Mediterranean. The salty earthiness of green olive tapenade is the perfect complement for pasta, spread for crostini, or topping for baked sweet potatoes. Visit your market’s olive bar and purchase high-quality green olives; leave the little pimento-stuffed ones for martinis.