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Hi everyone, what in your opinion is the best sauce to have with a steak?

Black pepper.

Peppercorn

A1

Anybody that says ketchup will have their profile brutally altered.

Béarnaise. By a distance.

Blue cheese sauce.

Why take a lovely piece of meat and ruin it with a heavily flavoured sauce?

A well cooked and seasoned (Anything over medium/rare isn't worth eating) steak shouldn't require any sauce to enhance it.

Personal preference is a blue cheese sauce but wanted to try something different. Would of created a poll but didn't want to look like a total cunt with my first post

Not even a touch of worcestershire?  Although I suppose some might consider that to be seasoning.

Peppercorn is my favourite, closely followed by JD

Salt, pepper & a nob of butter near the end of cooking but nothing else.
Sometimes I put some garlic cloves and rosemary in the pan.

But smother it in a creamy sauce? Nah, not for me.

Good first post. Cunt*

Blue cheese and peppercorn are both ace. A bare naked steak is good too though.

Come the revolution anyone who orders steak medium will be interned, and anyone more well done than that will be shot. I think I've just simultaneously solved bad steak eating and the strain on the NHS through population redistribution.


*not actually

Agreed. Salt and pepper. The end.

Thanks for the suggestions and for the true welcome from Batch. Amazed it took so long! Might have to give peppercorn a whirl, Or just season it and hope for the best.

The only acceptable answer other than none at all.

Steak houses out here often employ people that don't know how to cook steak. It often comes overcooked. I have tried to ask for a rare steak in the hope of at least getting a medium, but this often failed. I find 'just don't burn it' to be far more effective at getting something reasonable, although even this is not reliable. I have had to give up on some places because 'just don't burn it' was simply beyond them. One can't expect too much for 3 quid, granted, but I like my steak edible at least.

There are some places where one can get a really good steak though, of course. Although these cost more, and tend to be more of a faff. They're for an evening out, not just popping out to grab something to eat.

I'd actually be inclined to agree that there should be little to no sauce on a good quality steak, although I am partial to Worcestershire sauce. For the 3 quid stuff though, a pepper sauce does just the job. Kind of like mixing coke with whiskey, it's fine to do with the standard stuff, but unforgivable with the finer blends.

This. Close thread

I said peppercorn, but wouldn't normally have sauce on a steak.
A steak sandwich with pan fried mushrooms and softened onions is superb.

We are lucky in that we have a very good Steak restaurant literally across the road from us which doesn't get frequented as much as it should (its not the cheapest).

I love Bernaise sauce but also partial to a pepper sauce or just a nob of garlic butter.

al fresco is also nice when the cut of steak is nice and juicy and cooked perfectly (rare/medium rate for me).

This.

Ketchup

Have you read the 5th post in?   :popcorn:

This cannot be tolerated.

How do you live under such conditions? Sounds horrific.


Phew. As you were.


£3, are you sure of which animal its from?

That said, had a horse steak a few months ago. Its like a very lean normal steak, which to me kind of takes the enjoyment out of it. I need a bit of fat on/in my steak if at all possible.

If it's a really good cut then no sauce is needed. Otherwise it's peppercorn.

It's own blood. Rare FTW

Peppercorn or A1 - That is all.

Is it Hawksmoor?

I was hoping Hawksmoor wouldn't disappoint and it didn't.

Stilton for me, rocquefort was bloody nice too.

Don't understand the obsession with steak, if I get a mixed grill I swap it for a sausage

I would suggest your in the minority there China red

Nah, its an independent Argentinian place. Only thing is that it appeared on some Gordon Ramsay TV program and its generally busy every night and so we can't just wander over the road whenever we fancy a hunk of steak (the black pudding is lovely also).

I have never been to Hawksmoor, but have heard very good reviews.

Lunacy

I couldn't understand the fuss about steak until I had a perfect, properly cooked one (well done should be illegal).
I agree that no sauce is necessary but then I'm not a saucy person generally (ooh)

what the actual fuck!

but 'steak' on a mixed grill is pretty inferior isn't it?

You hardly get a juicy fillet so I can kind of get where this crazy man is coming from.

If I go to a fancy restaurant or a placed renowned for it's steak I'll try one because I'm still hopeful I will find one I like.  I generally just find beef chewy and bland (I've tried blue-well done steak). 

Must just be me

You must be mentally ill sir

Blue well done?

*edit. Ah. Blue to well done.

If you're finding it chewy then you're somehow doing it wrong. A properly cooked steak should just melt in the mouth. I didn't used to like steak as I found it tough to eat. It turned out it was because it was my Nan that used to cook and she'd always do it well-done.

Best sauce for steak? Hmmmm, subjective really. As an ex butcher I never go for a sauce. The steak should stand up for itself on the plate and just a hint and I mean hint of English mustard or horseradish sauce.

That said the quality of steak can be hit and miss depending on where you purchase it from as does the cut. Rule of thumb is go to a quality butcher on the understanding that the meat has been aged on the bone and not in a vac pac bag as a boneless primal cut. Vac pac primal cuts are often butchered while the carcass is still warm in the abbotoire thus not losing its most valuable component. Moisture. Moisture = weight = ££££'s. Beef aged on the bone loses 10-20% of its moisture if aged for three to four weeks thus concentrating the flavour, rather like reducing a stock or wine when cooking. Even the aged 21-28 day supermarket steaks start off being aged for only a few days to set and cool then butchered and vacuum packed. Cooking should be quick on hot a hot griddle or on a BBQ. The more you cook a steak the more moisture you lose obviously, however, you're more likely to end up nailing it to you shoes. I did make a wicked brandy and peppercorn sauce a number of years ago under duress from the missus.

Fillet is one of the few muscles in the animal that has little or no mechanical use, next comes the sirloin (Henry V111's favourite cut which he knighted, hence sirloin apparently) followed by rump and ribeye. Had a flat iron steak a few years ago in Florida which comes from the shoulder but you really do need to age that as you'd be chewing that next year. Mine was fine and I can think of only a few butchers in the Swindon area where I'd ask for it.

Tira de ancho rib eye steak at cau restaurant in bath with chimichurri sauce - simply the best.

Not true

http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/sirloin.asp

Word origin of 'sirloin'
"surloyn, from Old French surlonge, from sur above + longe, from loigne"

For those we really care, I seasoned the steak and cooked with rosemary, garlic and butter as per ginginho instructions. Tasted amazing.

Griddled?

Absolutely. 1 minute each side then added butter and another 1 minute on each side. Beautiful and red in the middle it was.

No offence but being in China (i assume), are you sure its beef? A properly prepared steak should almost melt in your mouth.