← Nouns Cooking · French

Ingredients

• 2 rib-eye (entrecôte) steaks, about 2.5 cm thick (250–300 g each)
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 40 g cold butter, diced
• 3 shallots, very finely chopped
• 250 ml Bordeaux or other dry red wine
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 1 Bay leaves
• 150 ml rich beef stock
• 1 tbsp Parsley, chopped
• Salt
• Black pepper, freshly ground

Method

1. Take the steaks out of the fridge half an hour ahead, pat dry and season well with salt.
2. Make the sauce: melt a knob of the butter in a small pan over medium heat and soften the shallots for 3 min without browning. Add the wine, thyme and bay and boil for 8–10 min until reduced by about two-thirds.
3. Pour in the stock and boil for 5 min more, until syrupy and reduced to about 100 ml. Strain if you like a smooth sauce, then keep warm.
4. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan over high heat until smoking. Sear the steaks for 3 min per side for medium-rare (about 52°C (125°F) in the centre), adding a knob of butter for the last minute and spooning it over.
5. Rest the steaks on a warm plate for 5 min.
6. Just before serving, take the sauce off the heat and whisk in the remaining cold butter a piece at a time until glossy. Add the resting juices, season with pepper and spoon over the steaks with the parsley.

Tips

• In Bordeaux the sauce is often finished with poached, diced beef bone marrow: add a spoonful if your butcher has marrow bones.
• Use a wine you would drink; the reduction concentrates any harshness.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

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