Bistro Style Minute Steak

Previously on The Left Chapter we have looked at a variety of ways to prepare delicious dishes using minute steak,  that relatively inexpensive and much maligned cut of beef you find at most grocery stores. These included Ukrainian "Scalloped Beef" Revisited, Schnitzel Style Minute Steak and Lemon Minute Steaks with Sauteed Mushrooms.

Today we are going to do a bistro style minute steak with a red wine based sauce. The sauce makes the steaks in this case and, for the sake of variety we will include two variations that you can do on the base recipe. This recipe is loosely based on a minute steak recipe in the terrific vintage cookbook The Steak Book. 

A great family dish, I like to make 6-8 steaks and then spoon the sauce over them at the end on a platter.

Ingredients:

6-8 minute steaks
1/3 of a cup of dry red wine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 medium onion diced
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2-4 dashes cayenne pepper
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1-2 cups sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional)

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan.

Salt and pepper your minute steaks on both sides to taste and then fry them in the oiled pan until done to your liking (about 30 seconds for more rare to around one minute a side turning only once. I like to cook them for no more than 30 seconds a side as they are so thin). Set aside the steaks as you prepare them on a covered platter or on a platter in a warm oven to keep them warm while you prepare the sauce.

When the steaks are cooked add some more olive oil to the same saucepan (without draining it or wiping it clean at all) and then add all of the ingredients other than the green onion. This includes the mushrooms and Dijon mustard if you are using them.

Saute all of the ingredients over medium heat for several minutes until the red wine has been reduced to almost nothing. Then spoon the sauce over the platter of minute steaks and garnish with the green onion.

These steaks are great with rice, rustic style bread, a salad and some more red wine for drinking of course! I also like to serve them with lemon wedges as I find a bit of lemon juice on them adds a nice zest.

Enjoy.

Ukrainian "Scalloped Beef" Revisited

Back in September I took a look at a Soviet era cookbook that featured classic Ukrainian recipes.

Today I want to take one of the recipes from the book and put my own spin on it.

This one is for a dish they called "Scalloped Beef". It is a straight-up, literal "meat-and-potatoes" recipe.

I decided to make it using that lowliest of beef cuts, the thin "minute" steak. This will make it inexpensive, but, as it is going to be cooked for a relatively long time in stock, trust me when I say that it comes out incredibly tender.

For this recipe you will need about 6 minute steak cutlets.

First, take your minute steak, season with salt and pepper to taste, and dredge it in some flour until lightly coated. Brown the steak (in batches of course) in a frying pan in olive or vegetable oil for no more than 30 seconds a side. Set the steaks aside on a platter to rest.

Meanwhile, cut 3 medium sized potatoes into round slices, chop up 1 medium onion, slice up 1 stalk of celery and mince up 6 cloves of garlic.

Take out your Dutch oven and begin by putting two of the steaks side by side on the bottom. Cover these steaks with a layer of potato slices, 1/3 of the onion, 1/3 of the celery and 1/3 of the garlic as well as some more salt and pepper to taste. Add also 2 whole allspice cloves.

Top this with another layer of steaks and an identical layer of the rest.

Repeat one last time so that you end with the potatoes and rest on top, only on the final level do not add allspice cloves.

Slowly pour beef stock into the Dutch oven until it just covers all of the layers.

Put on to the stove top, heat to a simmer and then cover. Cook covered for about 30 minutes and then move the cover so that it is partially (about 1/4) open. Let the dish simmer for a further 1 1/2 hours for a total cooking time of 2 hours.

Let sit for ten minutes and then serve by scooping out serving size portions of the steak and topping with the potatoes, onions and broth.

This simple, country style dish is really delicious and very hearty and produces steak that is exceptionally moist.

See also: Ukrainian Cookery Recipes w. Borscht, Vareniki, Cabbage Rolls & more -- Vintage Cookbook

See also: Beef Shank Potato Carrot Dutch Oven Casserole -- Revisiting an 80's Leftover Roast Beef Recipe

Lemon Minute Steaks with Sauteed Mushrooms

Minute steaks with sauteed mushrooms and lemon wedges

We have looked before at one way for a home cook to elevate the thin-cut minute steak by breading it schnitzel style. Minute steaks are the most affordable cuts of steak and are usually widely available. But while doing the steaks schnitzel style is delicious, it is also more work than one might wish to expend after a long day at work.

But minute steaks, while inexpensive, are quite drab simply fried up


Today we will look at a different way of cooking them that is very tasty and is really fast and easy.

First, take the steaks and salt and pepper them to taste. I like to use a good coating of both. Let them sit out at room temperature (covered of course) for 30 minutes.

Dredge in flour & season with salt, pepper and mustard powder

Put some flour on a plate or in a bowl, add a few dashes of mustard powder, and dredge the minute steaks in the flour until they are nicely coated.

Heart up some extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) in a large frying pan until quite hot and, when ready, fry the steaks 15-30 seconds a side depending on the thickness.

Despite being called minute steaks, when making them this style do not cook them for a full minute a side! That will make them essentially taste like leather.

When done, let them sit for a minute or so and then serve with lemon wedges and cover in lemon juice to taste. Again, I like a lot of lemon!

As a side I like to have these with mushrooms sauteed in EVOO for about five minutes. I usually season these with about a tablespoon of soy sauce and some french fry seasoning, though you can simply salt-and-pepper them.

This dish is quick and tasty -- and not painful for the pocketbook!

Enjoy with a red wine, salad and, as an added treat, some nice cheese.

See Also: Schnitzel Style Minute Steak

Schnitzel Style Minute Steak

The least expensive cut of steak at most grocery stores is the lowly "minute" or "fast fry" steak.This is usually thinly cut round or hip steak, though sometimes it is very lean sirloin, whose appeal lies in its quick cooking time (hence the name) and affordability. 



Minute steak is, to be honest, generally not terribly good. Even cooked for less than a minute (to make it medium rare) and nicely seasoned it will usually come out tough and chewy. But, like flank steak, there are a number of ways to make it a lot more interesting, either by marinating it, or, as we are looking at in this blog, breading it.

Here we are going to do a simple breaded or Schnitzel Minute Steak served with lemon.

For this you will need minute steak, vegetable or canola oil, salt and pepper, flour, very fine bread crumbs and a couple of eggs.

First you put the flour, two eggs and bread crumbs in separate mixing bowls. The amount you will need depends on how many steaks you are making, but suffice it to say you will require enough of each to coat the steaks.

First coat with flour

You want to add salt and pepper (to taste) to the flour and mix it. You can also add other seasoning, like Italian seasoning, dry mustard or curry powder if you wish. 

You need to beat the eggs gently with a fork (or whisk) until well blended. 

After dipping in the egg wash, coat with bread crumbs

You then take each steak, dip it into the flour until lightly coated on both sides, then dip it into the egg wash and finally into the bread crumbs. The egg wash will allow for the bread crumbs to adhere and you want a good coating all around.




Meanwhile, add enough oil to a frying pan so that it will be at a level about slightly more than half way up the coated steaks, but not so that they will be submerged. Heat the oil at medium-high heat until it is quite hot but not too hot. If it is not hot enough the coating will come off. If too hot it will burn. There are all sorts of methods that people have to tell them when it is just right, but, as I have often said on this blog, to me the only surefire one is practice. It varies greatly according to the size of the pan, the type of element and so forth.

Add the steaks and deep fry for about, not surprisingly, a minute a side. Again, there is no steadfast amount of time, other than it does not take very long. You want the breading to be a golden brown. The picture shows it basically exactly when you want to take it out. If that is after 30 seconds or if it is after a minute and a half, then that is when it is ready. One thing is that if you are doing more than one "wave" of steaks the first wave will take more time and the subsequent ones less. I strongly suggest doing no more than 3 waves. If you have to do more than that you need to replace the oil.

Let sit for a minute or two before serving. 

Serve with lemon wedges. The breaded steak tastes delicious with lemon. Alternately the steak can be put on a bun and covered with tomato sauce to make an excellent steak sandwich. Fix it up with cheese and sauteed onions or mushrooms.

This exact cooking method can also be used to Schnitzel other thin cut meats, like veal or pork. The key is that the meat is very thin. We have chosen minute steak, as this is easy to find, and very cheap as a general rule. 

On a related note watch for coming blogs about Eggplant Parmigiana and the southern classic Chicken Fried Steak with Red Eye Gravy.