Steak Frites Tasting Dinner Monday 12 April - Racine

The next youngandfoodish Steak Frites Tasting Dinner will be Monday 12 April in the private dining room of Racine Restaurant in London.

The menu will again feature three steak classics – onglet aux échalottes, filet au poivre, côte de boeuf – prepared by chef Henry Harris with the finest cuts of dry-aged, grass-fed beef selected by Darragh O’Shea of the great London butcher O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge. Each steak will be matched to a red wine selected by Peter Lowe of Berkmann Wine Cellars:

onglet aux échalottes <–> Morgon Domaine Jean Descombes 2008
filet au poivre <–> Antinori Santa Cristina 2008
côte de boeuf with béarnaise <– > Côtes-du-Rhône Saint-Esprit 2007

Steak Frites : Mastering the cuts video 6 .The Finale la Côte de Boeuf

Here is the sixth and final release of the videos, shot by Brian Jones and co-produced by Dino Joannides Dino Joannides and Daniel Young, will form the backdrop of our “why do you love steak frites?” competition on twitter, hopefully inspiring your most poetic, passionate or playful responses. [HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION].

The Rib Eye on the bone or Cowboy Steak as Americans call it and Côte de Boeuf as it's known in France is normally cut for two to share so perfect for lovers and good friends.In fact I know some couples who call it the kiss and make up steak. It is basically a thick rib eye with the bone attached. The bone always enhances a steak and this cut presents beautifully and theatrically when carved, and served at the table either in a restaurant or at home . This is one of the cuts that does benefit from aging at O'Shea's it is aged for 45 - 55 days. A well aged and marbled Côte de Boeuf should not need a sauce and is perfect with good Mustard or Bearnaise as a condiment.

In the final video in the series Henry Harris Chef Patron of Racine Restaurant shows how he cooks a wonderful Irish Black Angus Grass Fed and Barley Finished Côte de Boeuf from O'Shea's of Knightsbridge. This combination of chef and butcher has now attained cult status with the cognoscenti claiming it is the best in the world. Henry Harris prefers to use a thick pan as well plenty of butter but as important is resting the meat.

Steak Frites : Mastering the cuts video 4. Béarnaise

Here is the fourth of our daily release of the videos, shot by Brian Jones and co-produced by Dino Joannides Dino Joannides and Daniel Young, will form the backdrop of our “why do you love steak frites?” competition on twitter, hopefully inspiring your most poetic, passionate or playful responses. [HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION].

With a côte de bœuf especially if you have invested in a really top class well aged piece of meat from a premium Butcher you don't really need much more than a top quality Dijon Mustard or proper homemade Béarnaise. I also love them both equally so tend to alternate between the two with each forkful of succulent steak which of course means I tend to go for big steaks !

In this video Henry Harris Chef Patron of Racine Restaurant shows how to make the perfect Béarnaise and how to avoid the mistakes so many home cooks make which cause both anxiety and stress. Henry's Béarnaise is not that difficult to make and well worth the trouble it is so much better the bought in stuff so often found in some restaurants or even the best versions one finds in supermarkets or delis.

Steak Frites : Mastering the cuts video 3. Filet au poivre

This is the third of our daily release of the videos, shot by Brian Jones and co-produced by Dino Joannides Dino Joannides and Daniel Young, will form the backdrop of our “why do you love steak frites?” competition on twitter, hopefully inspiring your most poetic, passionate or playful responses. [HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION].

Fillet is the most tender steak of all, but not necessarily the one with the most flavour. It is sought after for its delicate structure and lack of fat but ironically these are the characteristics that can make it rather bland when compared to the other great beef cuts like Onglet, Ribeye and Rump.

Fillet is cut from the inside of the beef loin, it does very little work and is therefore very tender. It can be improve when dry-aged and cut on the bone. O'Shea's of Knightsbridge age their Irish and Scottish Black Angus Grass Fed and Barley Finished Fillet for around 21- 28 days but even at 15 days it can produce superb results when cooked and served correctly.

Fillet doesn't benefit from long ageing. If left too long in a vacuum it can develop a metallic taste as the enzymes over work. Too long hanging on the bone and it will dry out, losing some of it's moisture and tenderness .

Unfortunately like with the other cuts you need to be very careful when selecting your beef as quality varies hugely so my advice is find a good Butcher ask about the provenance of the meat , the breed , what it's fed on , husbandry and so on. If the Butcher says things like Scotch, English or Argentinian and not much more you are probably in the wrong place.

Great Chefs like Henry Harris of Racine Restaurant as well as home cooks will always prepare a sauce with this delicate cut and, in the video below you can see him cook Fillet au Poivre a dish he learned to cook under the tutelage of the great Simon Hopkinson in the seminal mid 1980's restaurant Hilaire , just around the corner in Old Brompton road. That kitchen brigade then moved on to open Bibendum with Terrance Conran. The combination of veal stock , butter , black pepper , brandy and top class Fillet steak produces a wonderful steak dis that also goes very well with pommes frites. The first time I remember having this dish was when I was a child in Paris at a restaurant called Pharamond in Les Halles and it was served with pommes souffles. However I can confirm that the combination of O'Shea's of Knightsbridge Fillet and Henry Harris's cooking produced simply the best one I have ever had.

Steak Frites : Mastering the cuts, video 2: the shalls & shallots of onglet

Here is the second of our daily release of the videos, shot by Brian Jones and co-produced by Dino Joannides Dino Joannides and Daniel Young, will form the backdrop of our “why do you love steak frites?” competition on twitter, hopefully inspiring your most poetic, passionate or playful responses. [HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION].

The Onglet is also one of our family favourites it has a massive flavour kick when properly cooked. To some the cut looks unattractive when removed from the carcass, a good knife can quickly transform it into a real beauty. Watching Dermot O'Shea preparing it is like poetry in motion. Onglet is two muscles divided by tough connective tissue, which must be removed, and is taken from the diaphragm of the animal. Because of it's location it has a slight gamey, offally flavour not present in any of the other loin cuts.

As Henry Harris says this is one of the classic Bistro steaks of France. It is beautiful cooked on a searing hot griddle and then rested until warm through, but it must be rare. Onglet is very fibrous and therefore must be cut across the grain. By doing this, you shorten the fibres and make them softer on the palate. Americans call it Hanger and we call it Thick Skirt.

The Onglet is often called the Butcher's Cut as it was thought that the butcher would keep it for himself and his family and maybe that's we like to call it Steak O'Shea.

The second video in our series shows Henry Harris" Chef Patron of Racine cooking Onglet aux échalottes or à la Bordelaise.

Steak Frites : Mastering the cuts, video 1. Frites

To enhance and celebrate our shared appreciation for an unsurpassed pairing of meat and potatoes, youngandfoodish launches steak frites – mastering the cuts, a series of 6 web videos featuring Racine Chef Patron Henry Harris, with meat by Darragh O’Shea of O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge.

The daily release of the videos, shot by Brian Jones a co-production between Daniel Young and Dino Joannides, will form the backdrop of our “why do you love steak frites?” competition on twitter, hopefully inspiring your most poetic, passionate or playful responses. [HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION].

The winner, along with his or her guest, will be invited to the premiere of the youngandfoodish 3-steak tasting dinners at Racine on Monday, 22nd March. Henry Harris will prepare three cuts of O’Shea beef in the styles best suited to each: onglet aux échalottes, filet au poivre, côte de boeuf with béarnaise sauce. The meat will be matched to three bistro-style reds selected by Peter Lowe of Berkmann Wine Cellars.

Of course there is no steak frites without potatoes. Not just any potatoes, but floury potatoes like Desiree, Maris Piper that score 5 on the waxy / floury scale cut in the ideal shape for holding and dipping. As Harris explains in the first video, you never need to use a fork with frites: