Porterhouse steak with beer and bone marrow sauce

  • medium
  • 2
  • 1 hour 30 minutes
Not yet rated

Helen Graves serves up a stunning porterhouse steak recipe, served with a rich beer and bone marrow sauce to complement this luxurious cut of beef. A temperature probe will come in handy for getting the steak cooked to just the right level.

First published in 2018

The porterhouse is essentially the same as a T-bone steak but often larger, consisting of a top sirloin cut on one side and tenderloin on the other. It’s perfect for sharing because, well, it’s massive, and the way it's cut means there’s plenty of super tender meat and then some with a little more bite – everyone is happy. You can slice the cooked steak, place it on a sharing plate and let people choose their own cuts.

The beer and bone marrow sauce is one of those recipes to keep in your arsenal and bring out when you need the big guns blazing. It’s deep, meaty and has a glorious rich mouth feel. I’d be very surprised if it didn’t win someone over.

I wouldn’t worry too much about whether someone is a huge fan of gnarly bits like bone marrow. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the stuff when served on it’s own (e.g. roasted) but in a sauce, it melts a little, bringing a silky intensity. The choice of beer is very important. You’ll need to use a soft and creamy beer like a milk stout – anything too bitter and hoppy will result in an unbalanced sauce.

This is best served with triple-cooked chips and perhaps a sharp salad to contrast the other full-bodied flavours. Don’t forget to serve the remaining sauce on the side to dip your chips into and the leftover roasted garlic is great smeared onto bread or, well, pretty much anything.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Porterhouse steak

  • 1 porterhouse steak
  • salt
  • pepper
  • neutral oil, such as groundnut or grapeseed oil
  • 25g of butter

Beer and bone marrow sauce

Equipment

  • Temperature probe

Method

1
Remove the steak from the fridge an hour before you want to cook it. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6
2
To begin, roast the garlic for the sauce. Slice the top off the bulb to expose the tops of the cloves, drizzle the bulb in a little oil, season with salt and wrap in foil. Place on a baking tray and roast for 35–45 minutes, until the cloves are soft
3
To make the beer and bone marrow sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and gently cook the shallots for 5–10 minutes, or until they’re light golden in colour
4
Add the beer and leave to bubble and reduce for a few minutes
5
Remove from the heat and whisk in 6 cloves of the roasted garlic and the mustard. Add the beef stock and sherry vinegar, bring to a simmer then reduce by half
6
Add the bone marrow and allow to melt – it won’t melt completely but will leave some lovely wobbly bits. These are good. Season with salt to taste
7
To cook the porterhouse steak, heat a large, heavy-based pan like a cast iron skillet over a medium-high heat. Pat the steak dry and season very generously with salt and pepper (this is a thick steak and you need to season heavily)
8
Coat the bottom of the pan with a neutral cooking oil (such as groundnut oil) and place the steak in the pan, allowing it to build up a crust for a couple of minutes. Turn and cook until a deep crust has formed on the other side
9
Continue frying, turning occasionally, until cooked to your liking, adding a generous knob of butter and basting the steak with it towards the end of cooking. A medium-rare steak will read 40°C on a temperature probe inserted into the centre of the steak
10
Remove the steak from the pan and cover with foil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with the beer and bone marrow sauce and chips
First published in 2018

Helen Graves is Head of Content at Great British Chefs. She's also the author of the cookbook LIVE FIRE: Seasonal Barbecue Recipes and Stories of Live Fire Traditions, Old and New, and the editor of Pit, an independent magazine with roots in live fire cooking.

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