Cree LeFavour: The New Steak

By JULIETTE ROSSANT What happens when you grow up in the kitchen, essentially a restaurant brat? For Cree LeFavour, daughter of Bruce LeFavour, it means being obsessed by food and cooking. Her first book, The New Steak: Recipes for a Range of Cuts plus Savory Sides (Ten Speed 2008) comes from an enthusiastic beef eater. It's a great example of the kind of the surge in meat –eater's books that have come out this year. Reaction to the vegetable books in the last few years? Maybe, but meat is always popular – a sure bet, in fact, given the growth of steak restaurants. Even as we contemplate the ethical ramifications of eating beef, our mouths (or some of them) water for more. Cree's approach is to consider the whole plate – a reaction to Craft and the Colicchio-led movement back to the steak house menus of yore where diners choose meat, a sauce, a side or two. That is not how Cree thinks: I 've written these recipes down the way I see a plate – as a complete entity. Because that's how I think when I am planning dinner. I don't think: T-bone steak on the grill. I think, how about a T-bone steak cooked on the grill with some of that great balsamic vinegar I just bought. And the vinegar reminds me of the farmer's market and gorgeous beets with their greens that I saw there...(p. 2) You'll find the recipe on page 81: Strip Steak with Mashed Garlic and Beets with Greens. Cree starts with Steak Basics (p. 4) in which she goes over the various cuts, grades and kinds of steaks (grass versus grain-fed, wet and dry aging). She covers the grill and Kitchen Essentials (p. 21) from chicken stock to hot sauce. The recipe chapters are divided into American Steak, Bistro Steak, Latin Steak, and Far East Steak. Each steak recipe comes with sauce and/or sides, but you can also pick and choose to put different dishes together. Cree doesn't shy away from using less familiar cuts – its not all T-bones and Porterhouses. The first recipe is for Skirt Steak Straight Up: Hot Pepper and Pickled Red Onions with Summer Succotash and Watermelon-Goat Cheese Salad (pp. 35-36). Sounds like the 4th of July. Or you could go for a more classic meal from the Bistro chapter like Porterhouse with Herb Butter, Slow Roasted Garlic and Creamed Spinach (pp. 78-79). The recipes are simple – spinach, cream, salt and pepper, but Cree explained the method well (no water), so why go to a steak house for a great a meal? Is there room for chicken in a cookbook about beef? Cree is a big fan of "chicken juices" (p. 22) essentially the pan juices left over from roasting a chicken – that is the chicken fat, juices, and any burnt bits stuck to the pan. She uses this in numerous recipes instead of beef stock, to lighten and flavor a sauce. In even pops up in her Steak au Poivre, French Fries and Endive Salad (pp. 109-111). The sauce calls for oxtails, chicken juices, cognac, and heavy cream. Will it lighten up that much – maybe ¬– but the taste will definitely be different. This is a straightforward book with fine photographs by Penny De Los Santos. If you are going to spend the money for that organic, local, grass-fed, prime, dry-aged steak, Cree will help you cook it right. Previous articles: Bones: Jennifer McLagan [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef