nonnihil ([info]nonnihil) wrote,
@ 2008-03-16 15:31:00
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Entry tags:food

Reprise
Parents in town, so I revisited a success of the past. The flaming step definitely alters the consistency of the sauce -- it gets more viscous and I think less dense (perhaps combustion products act as emulsifiers?). I overcooked the steaks a bit (juggling food for five is much harder than for two, and alters all my timings) but not fatally.

My mother threw together a salad -- arugula, baby lettuces, toasted pecans, raspberry vinaigrette, sliced apple -- that was a perfect complement to the steaks.

This recipe may have to move from the special-occasions category to being a more regular feature -- I could definitely stand to make this once a month, particularly now that I have salad insight for it.


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[info]nonnihil
2008-03-17 12:24 pm UTC (link)
Interesting that it gets *less* dense: I would have expected the alcohol to make the sauce a little lighter. Although perhaps you and I use the term differently, as I consume the stuff regularly.

The volume of the sauce visibly increased, hence my conclusion of lower density. I suspect that the water from the cognac and the oil from the pan were emulsified in the process, and possibly some air or vapor was incorporated. Immediately after the flame was done, the resulting sauce had an almost gelatinous feel to it.

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[info]dolohov
2008-03-17 01:47 pm UTC (link)
Huh. Sort of a liquid leavener, then. Interesting! That might be a good question to ask McGee. His book doesn't have it, as far as I can tell, but he is quite polite in answering email.

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