PicoBlog

Happy Friday!

This week we take on the mighty steak haché, a mainstay of any half decent brasserie and a dish that takes many forms across many countries.

Apologies to all the vegetarians, I’m going to bring you something in the next couple of weeks! I know it’s been quite meat/fish heavy recently… Let me know in the comments what you fancy learning next!

We’ve got music from the fantastic Vampire Weekend and my take on Dune 2. Get stuck in!

Cheers,

B x

Steak Haché, Salisbury Steak, Hamburg Steak, Frikadelle… This dish has many names, but in its purest form, its coarsely minced beef, formed into a patty or steak simply seasoned and cooked in a hot pan. Sometimes it has some other fixings added, perhaps some diced onion or grated garlic, a dash of Worcestershire sauce or Dijon mustard, but at its heart, it’s a ball of mince, ameatball, a beef burger - it’s simple!

Now, I’m not French, but it’s my understanding that this dish is one of the first forays into meat eating that a lot of French kids take on. by that logic, it’s an entry level meat recipe, for kids… Or is it?

I want to show you that a steak haché can be a beautiful, grown up plate of food. It’s also one that is at once very cheap to make and a really great way to practise experimenting with different textures, getting into meat cookery and getting to know your pans. There are a few easy wins up for grabs with this recipe. First of all, you can eat a cheaper, better steak. Second of all, you can completely control the texture of said steak and third, you can get salt inside the steak, without brining it.

Let’s get into it!

GRIND YOUR OWN BEEF (if you want to)

It might sound crazy, but you don’t need to own a meat grinder to grind your own meat, simply need to know where your local butcher is. If you pop down and say hello, explain that you’re making a steak haché and you’d like 250g of rump steak, 200g of fatty short rib and 50g of beef fat, coarsely minced, they’ll cut the steaks and mince it right there for you. Trust me, I used to be one!

The benefit of this is you get to choose exactly what cuts you use and how much of each. If you want a leaner steak haché, use more rump, or an even leaner cut like topside. If you want more fat, go for more rib, straight fat and use brisket in place of rump. More on this below.

CUTS

This is where we can truly level up our steak haché. By selecting the right cuts of beef, you can control the overall texture, flavour and juiciness of the steak.

Balancing flavour, texture and fat content is the secret to a good steak. A ribeye is prized for it’s natural, intramuscular fat and balance of harder working, flavour-packed muscle to tender, more inert protein. We can manufacture our own intramuscular fat by choosing to use naturally fattier cuts and even adding a bit of straight up beef fat to the mix. Here’s a few notes on some different cuts that would work for your next haché.

Chuck - This is beef shoulder, and what most bog standard beef mince you pick up in the supermarket is made from. It has a healthy natural ratio of fat to meat and is a great place to start with a haché. The flavour is developed as it’s a tougher cut.

Short Rib - Works exceptionally well in this recipe. Adds a big boost of both fat, texture and flavour to the finished product. High level of intramuscular fat and developed, beefy flavour.

Rump - A leaner cut, that retains the punchy flavour we’re after. If you were to opt for fillet or sirloin (both leaner cuts) you’d only be wasting your money. As we’re mincing the beef we want to use cuts that are on the cheaper side, employing our know-how and technique to elevate them. Rump offers a great lean base on which to build fat and flavour with more complex cuts.

Brisket - Another great cut packed full of intramuscular fat. It’s getting a little more expensive now thanks to a steep rise in BBQ and smoking culture, but would make a killer haché

Beef Fat - Always add a few chunks of this in, if you can, it’s just pure flavour!

You’ll find my preferred blend in the recipe below, but I do encourage you to make your own and try some different blends out!

SALT

Another big fat bonus (another one!) to making a steak haché, is the fact you can get salt in there from the off. For the first time (probably) you’ll be able to season the inside of your steak! The amount of salt you add should be measured, so you don’t end up waking up at midnight grabbing at the air for a glass of water.

1% of the meat’s weight in fine salt, plus a healthy dose of the flaky stuff on the outside will deliver a beautifully seasoned steak haché. If you follow the recipe below, you’ll need 5g of fine salt (1% salt of 500g meat = 5g salt). Simple!

DO YOU NEED TO ADD ANY STUFF?

Now, some recipes will call for lots of bits and bobs being added to the haché. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “all killer no filler” it’s applicable here…

Like a ‘real‘ steak, a steak haché is best made with high quality beef, and cooked with just salt and good technique. Well, that’s my two cents, anyway! If you start adding onions and garlic and hot sauce and herbs, well, they just get in the way. Let the beef do the talking and serve it with a f**king good sauce…

SAUCE!

What’s a steak, without sauce? You can serve this like a French kid, with ketchup and fries (yum), or with a steak sauce of your choosing. Bearnaise would be killer, red wine jus a delight, but for me it’s got to be steak au poivre.

I’m making a bog standard peppercorn sauce today, really classic, nothing too fancy, but you might struggle to get hold of fresh green peppercorns. If you can’t find them IRL, order them online (just do it…) or just up the black peppercorns a little. Oh, and make sure you’re using good quality beef stock.

The key to a good peppercorn sauce is to build flavour in the pan whilst you’re cooking the steak. Peppercorn sauce is a pan sauce and we’ll use the fond (the brown, crispy bits stuck to the pan) as the flavour base, so make sure you’re cooking that haché nice and hot and getting some real caramelisation going. You’ll be glad later!

STEAK HACHÉ & CHIPS

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