PORTERHOUSE AU SEL ET POIVRE
If the restaurants that produce them are any indication, the superlative steaks of the world cannot be reduced to a simple formula. Consider Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecôte in Paris, where the brisk waiter actually serves you half a steak, then gives the other half to another person, and then, just as you are finishing the last bite of your first half, he brings you another half-steak right off the grill-a miraculous second coming. Consider Raoul's in New York, where the experience of eating is suffused by an equally savory experience of sitting, drinking, observing, and conversing. The only way to rival these folks is to take matters into your own hands: an excellent steak, the best pepper, the perfect salt, and thou. Tomes have been written on how to cook a steak. Precious little has been said on how to salt one. To cook: start with a lot of heat, finish with a little. Do the opposite with the salt: cook with no salt at all, or very little, if you really must have some. When the steak is served, choose the most beautiful sel gris you can find and let fly.
Yield serves 4
Number Of Ingredients 4
Steps:
- Gently crush the peppercorns using a heavy mortar and pestle, or place them in a zipper-lock bag, press out the air, seal, and coarsely crush with the bottom of a heavy skillet or a flat meat pounder.
- Pat the steak dry with paper towels and rub all over with the olive oil. Press the crushed pepper into both sides of the meat. Set aside to rest.
- Preheat the grill for high to medium-low bilevel grilling. If you are using a charcoal grill this means banking your coal bed so that one side is about three times as thick as the other side. The thicker side should be blazing hot. If you can hold your hand a foot above the fire for more than 4 seconds, the fire needs stoking. If you have a gas grill, turn half the burners to high and the other half to medium-low (if you have a thermostat in the hood of your grill it will register 375° to 425°F).
- Brush the grill grate thoroughly with a wire brush to clean it and coat lightly with oil. Sprinkle each side of the steak with a three-finger pinch of salt. Put the steak on the grill over high heat and cook until darkly crusted, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Move over the low fire and grill for another 10 to 15 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness (135° to 140°F). Transfer to a platter and let rest for 5 to 8 minutes.
- Cut the steak on the diagonal into 3/4-inch-thick slices and serve the slices with additional salt, making sure that each person gets some of the larger muscle (the strip loin) and the smaller muscle (the tenderloin).
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