Beef Recipes, Recipes

Onglet aux échalottes

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Recipes for onglet, as it is known in France, thick skirt or hanger steak in England and America are few and far between. It was often the cut the butcher took home for his supper and so rarely made it onto his counter. This is a classic bistro dish and sits nicely with pommes frites or crunchy roast potatoes cooked with duck fat and garlic. A glass or two of Côtes-du-Rhône would be a good idea too.

It is dense, meaty with a good iron flavour. A toothsome cut that is at its best when cooked rare or medium rare to retain tenderness. Any more than that, the fibres toughen to the extent that the meat becomes inedible.

Slicing is all important and the onglet steak must always be cut across the grain.

Serves 2

Ingredients

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Directions

  1. Take onglet steaks out of fridge, remove packaging, pat dry with kitchen paper, pop on a plate and allow to reach room temperature.
  2. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan.
  3. Season the steaks then sear hard to give them a good browning. Turn down the heat, add the butter and as soon as it foams, add the shallots.
  4. Give the pan a good jiggle to allow the shallots to collapse into the butter.
  5. Turn down the heat and cook for 1-minute.
  6. Remove the onglet steaks and keep warm.
  7. Cook the shallots for a further few minutes or until they are completely soft and have taken on the lightest of colour but no more.
  8. Add the wine and reduce by half.
  9. Add the stock and cook for another 2-minutes to combine all the liquids and produce a deep glossy sauce.
  10. A few knobs of butter whisked into the sauce at this point is often needed to enrich and thicken the sauce slightly.
  11. Finally, add any of the resting juices from the onglet steaks and season with salt and pepper.
  12. To serve, cut the onglet into thin slices across the grain, place on two warmed plates and spoon over the sauce.

Henry grew up watching his father run Le Grandgousier restaurant in Brighton, and saw him establish Harris Vintners selling digestifs and apéritifs across the south of England. Henry was captivated by the essence of French food, the type of cooking that makes people smile and restores them; and although his career has been diverse, wholesome and heartwarming cooking has remained his true passion. The accolades and recognition Henry has received for his cookery and restaurant management over the years have led to countless opportunities in retail food, consultancy, lecturing, food writing, print features, and media appearances. In 2002 Henry opened Racine, and created a London institution serving the food of Paris, Provence and the South West. The demand for sensational French cookery and top notch customer service has remained strong, and resulted in Henry’s recent launch of Bouchon Racine much to the delight of the London food scene. Bon appétit.