Bitoque – Portuguese Steak with Beer Sauce

Ingredients

• sirloin steaks
• garlic
• olive oil
• medium fat milk
• beer
• mustard
• flour
• eggs
• butter or margarine
• black pepper
• salt

Method

Heat a heavy-bottomed frying-pan (cast iron or stainless steel) until a drop of water skitters across the surface. Season your sirloin steaks generously with salt and pepper just before they hit the pan — salt drawn on too early will leach moisture and prevent proper searing. Lay them down without moving them for three to four minutes per side; you want a dark mahogany crust, not grey-brown flecks. This caramelisation (the beef browning via the Maillard reaction) is where the bitoque gets its backbone. Once the steaks are done to medium-rare — they should yield slightly to thumb pressure — transfer them to a warm plate, loosely covered with foil. Keep them somewhere warm; carryover cooking will push them another degree or two.

Pour away most of the fat from the pan, leaving roughly two tablespoons of the fond (those brown bits stuck to the base). Return the pan to medium heat, add a knob of butter, and let it melt into the residue. Add the milk straightaway — it will sizzle and bubble as it deglaze the pan, lifting all that flavour into suspension. Add the beer next; the carbonation and acidity will cut through the richness. Whisk in the mustard (start with a teaspoon; you're building complexity, not heat), then slake your flour with a little cold milk to make a smooth paste and stir it through. Keep the heat low — the sauce should barely simmer, not boil hard. This prevents the butter-sauce from splitting and keeps the alcohol from burning off too fast. Let it thicken for four to five minutes, stirring often. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, fry your eggs in a separate non-stick frying-pan over medium heat with no added fat — the whites will set in two to three minutes, the yolks staying runny. Salt the whites, crack pepper over the yolks.

Slide the steaks back into the sauce for a minute to warm through and absorb flavour. Transfer to hot claypot-cooking|clay bowls or plates, pour the sauce over and crown each steak with a fried egg. Serve with chips, white rice, and a simple salad.