MATT LAUER, co-host:
This morning on
TODAY'S KITCHEN
, we're going back to basics with
steak
. Brush off your grill and get ready for a
Memorial Day
barbecue.
Rick Tramonto
is the author of "
Steak
With Friends," and he is here to share some of his favorite
steak
recipes. Hey, Rick. Good to see you.
Mr. RICK TRAMONTO:
Hey, Matt. Good to see you again.
LAUER:
You like
hanger steak
and so do I.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
I love
hanger steak
.
LAUER:
Why do you like this cut?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
You know, it's got so much flavor, it's very affordable. You know, they used to call it a butcher's cut
back in the day
because but butchers used to take it home to their family. And there's only a few
little
tricks to really make it wonderful.
LAUER:
Well, I want -- this is probably even cleaner than when I see it. If I buy it in the store there's more -- yeah, this -- there's a lot more...
Mr. TRAMONTO:
That's right
.
LAUER:
...kind of a sinewy look to it.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Right.
LAUER:
What do you do with that?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
And what I do is I use -- so you can ask your butcher to take it off or you can take it off yourself. And it usually comes like this.
And I
'll just split it, like butterfly it. And then I do a great balsamic marinade. The acid in the balsamic will start to break down some of this stuff and really kind of tenderize it.
LAUER:
And in particular, this cut takes to marinating very well.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Awesome. Just sucks it all in. And when you use a high-acid or a high-sugar like
balsamic vinegar
, you get this great crust, as we have over here.
LAUER:
How long would you keep it in the marinade?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
You know, you could do it for five or six hours is plenty because they're so thin you don't need to do it very long.
LAUER:
Can you also
put it in
the refrigerator in the marinade overnight?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Oh, absolutely.
LAUER:
So the longer -- you'll just get a
little
more flavor.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Absolutely.
LAUER:
OK. Now you put it on the grill -- couple of things we want to mention
right off the bat:
Never put your fork or your knife into the meat to check its temperature.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Right. All that juice comes out. I like a hot grill, well oiled, and I don't like to mess with it. Guys like to turn it, they like to play with it. Put it on, let it cook, let it caramelize, leave it alone and let it get nice.
LAUER:
Because you've butterflied it here, we're talking about an inch-thick or a half-inch-thick. How long on each side? We always go for medium, medium rare.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Yeah.
LAUER:
What -- how long would you cook it?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
I would say about two and a half minutes per side and you're right there. So five minutes, six minutes, you're good.
LAUER:
All right. And we're going to serve this with a
little
mushroom juice.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Yeah.
LAUER:
And by the way, how long would you let this rest after you've cooked it?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
I'm going to let it rest for about four, five minutes so all those juices come back in.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
And when you slice it, none of them will run out. The other thing we have up here is some
broccoli rabe
, which I've blanched. And what I love to do is I take a
little
bit of
olive oil
and garlic and just kind of mix it with some salt, some pepper, some peperoncini or crushed
chili pepper
. If you like more garlic, put more garlic in it; if you don't, don't, no big deal. But I love this about half-way cooked,
Matt.
And I
'll put it...
LAUER:
And you're going to pop it right on the grill?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
I'm going to pop it right on the grill.
LAUER:
How long does that take?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
That's going to take about two minutes just to give a
little
-- because it's already kind of blanched and cooked.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
We just want to get a
little
flavor to it.
LAUER:
OK, great. So we're going to let that sit for a second.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
We'll let that go.
LAUER:
Tell me about the sauce here.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Over here I got a
little
bit of shallot and garlic, and again, a
little
bit of chili or peperoncini. I got some chicken stock and some
red wine
that I've reduced.
And I
'm just going to finish it and bring it all together with not a lot of butter, it doesn't need a lot of butter, I just want to bring it -- bring it together
just a little bit
, just so it starts to emulsify, as you can see.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
On a
little
bit of heat. And then we have the finished product right over here.
LAUER:
So you plate it like this. Nice thin slices. Or some people like it a
little
bit thicker.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Yeah, absolutely.
LAUER:
And you're going to pour that
over the top
?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
I'm going to pour that right
over the top
. Look at that, huh?
LAUER:
Mm, that looks good. All right. Now the book is called "
Steak With Friends
" because you're -- in your case, the friends are the
side dishes
.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
That's right
. But the -- but also the friends is the kumbaya, my family, everybody that kind of comes together. But I also -- who would be a friend of
steak
?
Red wine
would be a friend of
steak
.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Baked potatoes would be a friend of
steak
.
Mac and cheese
. And we have something in
Chicago
called a garbage salad which is everything -- like the kitchen sink, everything goes in it.
LAUER:
What kind of cheese is in that?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
We have a
little
bit of
Parmesan
and a
little
bit of mozzarella.
LAUER:
OK. And just a light -- like a balsamic...
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Actually have a
little
bit of
red wine
vinegar, some
olive oil
and just some herbs and some oregano, some thyme.
LAUER:
And just...
Mr. TRAMONTO:
And I
'm going to make you a
little
plate.
LAUER:
OK. Well, I'm going to grab some of this
steak
, that's for sure.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Yeah. Please do. We need to make some friends, though.
LAUER:
So is this what you're grilling for
Memorial Day
?
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Yeah. And for
Father's Day
. It's a great, great
Father's Day
gig.
LAUER:
Go ahead.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Let me come over
here. We plate you right up.
Nice.
LAUER:
That looks great.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Nice.
LAUER:
You might want to flip that
broccoli rabe
off that grill, too, that could go in a second.
Rick Tramonto
...
Mr. TRAMONTO:
See, I thought you were going to do that for me.
LAUER:
No, no, no, no, that's your job.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
I thought you were, like, my sous chef.
LAUER:
Rick
,
thank you so much
. Have a good
Memorial Day
.
Mr. TRAMONTO:
Thank you.
LAUER:
The book is called "
Steak With Friends
."
“ ”