To Grill or Not to Grill

For most, meats and grills go hand in hand.  There is no other way to cook a tender filet mignon, a thick pork chop, or a juicy t-bone, right?  Not entirely.  While there are many reasons to grill meats (the smokey flavor and the aesthetics of the criss-cross pattern come to mind), it is not the only choice.  

    Like most male Americans, my introduction to cooking consisted of a steak and a grill.  And for years, including my college days spent working as a line cook under trained chefs in restaurants, that was the only way I thought proper to cook a steak. Then one day, long after I’d left the restaurant business, I received as a gift James Peterson’s Essentials of Cooking and my perception of cooking meats--as well as cooking in general--changed forever.

Peterson’s book, as the title implies, teaches cooking techniques that all trained chefs know, but that many home cooks may not.  From it I learned such techniques as how to make a bouquet garni, how to truss a bird, how to make chicken stock, and how to make mayonnaise--simple techniques that ironically I never learned while working as a line cook.  The technique that I have employed countless times since I learned to do it properly is sautéing meat, my preferred method these days for cooking steaks or pork tenderloin medallions.

So what makes me a convert?  There are several factors: sautéing is not dependent on the weather; it provides an even temperature across the surface of the meat; it quickly sears the meat, thereby trapping the juices in the meat rather than letting them fall into the grill; and, finally, the remaining drippings in the pan serve as a base for a variety of quick and easy sauces.

The process is simple. Start by sprinkling the steaks or pork tenderloin (cut into one and half inch medallions) with kosher salt and pepper and let them warm up to room temperature.  Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a heavy bottomed, stainless steel sauté pan over moderately high heat until the oil begins to shimmer.  Add the meat and brown on both sides--don’t flip it repeatedly; let it cook a few minutes on one side, and then flip and cook until done.  Once it is cooked to your liking, remove and keep warm--I usually put the meat on a plate and cover it loosely with foil.  Now here is the fun part: the sauce.  I tend to favor a wine sauce (red for meats and white for chicken).  If there is an excess of fat in the pan, pour that out.  Then, if desired, add diced onions, garlic, or mushrooms for added flavor and sauté them until they’re soft.  Next, deglaze the pan with a ¼ to ½ cup of wine--make sure the wine or whatever liquid you use is at least room temperature or warmer, otherwise you risk warping your pan--and scrape up all the drippings stuck to the pan.  Let the wine simmer down till only a little remains and then add ¾ to 1 cup of chicken or beef broth and simmer until it becomes syrupy.  Finally, add a little cold butter to thicken the sauce, season to taste, and pour over the meat.

            So the next time the weather is bad, you run out of gas or charcoal, or you just feel like trying something besides grilling, sauté.