Chateaubriand
Though it may occasionally seem otherwise, we chefs really do want nothing more than happy, well-fed guests. Many diners, however, make innocent requests that inadvertently place the chef in the center of a minefield of unclear expectations. Chateaubriand — the most requested and least understood of all restaurant dishes — is a prime example.
The range of interpretations of what, exactly, constitutes a proper chateaubriand is alarming. Most likely the dish is named in honor of nineteenth century French author and statesman Vicomte François-René de Chateaubriand, and was the creation of his personal chef, Montmireil. Alternatively, the dish has nothing to do with Chateaubriand the statesman, but is actually intended to celebrate the choicest cut of beef from France’s choicest cattle — cattle bread and raised in the Loire-Atlantique village of Châteaubriant.
Assuming that the Montmireil account is most valid, the ambiguities only worsen. By some accounts an authentic chateaubriand is cut from the sirloin. Others insist it is cut from the tenderloin. Some insist a chateaubriand is sauced with a demiglace-based sauce. Others insist on a sauce béarnaise. Some assert that the roasted beef should be stuffed with shallots. Others assert that a true chateaubriand refers to a steak that was cooked wrapped in two other steaks.
In general, the expatriate French chefs I’ve worked with have been obsessed with preparing the dishes of their native land as authentically as possible. They were therefore alternatively outraged or wearied by the callous inaccuracy with which Americans are inclined to French culinary terminology like “chateaubriand.” For them, chateaubriand is impossible to execute authentically and is therefore a dish best left a historical curiosity. Even among the most mainstream American interpretations of the dish there is substantial variation, and guests will occasionally be expecting something quite different than they receive — a disappointment that can be quite cruel considering the dish’s inherently astronomical price tag.
Still, the dish persists. I think this is true because it evokes a particularly gentile sensibility unique to Americans. Chateaubriand is the kind of dish one might have been served at New York’s Le Pavillon, carved tableside on a gilded trolley by a tuxedoed waiter expertly wielding a pearl-handled knife. In an era before credit cards popularized haute cuisine, access to this sort of dining was, for most, the stuff of fantasy. More than chateaubriand is a tasty way to cook steak, it is the Grace Kelly of fine dining — a domestic archetype of luxury, drama, style, class and especially romance.
Ingredients
For the Roast:
12-16 ounces beef roast, cut from the thickest portion of the tenderloin
2-3 tablespoons butter
3-4 springs fresh thyme
kosher salt as needed
fleur de sel as needed
For the Sauce Béarnaise:
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 shallots, minced
3 branches fresh tarragon, leaves and stems separated, leaves chopped fine
6-8 grinds black pepper from the mill
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup white wine
2 egg yolks
salt as needed
dash Tabasco sauce
hot water as needed
For the Garnish:
1 large potato, cut into thick disks and poached
1 medium-sized carrot, battonet cut and poached
6 stalks asparagus, blanched
4-6 large chives, blanched whole
4 mushrooms, fluted and poached
whole, unsalted butter as needed
salt and pepper to taste
fresh thyme as needed
fresh lemon juice as needed
1 clove garlic, unpeeled
Preparation
For the Roast:
1) Heat the butter and thyme sprigs in a skillet large enough to contain the whole roast over medium-high heat until the butter is foamy and the thyme is starting to sizzle.
2) While the butter heats up, pat the portioned roast dry with paper towels. Season liberally with salt.
3) Carefully add the roast to the foaming butter, reducing heat as necessary to keep the butter from burning and the meat browning gently. Turn the meat every few minutes to brown nicely on all sides, basting with the butter in the pan.
4) When the roast has been browned on all sides, remove from the pan and transfer to a 500º F oven and roast, directly on the oven rack, to an internal temperature of 115ºF (medium-rare, approximately 10 minutes).
5) When the roast has reached temperature, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest somewhere warm for approximately 20 minutes.
For the Sauce Béarnaise:
1) Combine the shallots, tarragon stems, ground black pepper, white wine and vinegar in a small, non-reactive saucepot. Reduce over medium heat until nearly dry (au sec).
2) Transfer the wine-vinegar-shallot reduction to a stainless steel bowl and allow to cool. Remove the tarragon stems.
3) As the reduction cools, set the butter over medium-low heat in a small saucepot until melted. Keep warm.
4) Whisk the egg yolks into the reduction and beat until quite foamy.
5) Gripping the bowl with a clean, dry towel, set the yolk mixture over a medium- high flame and whisk vigorously until the yolks are thickened and shiny (but not curdled!). Move the bowl on and off the burner as needed to prevent the yolks from overcooking.
6) Remove the bowl containing the yolk mixture from the heat source and set on a wet towel (to prevent it from slipping). Continue whisking vigorously, and slowly begin to incorporate the butter a few drops at a time. As the mixture becomes a smooth, homogeneous emulsion the butter can be added in a steady stream.
7) Once the butter is incorporated, it may be necessary to adjust the consistency with a little (no more than a tablespoon) hot water.
8) Add the fresh tarragon to the sauce and season to taste with salt and Tabasco. If necessary, the sauce can be held warm for up to an hour, but it’s best served as soon as possible since slight variations in the sauce’s temperature can cause it to break.
For the Garnishes:
1) Remove the tips of the asparagus at a length equal to that of the carrot battonet. Cut the asparagus tips in half, legnthwise.
2) Collect 3 each of the asparagus tips and carrot battonets into 4 small bundles and secure each of these with a knotted chive. Have extra chives available as breakage is inevitable!
3) In a medium-sized sauté pan, heat a few tablespoons of butter, an unpeeled clove of garlic and a couple sprigs of thyme over moderate heat until the butter is foamy and the thyme sprigs are beginning to sizzle. Add the poached potato disks to the foamy butter, adjusting the temperature as necessary to maintain them at a gentle sizzle until they are well browned on one side. Add the fluted mushrooms to the pan. Turn the potato disks and remove them from the heat. Allow them to rest someplace warm until ready to proceed.
4) In a small sauté pan, heat a 1/4 cup (approximately) of water, a few thyme sprigs and 2 tablespoons of butter over moderate heat until simmering. Reduce heat to low and add the asparagus-carrot bundles. Allow to warm gently, turning occasionally, until just heated through.
To Serve
1) Prepare a platter for the roast by warming it briefly in a moderate oven — the warm platter should help keep the food warm while it is carved. Two serving plates should also be warmed.
2) Using a plate lined with paper towels to blot each ingredient in turn, arrange the roast on the platter and surround with the garnishes. Whole fresh herbs or greens may be added to decorative effect.
3) Present the roast at the table. Remove the garnishes first, placing half of them on each of two pre-warmed dinner plates. Proceed to carve the roast into 8-10 even slices, arranging an equal number on each of the same plates. True to the theatrical nature of the dish, this should be accomplished with some flourish — consider some pre-rehearsed sparkling conversation, or perhaps a serenade.
4) Serve immediately with the sauce passed on the side.
