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The Steakhouse 50 · make it at home

Bone-in rib steak with triple-cooked chips and peppercorn sauce

2 hours 30 minutes · Serves 2

The London steakhouse plate, as Hawksmoor made famous: a thick, dry-aged bone-in rib, chips cooked three times so they shatter, and a peppery cream sauce made in the steak pan.

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The real one

You need

• 1 bone-in rib steak, 1 1/2 to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) thick, about 1 3/4 lb (800 g), dry-aged
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp beef dripping or neutral oil
• 1 tbsp butter, 2 thyme sprigs, 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• For the chips: 2 lb (900 g) floury potatoes (Maris Piper or russet)
• About 2 quarts (2 litres) beef dripping or groundnut oil, for frying
• For the sauce: 1 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp brandy
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) beef stock
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) double (heavy) cream
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

How to make it

1. Chips, first cook: peel the potatoes and cut them into thick fingers, about 3/4 inch (2 cm). Rinse in cold water. Simmer in salted water 15 to 20 minutes until they are just falling apart at the edges. Lift them out carefully onto a rack and chill them, uncovered, in the fridge for 1 hour so the rough edges dry.
2. Second cook: heat the dripping to 265°F (130°C) in a heavy pot (fill no more than halfway). Fry the chips in batches 5 to 7 minutes until a crust forms but they stay pale. Drain on a rack and cool.
3. Salt the steak all over 45 minutes before cooking and leave it at room temperature.
4. Heat a heavy pan over high heat until smoking, add the dripping and lay in the steak. Sear 4 minutes, turn, sear 4 minutes more, then stand it on its fat for 2 minutes. Add the butter, thyme and garlic and baste for 1 minute. For a thick rib, finish in a 400°F (200°C) oven until it reads 125°F (52°C) inside, 5 to 8 minutes. Rest 10 minutes on a rack.
5. Third cook: heat the dripping to 365°F (185°C) and fry the chips 2 to 4 minutes until deep golden and glassy-crisp. Drain and salt straight away.
6. Sauce: pour most of the fat from the steak pan, add the crushed peppercorns and shallot and cook 1 minute over medium heat. Add the brandy (careful, it may flame) and let it bubble away, then the stock; reduce by half. Add the cream and mustard and simmer 2 minutes until it coats a spoon. Season with salt.
7. Cut the steak off the bone, slice it thickly, and serve with the chips and the sauce on the side.

Tips

• The chilling between cooks is what makes the chips glassy; don't skip it.
• Leftover dripping, strained, keeps for months in the fridge.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.