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The Steakhouse 50 · make it at home

Wood-fired dry-aged sirloin with charred onions and herb butter

1 hour 30 minutes · Serves 2 to 3

How the new wood-fire rooms in Sydney, Singapore and Stockholm cook it: a well-marbled, dry-aged sirloin on the bone or off, grilled over a two-zone wood fire so it browns hard and then finishes gently in the smoke, with onions charred in the coals.

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The real one

You need

• 1 dry-aged sirloin (strip) steak, 1 1/2 to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) thick, about 1 1/2 lb (700 g)
• Sea salt
• 2 medium onions, unpeeled
• For the butter: 4 tbsp (60 g) soft butter
• 1 tbsp chopped chives, 1 tbsp chopped parsley, 1 tsp chopped thyme
• 1 small garlic clove, grated
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• Flaky salt and black pepper

How to make it

1. Salt the steak all over and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 4 to 24 hours. Take it out 45 minutes before cooking.
2. Mash the butter with the herbs, garlic, lemon zest and a pinch of flaky salt; roll it into a log in parchment and chill.
3. Build a fire of hardwood (oak, ironbark, cherry) or hardwood charcoal with a few wood chunks. When it has burned down to glowing coals, push most of them to one side: a hot zone and a cool zone.
4. Nestle the whole unpeeled onions into the edge of the coals and cook 30 to 40 minutes, turning now and then, until black outside and soft right through.
5. Grill the steak over the hot zone 3 minutes a side to brown it well. Hold it fat-side down on the hottest spot for 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Move it to the cool zone, close the lid if you have one, and cook gently, turning every couple of minutes, until it reads 125°F (52°C) inside, 6 to 12 minutes. This slow finish in the smoke is what gives the even blush edge to edge.
7. Rest 8 minutes with a slice of herb butter melting on top. Split the onions, scoop out the soft centers and season them with salt and a little butter.
8. Slice the steak across the grain and serve with the charred onions and more herb butter.

Tips

• No wood fire? A charcoal kettle with two wood chunks on the coals gets you most of the way.
• Dry-aging concentrates flavor and dries the surface, so it browns faster: watch the first sear.

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