Recipe: Bavette with Béarnaise
To get into the summer spirit, Pieter Kok launched his first cookbook, Outdoor Cooking. Whether you’re at the campsite, on a boat or having a picnic: the recipes in Outdoor Cooking, such as this bavette with Béarnaise, are perfect for any outdoor situation and 100% summerproof.
Pieter: “Okay, making a Béarnaise sauce in advance takes some nerve. It can split, but if I tell you that the sauce will easily stay warm and delicious for an entire evening in a preheated thermos flask, how can you resist? And the meat that gets to carry this beautiful sauce is bavette. These days, you can sometimes even find it in the supermarket. But at the butcher’s, you’ll generally find a more beautiful cut.”
How to make the bavette with Béarnaise
- Bring the bavette to room temperature.
- Finely chop the shallot. Put the white wine, white wine vinegar, finely chopped shallot and white peppercorns in a saucepan. Remove the leaves from the tarragon stems and place about 4 stems in your saucepan. Bring to a boil with a pinch of salt. Reduce until you have about two tablespoons of liquid left. Take a sieve, place it over a bowl and pour the contents of your saucepan into it. Leave to drain well so that all the flavour is released. Pour the liquid back into your saucepan and leave to cool. This is your gastrique!
- Now clarify the butter; it’s easy! Melt the butter in a separate pan. Once all the butter has melted, turn off the heat. There will be some white flakes floating on top; scoop them out with a spoon and discard them. Leave the butter to stand for a moment. Two layers will form: the fat on top and the milk solids underneath. Pour the fat into another small saucepan, taking care not to pour in the milk solids. Leave to stand for a little longer and scoop out the last white flakes. Now your butter is clarified.
- Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the gastrique. Place the saucepan over very low heat and whisk rapidly and firmly with a whisk until the egg is creamy, thick and lighter in colour. Then add the clarified butter little by little to finish your sauce. Finely chop the tarragon and chervil leaves and stir them into the sauce. Taste and, if necessary, season with a little salt. Now preheat your thermos flask with hot water, pour the water out and keep your Béarnaise sauce in it until you need it.
- For the bavette, divide the BBQ into two zones again: hot for direct grilling, and cool for cooking through. Season your bavette with pepper and salt and place it on the hot zone of your BBQ. When it comes away from the grill without any force, turn it over. Once that side also comes away easily, move it to the cool zone. If you have a meat thermometer, this is the moment to insert it. Let the bavette warm through until it reaches an internal temperature of between 40 and 45 °C. Remove it from the grill and leave it to rest, loosely covered with aluminium foil, for 10 minutes. Cut it into strips, serve your Béarnaise sauce in a beautiful warm dish alongside it and you’re (once again) the hero of the BBQ.
Title: Outdoor Cooking
Author: Pieter Kok
Price: €24,99
Publisher: Kosmos
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