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How to cook bavette steaks perfectly and prepare the best authentic chimichurri sauce to go with it. Juicy and tender and packed with so much flavour, this bavette steak recipe is quick and easy and delicious!
Bavette steaks explained
Bavette steak is the name given by French butchers for the lower part of the abdominal muscles of a steer, just below the short rib and bottom sirloin. Also known as the flank, this cut of steak is widely used for a quick meal as it only needs to be cooked on high dry heat for a short amount of time before it is ready. The cut is also regarded as one of the cheaper cuts and often marinated in oils, herbs and spices before being cooked to add flavour to what was once considered even a crude cut.
With chateaubriand, sirloin and fillet regarded as the kings of the cuts these belly steaks often didn’t get a look in for the serious diner. This is truly remarkable as the fat around the belly of the steer imparts a much deeper flavour than those of the other cuts which are more often given the treatment of special preparations such as Wellington, Diane or Au’ poivre. In fact cuts like bavette (flank) or onglet which is known more commonly out of France as Hanger steak or skirt, because they were not desired so much, the butchers would tend to keep them for themselves when they didn’t sell. Once the realisation kicked in that in fact these cuts were just as tender, more flavoursome and just easier to cook, butchers were then known to not sell them at all, purely for the fact that they could keep them all for themselves! It’s the reason why hanger steak, or onglet (as it is known in France) also has the name “butchers steak”. These cuts are now prized for their flavour and are best served cooked without a marinade with simple seasoning and a sauce on the side, and perhaps some kind of potato and a salad.
Serving bavette steaks with big flavours
When it comes to the sauce for the bavette steaks, go big on the flavours! Bearnaise with its buttery shallot flavour with a tarragon vinegary kick is a faultless suggestion, as too is a punchy pepper sauce
However, let’s make things easy without jeopardising the flavour. For this we look to the churrascarias of South America.
Brazilian, Argentine and Uruguayan barbecues have a few sauces that introduce spice, salt and importantly acid to steaks such as a creamy Aji Verde or a smoky chilli and tomato salsa but the go-to and most lauded bbq sauce is the classic chimichurri.
How to make the best chimichurri
With no defined origin or authenticity, this incredible flavoursome sauce and its recipe is probably argued about most by people who make it or claim to have the best or most authentic. What it is, is a condiment with finely chopped parsley, oregano, shallots and garlic all suspended in a flavoursome oil with vinegar, highlighted with spicy notes of chopped chilli. The loose herby oil can be used as a marinade or simply spooned overcooked meat. Quick versions blitz the ingredients in a blender, but most would disagree that this is a good method of preparing it.
Pestle and mortar is key
We chop the dry ingredients finely and then place them in a pestle and mortar to grind them down a bit before adding the wet ingredients. This technique is often used in south Asian cuisine where roots and spices are ground down to make the most incredible and unique curry pastes. The bruising of the herbs rather than the decimation of them using blades means that the flavours intensify and permeate through using oil as a vessel to bring out maximum taste.
Make sure you have fresh herbs and not dried herbs.
Parsley is the predominant herbal flavour so we use a cup of fresh parsley sprigs to half a cup of the fresh oregano. Use a whole large shallot along with 2-3 garlic cloves depending on how garlicky you like it and add one deseeded red chilli for spice. Chillis are rated in Scoville Heat Units (SHU) to grade how hot they are. For flavour without too much burn we would recommend finding a chilli with a scoville rating of anything around 1000 SHU to up to 5000 SHU. Ancho, Mirasol or Espanol chilis work best. For a reference of heat, jalapeños, used for their popular flavour and mild heat are normally about 5000 SHU but can go up to 8000 SHU and cayenne peppers, which are often used to spice up a dish with only a little dusting and birds eye chilis that spice seriously hot Thai sauces rank in at up to 50,000 SHU.
The oil and vinegar chosen is important too as you don’t want to overpower the flavours of the herbs and spices. Choose the wrong oil and you have a bitter finish, fine oils like extra virgin olive oil are better used sparingly for dips as they have a strong taste. Lighter olive oil is a better choice. For the vinegar, which adds the necessary acid to the condiment, it seems that red wine vinegar is best for the authentic flavour. However, the juice of lemon could be used.
Other kinds of vinegar will change the overall flavour quite substantially. As South America is inhabited predominantly by people with Spanish and Portuguese backgrounds, perhaps sherry vinegar or muscatel vinegar may have originally been used, no one can say for sure but it would make a tasty adaptation. As perhaps would balsamic vinegar if you want an Italian flavour or sweeter finish. Whichever you choose, remember this is a loose oil condiment rather than a paste or salsa verde, so ⅓ of a cup of oil or a little more will do. 25ml or a shot of vinegar will add the perfect amount of acid that will cut right through the beautifully full fatty flavour of the bavette steaks that this part of the world is so famous for.
How to perfectly cook bavette steaks
Cooking bavette steaks too is an art. Cuts like bavette and skirt are tender but if you overcook them they go rubbery. Anything over medium is not recommended as it is simply too tough. Medium rare, rare or blue are best. This means to cook the perfect bavette steak you don’t need much time. It will always be the last thing to cook.
Firstly, the bavette steaks must be at room temperature before they hit the pan. If it comes straight from the fridge it will be too cold and the meat will shock when it hits the hot pan and distort. Once at room temperature, massage a little oil onto the steaks and season with pepper. Bring a dry pan (best use non-stick) up to medium-high heat before placing the oiled steaks in. Once the steaks hit the pan, sear them on each side and add a large knob of butter to the pan and turn the steaks around in the liquified, bubbling butter.
The whole process will take between 3-4 minutes only.
Then very importantly, you need to rest the meat so that the juices firm up inside the meat so that they do not run all over the plate, you need to rest the meat for at least the same time as it took to cook it. With this time you could whisk up a quick salad or just fry off some leftover potatoes and cabbage as we did here.
Buon appetito!
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Bavette steaks with chimichurri sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 2 bavette steaks
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 knob of butter We use salted butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
For the chimichirri
- 25 g or 1 cup of loosely packed fresh parsley
- 12 g or ½ a cup of loosely packed fresh oregano
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 large shallot
- 1 mild red chilli
- 100 ml or ⅓ of a cup of olive oil
- 25 ml or 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
Instructions
Important
- Take the bavette steaks out of the fridge and bring to room temperature, approximately 30 minutes.
How to make chimichurri sauce
- Remove the stalk on the chilli and slice lengthways and de-seed before finely chopping it. Set aside.
- Crush and skin the garlic cloves and either crush using a garlic mincer or chop them finely.
- Finely chop the shallot, parsley and oregano and combine with the garlic and using a pestle and mortar, ground down to bruise and smash down the pieces but do not to make it into a paste.
- Add the oil, vinegar and chilli pieces and stir together to incorporate. Set aside to infuse.
How to cook bavette steaks
- Bring a dry non-stick pan to a medium high heat.
- Rub olive oil all over each steak and season with black pepper.
- Place in the bavette steaks and brown one side for about 45 seconds and then turn them over. Put in the butter to melt and tilt the pan and spoon over the melted butter to baste the meat.
- Fry the steaks for about 1 and a half to 2 minutes each side and transfer them to a wooden board, season with salt and rest them for about 5 minutes.
- Serve with the chimichurri on the side and your choice of side dish.
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