On Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:22:28 -0800, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

> blake wrote:
>
> >> * Steak with black-bean butter sauce
> >
> > i'm having a little trouble visualizing this last item. could you
> > elaborate a little?
>
> The sauce starts out by grinding fermented black beans with garlic and hot
> chiles,

No ginger and onion?

>then running in a food processor or blender to make a smooth paste.
> That paste is heated in a skillet until fragrant, then cold butter is
> whisked in to make a glossy sauce. Just before serving, chopped cilantro is
> added.
>
Chile and cilantro? Huh. Sounds like Southwest/Chinese fusion.

Have you done this before? It seems like a black bean sauce would
overwhelm the flavor of your steaks.

> The steaks are bone-in ribeyes which will be grilled over charcoal. Chinese
> have a distaste for whole steaks on a plate; they consider it butchery to
> cut up meat at the table.

Which I find very odd, considering how large the individual pieces of
"bite sized" meat are... at least in restaurants, where they should
pay better attention to serving size.

>If I wanted to enter fully into the spirit of the
> occasion I'd cut the meat off the bone and then into cubes, but Lin and I
> have no such cultural inhibitions, so the steaks will be served whole, with
> a little sauce on top and the rest of the sauce on the side.
>


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.