The restaurant at Fergus Henderson‘s new St John Hotel stands as a gently lit oasis of white and stainless-steel functionality amid the glare and sleaze of after-hours Leicester Square. The grilled skirt steak with beef dripping chips, herb-shallot mustard and cress pares down the only-in-London St John dining experience to a minimalist ideal: The 41st best restaurant in the world compressed into a hotel canteen in the short form of a subdued late-night menu with meat and potatoes in the middle. [Read more...]
St John the Place to Chase a Leicester Square Skirt
21 April 2011 By Leave a Comment
epic steak frites dinner: sizing up the cuts
The next youngandfoodish Steak Frites Tasting Dinner will be Tuesday 25 May in the private dining room of Racine Restaurant in London.
The menu will again feature three steak classics – onglet aux échalottes, filet au poivre, côte de boeuf – prepared by chef Henry Harris with the finest cuts of dry-aged, grass-fed beef selected by Darragh O’Shea of the great London butcher O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge. Each steak will be matched to a red wine selected by Peter Lowe of Berkmann Wine Cellars:
Space is limited. Book now.
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Mastering the cuts – watch the videos
Why do you love steak frites? – see the winning response in #steakfrites twitter competiton
4 April 2010 By 2 Comments
#steakfrites video 5: raw essentials
In part 4 of Steak Frites – Mastering the Cuts, Darragh O’Shea, he of the great London butcher shop O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge, pulls out his finest grass-fed, dry-aged beef and explains how to recognise top quality by colour and cut. His personal favourite amongst the three cuts he presents to Racine chef Henry Harris for the #steakfrites tasting dinners is not the prized côte de boeuf nor the pristine filet but rather the underrated, working-class onglet. He’s proud to call that flavour-packed thick skirt the Steak O’Shea.
12 March 2010 By Leave a Comment
#steakfrites video 3: filet au poivre
In part 3 of Steak Frites – Mastering the Cuts, Henry Harris of Racine Restaurant stresses that the rich, almost syrupy sauce in which his pepper-crusted showcase steak sits should not be likened to brandied butter or a flavoured stock. Rather, a proper filet au poivre, its peppery kick notwithstanding, is about bringing everything together in the right balance.
Enter the why do you love #steakfrites? twitter contest to win the filet au poivre pictured above, along with Racine’s onglet aux échalottes and côte de boeuf and of course frites.
10 March 2010 By 1 Comment
#steakfrites video 2: the shalls & shallots of onglet
In the second part of steak frites – mastering the cuts, Henry Harris reveals the shalls and shall nots of onglet aux échalottes. Onglet, a butcher’s cut, may also be called skirt, hanger or, if it’s the prized onglet from O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge seen in this video, “Steak O’Shea”.
If the video has made you salivate, as its producers intended, then it’s the perfect time to enter our “why do you love steak frites?” competition. The winner and his or her guest will be invited to the 22 March debut of the youngandfoodish steak frites tasting dinners at Racine Restaurant.
9 March 2010 By 1 Comment
steak frites – mastering the cuts
To enhance and celebrate our shared appreciation for an unsurpassed pairing of meat and potatoes, youngandfoodish launches steak frites – mastering the cuts, a series of 6 web videos featuring Racine chef Henry Harris, with meat by Darragh O’Shea of O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge.
The daily release of the videos, shot by Brian Jones and co-produced by events partner Dino Joannides, will form the backdrop of our “why do you love steak frites?” competition on twitter, hopefully inspiring your most poetic, passionate or playful responses. [HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION].
The winner, along with his or her guest, will be invited to the premiere of the youngandfoodish steak frites tasting dinners at Racine on Monday, 22nd March. Henry Harris will prepare three cuts of O’Shea beef in the styles best suited to each: onglet aux échalottes, filet au poivre, côte de boeuf with béarnaise sauce. The meat will be matched to three bistro-style reds selected by Peter Lowe of Berkmann Wine Cellars.
Of course there is no steak frites without potatoes. Not just any potatoes, but floury potatoes cut in the ideal shape for holding and dipping. As Harris explains in the first video, you never need to use a fork with frites.
To receive all the steak frites videos, subscribe to the youngandfoodish youtube channel.
8 March 2010 By Leave a Comment
Bistro steak with Béarnaise sauce
Parisian bistro chefs invariably prefer the sizzling sear of a frypan to that of a charcoal or wood-fired grill for their steaks. They’re after the reddish sheen mastered by chef Thierry Laurent at the marvelous Le Bistrot Paul Bert. To ensure your steaks have that same caramelised lustre without a burned 
or blackened taste, be sure to:
• First warm the steaks to room temperature.
• Use a nonstick skillet so not much oil and butter are required.
• Use an oil with a high smoke point, such as soybean (soya), grapeseed, peanut (groundnut) or canola (rapeseed).
• Add the butter to the pan just before the steaks, not giving it time to brown. [Read more...]
11 February 2009 By Leave a Comment
