Usually my dishes seem to go one of two ways, absolutely beautiful, or horribly, horribly wrong. Tonight was one that was pretty much inbetween these two extremes. It wasn’t a rapture to flavor nirvana, nor was it a banishment to taste-bud purgatory. Tonight I think is my first instance of “good technique, poor combinations.”
If I told you that dinner would be chile-rubbed sirloin with caramelized onions and herbed goat cheese, that may get your culinary mind racing, or at the very least raise your eyebrows. In theory, this should work just fine. After all, onions and steak are natural companions, and a soft herbed goat cheese is often a welcome addition to most dishes for the average foodie.
Yet despite this description, something was….off… The chile rub was “powdery” in my mouth, not well combined with the steak. The onions were too sweet for the seasonings in the meat, and things generally clashed. Yet the searing of the meat was perfectly done. The caramelizing of the onions was performed to exacting standards of GBD (golden, Brown and Delicious). So how was this dish underwhelming, and what could I do to improve it? This is such a fun puzzle for me to figure out, that I will have to enjoy an extra glass of wine tonight to allow myself respite from this glorious culinary dilema.
The answer I believe lies somewhere in the pre-cooking preparation and the combination of techniques I used to construct the dish, not in ingredients or seasonings really. I am thinking I would like to try this again, but using a brine to increase the tenderness of the meat, and higher heat for the onions so they grill rather than get too caramelized. We’ll see. I have some steak leftover and I will try this again, probably tomorrow just to see what I can learn.
The estute observer will also notice some risotto with sausages and mushrooms on the plate. Suffice it to say that I have now determined that Oats do not belong in this type of application. The nuttiness that I thought would blend well with other flavors actually served to be very overpowering, and the saltiness of the other ingredients clashed with the nuttiness of the oats. No, I will leave Irish Oats from now on in the realm of sweeter creations and breakfast porridges. Oh well, it was a conderful try though, and I’m glad I did it!
I am not counting the recipes I did tonight, because I believe I can do better, and once I can, I’lldefinately be sharing them with you.
489 recipes to go (still)!
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