I had my friends Ray and Sara over for dinner at the weekend and wanted to treat them to something extra special. Sara, in particular, loves her steak, so the challenge was to take the experience to a new level of beefy savouriness.
These two products, which I sourced from the gourmands website, Fine Food Specialist, were just the ticket: Kettlye Beef Bone Marrow Melt and Gentlemans Relish.
FFS describes the Bone Marrow Melt as about as niche and funky as it gets. This is simply bone marrow blended with butter and other seasonings to give an ultra rich finish.
It says its great whisked into a rich veal jus to lift your sauce to another level. But I decided to use it as a baste to finish off these fillet steaks, which are 21-day Aberdeen Angus, sourced from my local farmers market.
Simply cut a couple of medallions from the Melt tube, then add to the pan 45 seconds before the end of cooking (I did these 5cm-thick steaks for 3 mins each side, flipping every 30 seconds) for medium-rare.
The juices the Bone Marrow Melt and steak leave behind in the pan are as close to umami-heaven as its possible to get and they must not be wasted: pour them over the steaks after youve plated up (with thrice-cooked chips and garlic mushrooms) for a sublime gravy.
If that wasnt enough, Ive now added Gentlemans Relish to my condiments shelf.
This is a sublime paste of salted anchovies, butter, herbs and spices which FFS recommends spreading thinly on toast with a cup of tea.
But I think it works brilliantly smeared on a forkful of magnificent steak, in the same way youd use hot English mustard.
Was all of this a success? And some!! Steak-loving Sara was so bowled over my the Bone Marrow Melt and Gentlemans Relish combo that she ended the meal by mopping up the juices from mine and her husbands plates! Classy lady!
¢ Kettlye Bone Marrow Melt (9.95) and Gentlemans Relish (3.50) are available from Fine Food Specialist.
Disclaimer: I have not been paid for this post but these products were sent to me for review purposes after I found them online and requested them.
