When you think of "steak sauce," what comes to mind? For us, it's not-so-fond memories of the bottle of A1 sauce in the fridge, which we always thought had an undercurrent of rancid flavor masked with savory fish. It's much more unappealing when it slides out of the bottle in a single gloop.
If you're haunted by the idea of A1 sauce, you can try making your own steak sauce at home. This task, which isn't as challenging as it seems, will allow you to control the predominant elements of a good steak sauce: sweet, savory, umami, acidic, and spicy.
Every good steak sauce needs a little bit of heat. . Besides adding some piquant undertones, adding this fermented sauce to your perfectly seared steak will mesh well with other ingredients like sweet ketchup, classic Worcestershire sauce, and an acidic ingredient like vinegar.
Sriracha is made with a standard blend of chili peppers, garlic, vinegar, salt, and sugar. You can make your own so you can play with the ratio of these ingredients. After you allow the mixture to ferment in a glass jar for about three days, it will be ready to blend again and drizzle into your homemade steak sauce mixture. Save the rest for drizzling on homemade avocado toast or adding to grilled chicken or tofu.
Not only will you be obsessed with eating steak covered in a roasted garlic steak sauce, but you'll also love the way your kitchen smells after roasting it. After you've prepared your cloves, you can purée them in your blender or food processor and pulse until smooth before adding them to the sauce. Roasted garlic tends to be soft to the touch, so it should be easy to blend down into a paste.
To make a simple batch for your steak sauce, you'll only need four ingredients: a head of garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Slice off the top ¼ of the bulb with a sharp kitchen knife and remove the outer peel of the allium.
Alcohol and steak sauce is a common pairing, but it often only comes in the form of a red wine reduction. If you want to amp up the flavor of your steak sauce, you will want to go for the liquor cabinet instead of the wine rack... kind of. to homemade steak sauce because it has a bit of a bite to it.
Since this spirit is a fortified wine made with a botanical infusion of plants, herbs, and spices (so, it's technically not a "spirit"); the exact flavor will depend on the producer you're selecting the product from. After you've added a splash to your steak sauce, you should also store it in the refrigerator to avoid oxidation. A bottle kept properly in the fridge will last about three months — which should give you the push you need to make steak sauce more often or add it to your Boulevardier cocktail.
Capers are a delectable salty berry that almost everyone has a half-jar of in their refrigerator. It's often that you add them to your chicken piccata before forgetting about them. But we've found a new (and better) way to use this briny ingredient: steak sauce.
These berries are the perfect ingredient to finish your steak with because they have a bright, lemony tartness and the floral flavor of an olive. Following with the same spirit of piccata, we recommend pairing capers with lemons and acidic ingredients. We recommend first draining and rinsing the capers of their salty brine, as too much may upset any seasoning you add to your meat.
We recommend sticking with a tender cut of meat, like a flank steak, for this caper sauce. It's a bit more Mediterranean in nature and will leave you feeling light and refreshed.
It's fair to say that food personality Bobby Flay knows a lot about steak. He makes by adding a bit of tomato paste to the mixture. Salisbury steak sauce is typically made with staple ingredients like Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, ketchup, and garlic, so adding tomato paste as a thickener isn't too far off.
If you're not making Salisbury steak, you might also consider adding this ingredient to your steak sauce wherever ketchup is used. You'll find it deepens the umami flavor and makes the sauce a bit more tomato-forward.
Besides tomato paste, Flay also adds half-and-half to his Salisbury steak sauce to help thicken it more. This ingredient will reduce the need to add extra flour as a thickener, which will keep your sauce out of goop territory.
Man, are people just adding mayonnaise to everything nowadays? The answer is yes.
Mayonnaise is just a combination of eggs, oil, and acid. Vinegar, an acid, and oil are common ingredients in steak sauce already, so adding a bit of emulsified punch to your steak sauce recipe can really help it out. The mayonnaise is a blank canvas to create a creamy sauce. From there, you can add herby, spicy, umami, or salty flavors and make your sauce unique. There are no real rules for what you must add to this sauce to make it, which is perfect for cooks who like to experiment in the kitchen. Cuts of steak that lend well to this simple ingredient addition include filet mignon (no one will ever know it's cheap mayo) or a succulent tenderloin.
MSG, or monosodium glutamate, has been unfairly villainized over the years. This seasoning is a concentrated version of the glutamate amino acid naturally found in food, so your body processes it the exact same way. It's not , contrary to popular opinion, and it can actually be a helpful ingredient to have handy in your kitchen. MSG contains some sodium, so it can replace a salty element in your sauce like capers or Worcestershire sauce.
The key to working with MSG in a sauce is not to overuse it. On its own, the powder imparts a strange, fish-like flavor that we think is rather unappetizing. But add a scant amount to your sauce, including one with mushrooms, fish sauce, or Worcestershire sauce, and plan to have your tastebuds blown out of the water. The powder adds an unprecedented depth that is vital for a well-rounded, umami-rich sauce.
A key element in a good steak sauce is spicy.
Adding peppercorns alone would result in a steak that is difficult to eat. But this creamy sauce tames the flavors of the peppercorns and rounds it out a bit more. You'll want to use whole peppercorns for this sauce, not the kind that you'd find pre-ground at the grocery store. Crush the peppercorns in a bag with a rolling pin and pour it into the sauce once you've appropriately thickened it.
Raisins might seem like the definition of an "unconventional ingredient," especially in the context of a steak. These dried grapes are because they produce a sweetness that is key to balancing out the flavors in your sauce. And if you've ever slathered your steak in A1 sauce, you would have already experienced the key role of raisins in the concoction.
Manufacturers started adding raisins into steak sauce as far back as the 1820s.
Dijon mustard is the Swiss Army knife of steak sauce ingredients.
Another thing that we love about Dijon mustard is that it plays well with others. You can make it into a sauce by adding fresh rosemary, garlic, thyme, and a splash of cream.
Blue cheese isn't at the top of our list of cheeses that we would select from the Trader Joe's aisle. But that's not to say that this stinky cheese isn't a good match for steak.
We recommend trying a blue cheese steak sauce at least once in your culinary career.
Have you ever cooked with crème frâiche? This French ingredient is perfect for a steak sauce because it is decadently fatty and creamy and will thicken a sauce easily. We recommend using it in a classic steak au poivre, which is a French, peppercorn-crusted steak covered in a pan sauce because the crème frâiche will mellow out the flavors of the harsh peppercorns. You can use this cooking and seasoning method for many different cuts of steak, including filet mignon, tenderloins, boneless rib, and strip steak.
To make this sauce for your steak, you're going to want to combine your leftover peppercorns with shallots and deglaze with an alcohol of choice. Then, add your stock, stir until thickened, and add your crème frâiche. Some folks will make this recipe with a heavy cream. While this ingredient will also do the job, it lacks the distinct tangy flavor of the crème frâiche.
Vinegar is a key element in bringing brightness and an acidic element to an otherwise overwhelming steak sauce. While apple cider and distilled white vinegar get the job done, balsamic vinegar is the more flavorful option to include in your steak sauce.
For a quick balsamic steak sauce, consider adding sugar and balsamic vinegar to the pan after you've cooked down your shallots in butter or oil. Once the sauce has thickened, you can pour it over your steaks and enjoy. You can also simmer your balsamic vinegar with more conventional steak sauce ingredients like honey, ketchup, Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. The result is a floral, subtly sweet sauce that will elevate your chosen cut of meat without overpowering it.
A good steak sauce has a little bit of sweetness to it. It's important that we emphasize "little" here, as adding too much sweetener can quickly move your steak sauce from savory to sweet territory. We're after balance rather than confection, after all.
Our sweetener of choice for steak sauce is maple syrup. The flavor is moderately oaky, which can complement an alcoholic ingredient, as well as an umami-rich one like mushrooms or Worcestershire. Another key aspect of this sweetener is that it is thick, which means that it can be used to make your steak sauce more viscous without the addition of flour.
Our favorite ingredients to mix with maple syrup are bourbon, soy sauce, and lime juice. It's an excellent ingredient to add to taste or cook down with your other sauce ingredients. Just be sure to always taste the sauce as you go since combining the maple syrup with another sweet ingredient like ketchup can send things overboard.
If you're looking for a punchy, fresh ingredient to add to your steak sauce, look no further than lime juice. This ingredient works well as an acid with almost any combination of flavors, including fish sauce, garlic, Worcestershire, and shallots.
Besides adding lime juice to the sauce, you may also consider using it as a marinade ingredient. The juice will help soften up the protein and muscle fibers, which will give you a softer bite. Your steak should marinate for at least two hours and no more than 12 because the acid could break down the protein too much and leave you with a piece of meat that is a little too soft to hold up on the grill.
Fish sauce isn't that strange of an ingredient in a steak sauce, considering that Worcestershire sauce contains some sort of fermented fish like anchovies. This sauce also tends to be thinner than Worcestershire, which means you have more room to play with it when you're trying to make a sauce with the perfect consistency.
One of our favorite ways to add fish sauce to a recipe is by combining it with coconut milk and curry powder. This Indo-Asian rendition of steak provides a warm heat from the spice blend with the fattiness of the curry.
Peanut butter and steak? That's crazy talk. But peanut butter is actually an unexpected ingredient that can add a new dimension to your homemade sauce, specifically for thinly sliced beef.
Our favorite way to use peanut butter in a steak sauce is to combine it with fresh, punchy elements like lime juice, fish sauce, and coconut milk. Since peanut butter tends to be a thick and obtrusive ingredient, you'll have to mellow it out with other ingredients with a thinner texture. It's also important to remember that the peanut will be the predominant flavor for whatever you use it in. So, if you want to make a mushroom sauce for your steak, avoid using peanut butter as an ingredient because we guarantee you'll miss out on the mushrooms.
Looking for a double-hitter in the thickening and tangy department? We're recommending you draft sour cream onto your roster. Sour cream doesn't have nearly the same richness as a crème frâiche, but it has the tangy profile you need to make a successful sauce — and you may not even need to add any additional vinegar.
You can whip up a quick steak sauce with sour cream, Dijon mustard, chives, and seasoning. You won't even need to cook this sauce on the stove, which makes it perfect for grilled steaks in the summertime. You can also add a scoop of sour cream to your more conventional steak sauce, along with Worcestershire sauce and beef broth. Combined with the pan drippings, this sauce makes a robust complement for any cut of meat and food outside the steak realm, including grilled chicken or pork. It's tangy, bright, and perfectly creamy.