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Good Eats: Porterhouse Rules
Alton, like most of us, enjoys a fine steak. What he doesn't enjoy are the steakhouse prices, so in this episode he teaches viewers how to cook a delicious Dry-Aged Chimney Porterhouse Steak to perfection – from selection of the meat, through aging and cooking, and why it all works. And to cap the episode off, he offers a quick historical jaunt that reveals how this cut got its name.
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Episode Info
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Episode number: 14x1 Production Number: EA1401H Airdate: Thursday May 27th, 2010 |
Recap
Sitting in a fancy restaurant called “Maison de Boeuf”, Alton reminds viewers that John Wayne ate steak – a lot of steak. But Wayne would have reacted badly to the high prices restaurants charge these days, angry enough to demand “fill his hands.” That's when a pair of waiters appear pushing carts bearing covered serving platters. Under the first cover lie what Alton calls “table scraps”, but the second offers more promise: a 24 ounce porterhouse steak: NY strip on one side, and tenderloin on the other. Between them, a “gnaw-worthy” T-bone enhances the flavor. The waiter regales Alton with the restaurant's careful preparation: precise dry aging and a 1600° F oven to sear the steak to perfection. Casually curious, Alton asks about the price. The answer prompts a spit take; Alton then orders the shrimp cocktail – to go. The disappointed and disdainful waiters leave...Read the full recap
Episode Notes
Cards
- Americans consumed 27.3 billion pounds of beef in 2008.
- When meat is vacuum-sealed in its own juices and refrigerated, it is called “wet aging”.
- One of Mark Twain's favorite meals was pan-fried porterhouse steak with mushrooms and peas.
Locations: Buckhead Beef (Atlanta, Georgia); Coastal Wholesale (Atlanta, Georgia)
The name of Alton's fancy restaurant, “Maison de Boeuf” translates approximately as “House of Beef”.
Episode Quotes
Alton: So, garçon, do tell... what do you get for that there slab o' cow?
Waiter: Our porterhouse is valued at a hundred and twenty American dollars.
Alton: (doing a spit take) What does it come with, a bowl of Krugerrands?
Waiter: Our porterhouse is valued at a hundred and twenty American dollars.
Alton: (doing a spit take) What does it come with, a bowl of Krugerrands?
Alton: That's... five dollars an ounce! And that, my comrade cooks, is gustatory grand larceny!
Alton: Here in America, the word “steak” is strongly associated with the word “grill.” But the truth is, the specimens produced in high-end steakhouses like “Maison Fluffy Stuff” rarely see a grill. They are, instead, cooked under powerful broilers.
Alton: The drawer comes out, steak goes on the drawer, steak goes under the broiler (Alton casually leans on the oven) and in no time at all, you have yourself a beautifully – ouch! (Alton snatches his arm away from the oven) – seared piece of meat.
Alton: (as he slides his grilling chair in place) You do have your very own, comfy, customer kettle grill chair, don't you? (The camera slides back and forth simulating a head shaking “no”.) Well, you should get your prop people on that right away!
Alton: (sitting in a mock porterhouse) Oh, look... after steak and charcoal, we've got a hundred bucks left over. A round for the house!! (Other patrons answer with enthusiastic cheering.) And all of the sudden, I'm popular. That's the power of good eats!
Cultural References
In the restaurant scene, Alton refers to John Wayne and quotes one of The Duke's most famous lines, “fill your hands you son of a...” Fortunately for the censors, Alton stops there. Wayne uttered this line in the 1969 Western True Grit. In the film, he played the alcoholic Texas Ranger Rooster Cogburn, who (along with others) pursued a reprobate named Thomas Chaney on behalf of a young woman whose father Chaney had murdered. Interestingly, one of the other Rangers was named La Boeuf, which was part of the restaurant's name. The expression fill your hands was essentially a challenge to start a gunfight. Such battles typically started with the “fast draw”. The individual with the best reflexes could put shoot first, and usually won the contest. He “filled his hands” with his guns.
On learning the price of his meal, Alton asks if it comes with a bowl of Krugerrands. The Krugerrand is a gold coin sold in various denominations, most famously as one ounce coins. Such coins are commonly used by those who wish to invest in gold as a hedge against inflation and governmental currency meddling under the theory that gold, a rare commodity, holds its value. As gold presently trades at over $1300/ounce, a bowlful of such coins would be worth quite a bit.
The phrase “I'll have what he's having” paraphrases a line from the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally. During one memorable scene at a delicatessen, Sally (Meg Ryan) argues that men cannot tell when women fake sexual orgasms. To drive this point home she fakes one during this argument, convincingly enough that an older woman at a nearby table says to her server, “I'll have what she's having.” Estelle Reiner, director Rob Reiner's mother, played this customer.
Analysis
To some extent, this episode revisits other steak episodes, recapping certain of the basic techniques, such as the use of salt to bring protein-laden water to the surface, and the concept of dry aging. But it offers a unique preparation technique in using a charcoal chimney as a broiler.
Other Episode Crew
| • Creator | Alton Brown |
| • Executive Producer | DeAnna Brown |
| • Music | Patrick Belden |
| • Camera Operator | Ramon Engle |
| • Director of Photography | Marion Laney |
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