Carpetbag Steak
Author: Betty Fussell
Recipe type: Main Dish
Ingredients
- Steak and oysters together was a British favorite in the 19th century for grilling at the hearth, when both beef and oysters were plentiful and therefore cheap.
- In the States, both ingredients were even cheaper and we officially Americanized the combination when we named it, in the 1940s, "Carpetbag Steak," by stuffing the oysters inside the steak.
- Today that seems needlessly complicated and too tricky in timing, but the taste for red meat with briny oysters has not diminished, as witness our many surf 'n turf combinations.
- My favorite homecook method for steak with oysters is to simply sear a good sirloin or ribeye on both sides in a pan grill (or a really hot broiler), but keep the meat rare.
- Then, if you've used a pan grill, place the steak in a broiling pan, cover it with with a dozen shucked oysters, season everything with salt and pepper, dot the oysters heavily with butter and run the pan under the broiler until the oysters plump up and begin to curl their edges.
- Don't overcook. Timing depends on how hot your broiler gets.
- Two or three minutes will do it in a really hot one. We just want those oyster juices to soak into the meat.
- Serve with Kaya’s Fusion Cuisine Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho!