Sichuan Ribeye with Charred Leeks & Chilli-Oil Beef Jus
The trick here is restraint. There are enough loud flavours in the jus that the ribeye doesn't need much interference. Get a proper crust on the beef, keep the centre pink, burn the leeks more than feels comfortable, and reduce the sauce until it's glossy rather than gravy-like. Add the chilli oil and Chinkiang vinegar right at the end. The result should still taste unmistakably of beef, just with considerably more interesting company.
Ingredients
Ribeye
500 g ribeye, one whole chunk
1–1½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp neutral oil
20 g butter
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
2 slices ginger
Charred leeks
2 medium leeks
1 tbsp neutral oil
Salt
1–2 tbsp water
Sichuan beef jus
250 ml good beef stock
50 ml Shaoxing wine
1 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
½–1 tsp doubanjiang
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
15 g cold butter
1–2 tsp Sichuan chilli oil
To finish
½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 spring onion
Chilli oil
Flaky salt, optional
Method
Salt the ribeye
Salt the ribeye all over. Ideally leave it uncovered in the fridge for 4–12 hours.
Take it out around 30–40 minutes before cooking.
Make the Sichuan jus
Toast ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns in a dry saucepan for about 30 seconds. Lightly crush them.
Add:
50 ml Shaoxing
½–1 tsp doubanjiang
Cook for about 30–45 seconds.
Add the 250 ml beef stock, light soy, dark soy and sugar.
Bring to a simmer and reduce quite aggressively until you have roughly 80–100 ml.
This should become glossy and intensely beefy rather than tasting like soy sauce.
Strain through a fine sieve.
Return the liquid to very low heat and reduce further if necessary. You're looking for something that lightly coats a spoon.
Don't add the vinegar, butter or chilli oil yet.
Char the leeks
Trim the roots while leaving enough intact to hold the leek together. Remove the tougher dark-green tops.
Split each leek lengthways and wash thoroughly between the layers.
Dry them well.
Heat a heavy pan until very hot. Add a thin film of oil.
Put the leeks cut-side down.
Leave them alone for around 3–5 minutes. You actually want substantial blackening here.
Turn them over, season lightly with salt and add 1–2 tbsp water.
Cover and cook over low heat for another 4–6 minutes, until the centre is completely tender.
Remove.
The contrast you're after is: almost burnt outside / sweet, silky interior.
Cook the ribeye
Heat a cast-iron or heavy pan until extremely hot.
Pat the ribeye completely dry, season with freshly ground black pepper and rub with the neutral oil.
Sear the beef aggressively on every surface, including the ends. Depending on its shape, you're looking at roughly 60–90 seconds per surface.
You want a genuinely dark crust.
Lower the heat.
Add:
20 g butter
garlic
ginger
Baste the ribeye for another minute or two.
Then finish gently
Insert an over-proof temperature probe and transfer the entire pan to a 120°C oven.
Cook until the centre reaches:
48–50°C for rare
51–52°C for medium-rare
54–55°C for medium
Remove and rest for 10–15 minutes.
It should climb a few degrees while resting.
Finish the jus
While the beef rests, gently reheat the reduced sauce.
Add:
1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
15 g cold butter
Swirl until emulsified and glossy.
Now add 1 tsp chilli oil.
Taste.
If you want the chilli character stronger, add the second teaspoon.
The finished sauce should taste in roughly this order:
beef → fermented chilli → Sichuan pepper → acidity → chilli oil
It shouldn't taste like a stir-fry sauce.
Sichuan pepper finish
Toast the remaining ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns.
Grind reasonably finely.
Don't put all of it on the beef. Treat it almost like finishing pepper: enough that you occasionally get that floral, numbing hit.
Slice the spring onion extremely finely on a sharp diagonal.
Plating
Place one charred leek half slightly off-centre, preferably diagonally across the plate.
Cut the ribeye across the grain into 1–1.5 cm slices.
Arrange 4–5 slices partially overlapping across the leek.
Spoon the Sichuan beef jus around and partly underneath the beef, rather than drowning the meat.
Put just a little over the cut surfaces.
Finish with:
ground toasted Sichuan pepper
a few drops of chilli oil
finely sliced spring onion
tiny amount of flaky salt if needed