Serves 6
Ingredients
Turnip thinning, about 3 small leaves pp
Plenty of lovage leaves
1.5kg thick slice of beef ribeye
Soft butter, for cooking
Mild garlic butter
500ml crystal-clear whey, obtained from yoghurt or buttermilk
3 onions, dry and preferably never stored in a fridge, since this spoils their flavour
1-2 tbsp thick cream
Birch leaf oil
Coarse salt
Method
Wash the turnip thinning and lovage leaves, rinse them well and leave at room temperature.
Take the meat out of the fridge and put it on a tray, without any cover or cling film (plastic wrap), at room temperature at least two hours before you intend to start working with it so that it has a dry surface and is not too cold when cooked. A little while before cooking, season it with plenty of salt. As it is a very big piece you will need more salt than you think. You will find that if you let the salt dissolve a little the meat will brown more easily and uniformly. Brown a large spoon of butter in a cast-iron frying pan or skillet and fry the meat until the first side is perfectly caramelized.
The meat and the pan need to be kept moving at all times so that no part of the pan warms up too much, causing the fat in that part to burn, and so that no part gets too cold and stops the meat browning. When the first side is perfect repeat the process with the second side, adding a little more butter as you turn it. Let the meat rest somewhere warm but not hot, brush with a light garlic butter (we leave this at the side of the fireplace) and leave it to stand.
While the meat is resting, pour the butter and fat that have leaked out from the meat through a fine-mesh sieve into a container and clean the pan. When the meat is no longer hot to touch, fry it once more in the clean pan, brush it with garlic butter and leave it to rest again. Repeat this process until the meat is cooked to the degree you like.
While the meat is cooking, start to reduce the whey in a pan over medium heat.
Slice the onions paper thin and add them with a little piece of butter to the whey when it has reduced to about a tenth of its original volume. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes, stirring them constantly with your latex gloved hand or very carefully with a rubber spatula so that you don’t break the structure of the onions. Take care that they do not brown, because if they do all elegance will be lost. When the onions are cooked, finish them with a good spoon of cream and serve immediately. Do not add salt to this condiment – it will not do it any good.
Seconds before serving, push equal part of turnip leaves and lovage through a juicer straight into a bowl with some birch leaf oil already in it. The oil is there for two reasons: firstly because it is delicious, and secondly because it forms a film on top of the delicate juice, which without it would oxidize in seconds.
To finish the meat, reheat the frying pan or skillet and put back the fat strained from the pan earlier. Fry the piece of meat on both sides once more and add some more butter. Let the new butter brown, then immediately lift the meat out and place on a preheated chopping board. Cut it into 6 strips straight away using a very sharp knife and serve with the onions, green juice and raw turnip thinnings.