Cambodian Porterhouse Duo

SAVORY

Nov 30

Kroeung Marinade, Cured Egg Yolk, Hot Sauce, and Quick Pickles

Chef Jett Mora of Café Modern | Fort Worth, TX

Fresh out of Los Angeles, Café Modern Chef Jett Mora couldn’t wait to pickle and preserve every farmers market veg he could get his hands on. His porterhouse prime steak and tenderloin tartare plays with the contrast of fresh and fermented, with neighboring cuts of beef plated both raw and grilled. Inspired by his wife’s Cambodian heritage, a kroeung marinade with lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, and lime leaf works triple-duty. Aromatic and punchy, kroeung bathes the steak, acts as a dressing for the tartare, and a flavorful addition to a quick-pickle condiment of chiles, shishitos, red onion, and Asian pear. A final preserved element of cured egg yolk is shaved over the meat, melding with the electric flavors. Chef explains, “Out here, I am pleased to say that people love spicy, so you can’t be too shy on heat.”

INGREDIENTS:

Hot Sauce:
18 grams salt
400 grams roughly chopped Fresno chiles
400 grams roughly chopped garlic

Kroeung Marinade:
100 grams peeled and roughly chopped fresh galangal
100 grams roughly chopped lemongrass
100 grams roughly chopped garlic
100 grams roughly chopped shallot
25 grams peeled and roughly chopped fresh turmeric
25 grams roughly chopped makrut lime leaves
25 grams soybean oil
20 grams kosher salt

Cured Egg Yolks:
50 grams sugar
50 grams salt
100 grams egg yolks

Quick Pickles:
100 grams palm or coconut vinegar
40 grams sugar
20 grams salt
10 grams fish sauce
20 grams julienned Fresno chiles
20 grams julienned red onion
20 grams julienned Asian pears

Steak Tare-Tare Marinade
20 grams egg yolks
10 grams Chinese mustard
5 grams fish sauce
5 grams lime juice
5 grams scallion rings
5 grams chopped cilantro
3 grams sesame oil

To Assemble and Serve:
One 48-ounce bone-in porterhouse steak
Salt
Black pepper
Cilantro sprigs
Rice
Rice crackers

METHOD:

For the Hot Sauce:
In a bowl, mix to combine salt with 600 grams water. Fill a mason jar with chile, garlic, and saltwater brine. Allow to lacto-ferment for 2 weeks at room temperature, burping the jar every other day to release the gases. When desired fermentation is achieved, drain and reserve brine and transfer to a Vitamix blender. Purée until smooth. Reserve.

For the Kroeung Marinade:
Using a mortar and pestle, grind all ingredients into a paste.

For the Cured Egg Yolks:
In a medium bowl, mix to combine sugar and salt. In a nonreactive container partially filled with the curing mixture, carefully drop egg yolks so they are 1 inch apart. Cover with more curing mix, seal container, and refrigerate for 4 weeks.

For the Quick Pickle:
In a pot, heat vinegar, sugar, salt, fish sauce, and 20 grams Kroeung Marinade until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add 40 grams ice to cool. In a nonreactive container, submerge chiles, red onion, and pear in the marinade. Cover and let marinate overnight.

For the Steak Tare-Tare Marinade:
In a large bowl, mix to combine all ingredients and 10 grams Kroeung Marinade.

To Assemble and Serve:
Slice tenderloin portion of porterhouse, leaving the bone-in New York steak portion intact. Marinate New York steak in Kroeung Marinade overnight. The following day, season the New York steak portion with salt and pepper. Grill it over hot coals until desired doneness. Allow to rest. Meanwhile, mince the sliced tenderloin. In a small bowl, fold the Steak Tare-Tare Marinade into the tenderloin. On a serving plate, spoon tare-tare tenderloin into a ring mold. Remove ring mold and garnish with cilantro sprigs and Quick Pickled red onion. Cut grilled steak off the bone and into slices. Arrange steak next to tenderloin, reforming the shape of the porterhouse. Garnish steak with Quick Pickled chiles and pear. Microplane Cured Egg Yolks over the entire dish. Serve with Hot Sauce, rice for the steak, and rice crackers for the tare-tare tenderloin.

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