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Test Kitchen: Filet Oscar

A colorful contribution to the holiday table

by

Photo by Lucie Monk Carter

I made my first foray into the French mother sauces for my family’s 2010 Christmas Day dinner. One year before, my parents had shoved the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook into my hands and begged me to learn how to cook for myself. And I met that challenge ... with comfortable iterations of baked mac ‘n cheese, ever-fancier scrambled eggs, and the occasional chicken tikka masala or quesadilla with my new boyfriend (fiancé at the time of this writing, husband by publication date.)

So it was a still-green cook who accepted the whisk and recipe print-out from my dad (my role model as an enthusiastic, engaged cook). We were making filet Oscar, aptly ornamental for the occasion. I was tapped to handle the béarnaise sauce, ladled over tenderloin, which sits atop asparagus. And did I mention the topping of jumbo lump crabmeat?

Hollandaise is the mother sauce, béarnaise its tarragon-flecked, peppery child. Both come together with mindful stirring in a double boiler as you, the alchemist, hover, stir, and wait.

The final dish looked at home on my mom’s fine china, the béarnaise dripping its smooth gold from the steak’s seasoned top to the asparagus spears below. I relaxed into that first, small contribution to the holiday table and smiled into my Bordeaux.

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Filet Oscar: A Holiday Dish 
Yield: 4 servings

Pairs with: Bordeaux

Ingredients

For the béarnaise:

For the steak:

Method 

For the béarnaise: 

  1. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, shallots, pepper, and tarragon and bring to a boil until all but a few tablespoons of liquid have evaporated, about five minutes. Remove from heat.
  2. Place a medium saucepan filled with two inches of water over medium high heat. Bring water to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. In a metal mixing bowl, combine shallot mixture with egg yolks and whisk together. Place bowl on top of simmering saucepan. Continue to stir egg yolks as they thicken, approximately 5 to 7 minutes.
  3. Slowly add butter, a tablespoon at a time, whisking to combine. Season with salt and lemon juice. Keep warm.

For the steak: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Season steaks with salt and pepper. In a large cast-iron skillet, melt butter and olive oil over medium heat until oil is shimmering.
  2. Add steaks to pan and sear one side for 4 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 additional minutes.
  3. Place pan in oven and cook steaks to medium-rare (135ºF internal temperature). Remove from oven and rest on a plate tented with foil.

To plate: 

Lay four asparagus spears on each plate. Top with tenderloin, then a spoonful of jumbo lump crabmeat, followed by a drizzle of béarnaise.

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