A Recipe for Father's Day: Grilled Côte de Boeuf + Wine Pairings

By Farid Zadi Fri., Jun. 17 2011 at 7:00 AM

Farid Zadi

Rib Steak or Côte de Boeuf

Suggesting a hunk of grilled meat for Father's Day seems predictable. But the weather is perfect just about this time of year and bonding with dad outdoors over an open fire seems like an almost universal pastime. Besides, grilled steak tastes better than a neck tie or a wrench set (or a rat!). If you can't find côte de boeuf at your local butcher shop, just buy a rib steak (also called cowboy steak or prime rib), which is basically the same thing. The main difference is that the French cut has a longer bone that's trimmed at the end.

Sommelier David Haskell of Magnum suggests three wine pairings from France, Italy and America for a more global take on Father's Day.

A proper côte de boeuf should be thick enough to stand on its edge, a smaller cut is actually a côte a l'os. The idea is that it should be big enough to serve at least two people and to cook a bit longer than smaller steaks in order for the fat inside to render and baste the meat. Bearnaise sauce and frites are the traditional sides for a quintessentially Parisian steak frites. We're serving ours with grilled vegetables to keep it as simple as possible with no extra dishes to wash.

Rib steak is an expensive cut of beef, even a cellophane wrapped supermarket piece will cost at least $40. If you want to splurge even more you can source aged prime rib with less marbling in the center than the one we made or buy American charolais. Regardless, a home cooked steak is usually more economical than a restaurant version.

Grilled Côte de boeuf
From: Chef Farid Zadi, Dean of Culinary Arts, Ecole de Cuisine Los Angeles
Notes: If you're more budget-minded, relatively inexpensive cuts such as hangar or flank steak are terrific for grilling. We suggest marinading cheaper and leaner cuts with a little red wine and finely chopped shallots. Serve with grilled vegetables such as zucchini, eggplant and sliced potatoes that have been marinaded with salt, pepper, a little lemon juice and olive oil.
Makes: 2-4 servings

1 two-bone piece of rib steak
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Season steak with salt and pepper. This is a big cut of meat, so don't be afraid to season liberally with salt. Leave the steak at room temp while you're firing up the grill. It will take about 30-45 minutes, depending on the weather, to temper or bring the internal temperature of the meat up to room temperature.

2. Make sure your grill is very hot, about 500F. Place the steak on the grill, cook for about 3 minutes or until you get a good brown sear, turn to sear the other side.

3. If you're using a propane grill, reduce the temperature to about 400F. If you're using a charcoal or wood grill, move the steak to a cooler part of the grill. Finish cooking both sides and use the finger test to check for medium-rare.

4. Let the steak rest for approximately ten minutes before carving. Serve with Maille mustard.

Wine Pairings
From: David Haskell of Magnum
Notes: Just sit back and enjoy the wine and the food. Don't over-think these pairing. Just be thankful you are with family.

K and L in Hollywood: Domaine Berthoumieu, 2007. The côte de boeuf will give this wine even more of a meaty flavor. The wine will give beef spice and the vegetables will give off even more of a presence of green peppers.
Cost: $19.99
Grapes: Tannat and cabernet sauvignon
Region: Madrian, France

Rosso Wine Shop in Glendale: Ettore Germano, 2006. The wine has lots of fruit over-tones and the beef will bring out even more fruit, but the grilled vegetables will help give the wine a smokey flavor.
Cost: $29.99
Grape: Barbera d'alba
Region: Piedmont, Italy

Domaine LA: Arnot Roberts "Clajeux Vineyard" Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008. This wine is a classic pairing. It's a well balanced California cabernet with dark fruits. The wine can act as a kind of sauce for the beef, since there is no au jus or beef stock for a grilled côte de boeuf.
Cost: $90.00
Region: Northern California

Follow David Haskell on Twitter.

Farid Zadi is the Dean of Culinary Arts at Ecole de Cuisine. You can follow him on twitter or join him on Facebook.

Tags:

Côte de Boeuf, David Haskell, Farid Zadi, Magnum, Test Kitchen, wine pairings

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Dereke

As the dean of a culinary school, this recipe is sadly lacking. Not too many people have a clue about the finger test. The approx cooking time is any where from 3 minutes to the finger test, which is what, another minute or another 35 minutes, depending of course as to how cool the area of the grill is...we as professionals in the game need to be more careful when we belt out another recipe, assuming everyone has good basic training behind them...Dereke Bruce

Joe

Just how did you come up with a 1-35 minute cooking time range based on this post? If a natural wood or charcoal fired grill is 500F at the hottest point, the cooler part of the grill will be about 100F less or about 400F. A link to an elaborate explanation of "finger test" is included in the post. Does every recipe have to assume that only absolute beginners, who can't be bothered to read anything beyond a single recipe, will cook from it? No!

Thomas

Are you kidding me? If you get the grill up to 500F, just how "cool" do you think the coldest part of the grill will be??? Did you click the link to the finger test? That's the big CLUE!