# Resting steaks in beurre monte



## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

I'm in the process of opening a new restaurant with my partners, and I'll be running the BoH.  Almost done with the build out, so I'll be getting into the kitchen in a couple weeks to get started.  We'll be doing local meats....beef, pig, chicken, and lamb.  No fish, as we aren't close to the ocean and its not easy to get a supply of local freshwater fish.   So I want the steaks to be the best in town, obviously.

I'd read how Thomas Keller rests his steaks in beurre monte, and it makes a lot of sense.  I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this, and if so what procedures you've used to do this?  i.e. what temp would you hold the beurre monte?  How long would you rest the steaks?  Would a steam table or bain marie be best to use?  How much would you use...a hotel pan full perhaps?  Also, any suggested uses for the leftover butter would be great too, aside from just clarifying it.

But basically I'd love to hear from anyone whose done this before, or anything close to it.  Hopefully I can pick up some things here to avoid a ton of trial and error later on


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## hillyhill (Mar 21, 2013)

If Thomas Keller can do it so can you. Don't use the steam table because it generates heat and you want the meat to rest not cook just set it out at room temperature and give it a stir every once in a while and you should be fine bro


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

Hillyhill said:


> If Thomas Keller can do it so can you.


Ain't that the truth. Thats a great line, btw. More and more I find that the chefs I admire most are not the ones "inventing" new things (e.g. Ferran Adria) but those who find new ways to refine...Keller, Marco, etc. And its always like "hey, thats not really anything difficult. And when you think about it it makes total sense. Now why didn't I think of that?"

Yeah what you said makes sense too. Although I would worry that room temp would be too cool for the beurre monte? I know not to let it get too hot, but not certain how too cool is for it. I figure the kitchen would sit around 80 to 90, maybe more on the line during service (we got a big big charbroiler coming).


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## linecook854 (Feb 13, 2013)

Doesn't beurre monte break if goes past or below a certain temp? Also not trying to steal the posters thread but how do kitchen hold their beurre monte? The steam table seems like it would be too harsh temp wise not to mention you can't really precisely control the temp.


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

thats not really stealing my thread, thats exactly what I want this thread to be about!!


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## shootoo (Jul 15, 2012)

Interesting topic... I was just researching this the other day. This pic pretty much sums up my findings

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BHdxHgED8ZQ/SYNUH2PHtSI/AAAAAAAAEDs/Srhr1lE-t6s/s400/IMG_3694.JPG

It's not mine, just one I found on the web


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

Nice pic.  Wondering though, is that for resting steaks or for poaching?  Given the previous comment about a steam table being too harsh, I was thinking that an IC would be the way to maintain a mellower temp, so that makes a lot of sense.  Think that'd be an appropriate temp though?  At first thought that seems a little high, but then again, taking a steak from a 600f grill or a 400f oven to a 140f butter bath is a big drop in temp...but enough for the internals to cool for a few minutes tho?  Grrr its frustrating not having a set up kitchen to play in and try this stuff out...


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## nikolasrb (Mar 22, 2013)

why resting in Beurre monte?

you should rest your meat at room temperature,let the juices flow....if you are a fan of resting meat in liquids,Demi-Glace is my opinion for that....

if u have digital thermometer i can write you here cooking temperatures to achive highest quality for R,MR,M,MW,WD...


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## greg (Dec 8, 1999)

Resting meats in any liquid will reduce the temperature more quickly (liquids conduct heat better) and reduce carryover cooking. While demiglace would also add a good flavor like butter does, it's about twice the price in ingredients alone, let alone labor to produce it.


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

Yeah that was what Chef Keller had said...something also about the liquid traps the internal juices in better?  Dunno...density of liquid butter vs. density of air perhaps?

Speaking of flavor, would resting in beurre monte 'wash off' seasoning?  or should they be cooked in sufficiently after coming off the grill?  I'd imagine also that flavoring the beurre monte could get some interesting results?


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## newphillychef (Jan 31, 2008)

hmm great topic and definetly gives me some ideas I may wanna play around with and see what the end results are to be.


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## nikolasrb (Mar 22, 2013)

every kitchen worth a damn should have Demi-glace.even in freezer.


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

post any results ya get Newphillychef! I'll do the same. My hands are itchy to get into my shiny new kitchen and play!

speaking of shiny and new...heres a pic of 1/2 of my shiny new hood!





  








newhood.jpg




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Mar 23, 2013


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## solsen1985 (Feb 27, 2013)

Adding butter to any equation is going to improve the results IMO. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/bounce.gif


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

The greater density of the butter is supposed to keep enough pressure on the meat as it rests to prevent liquid from seeping out. Even a properly cooked and rested protein will have some liquid loss during the resting process (as evidenced by the pool of meat juices on the sheet pan of our resting racks after a busy nights' service). Like I said, the density and slight pressure from the fat is supposed to keep even more of this juice in the meat while it rests. 

Also, as a secondary benefit, it coats the meat in a film of delicious butter. Most meats will have to be drained on a c-fold to prevent butter pooling on the plate, but there will still be a coating on the meat as it is served. 

Demi glace, since it is water based and not fat based, would have no such benefit to resting the meat (preventing liquid loss). However, the resulting demi glace at the end of the night would be delicious. 

Nikola, not every kitchen "worth a damn" uses demi glace. I know many fine Italian, Mexican, Asian and Middle Eastern restaurants (among others) that don't rely on demi for anything. In fact, I work in a kitchen that doesn't use demi. We get along just fine, thanks. 

I've never done this in large scale volume before. I've done it for dinner parties and such, but never for a restaurant kitchen. The results were very good. I didn't do a side by side comparison, but I will tell you that the 2 times I've done it before I liked the results. 

The way to prevent "washing off" of seasoning is to season your meat sufficiently before hand to allow the salt to penetrate the meat. See: Judy Rodgers and the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. It is the same idea behind pre-salting proteins for service ahead of time. Season all your airlines, all your t-bones, etc a day before they are to be served, which results in a spectacular steak/chicken. 

I wouldn't do it with fish though...just meat proteins (duck, beef, chicken, lamb, etc). If anyone tries to tell you that pre-salting will make the meat dry then they don't know what they are talking about. It's bunk. 

Just season like you would if you were about to put it on the grill or in the pan. Also, a bit of Malden or fleur de sel on the meat after it is sliced will go a long ways as well. I would keep the butter at about 115-120F for resting. The fact that it is being submerged in a "liquid" will help the meat cool faster than it would if it were resting in the air.


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

Hey great post Someday, thanks for the info!

Yeah I'm with you on the presalting.  Sure, if you are dry curing something you'll lose moisture, but not if its reasonably seasoned.

What I'm planning on doing with the ribeye and strip steaks (I got other plans for other cuts), is to cut into individual portions off the primal, season them, then cold smoke them for 45 mins at 70f.  Then wrap in plastic and refrigerate in the walk in for a day, then they are ready to go into the line fridge for service.  Grill at 600f on the charbroiler to get the Maillard reaction going, and finish off anything over Mid Rare in the oven at 400f with a basting of beurre monte.  Then rest in beurre monte.

The reasoning behind this is to a) get a wood-grill flavor going on the steaks even though we've got a gas charbroiler, b) have the steaks preseasoned and portioned so the grill guy doesn't have to do it, just unwrap and cook and baste, and c) get the nice buttery flavor in the steaks through the resting process, as well as retaining more internal juices.  What I've learned re cold smoking is that preseasoning and then individually wrapping in plastic and refrigerating for a day helps retain the smokiness, but from what you said that should also help with retaining seasoning when resting in butter.  Sooo hopefully it all works together well, and I can have smoky buttery steaks for my customers...

We'll see in a few weeks!


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## arugula (Sep 13, 2012)

If I were to do this I would do my beurre monte and mix it 70/30 with demi and sauce. Keep it in a 1/2 hotel with a perferated insert at 120f like somebody said. You would defiantly have to be careful when you get those surprise inspections. Cause they'd have your head for it.


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

Not sure I'd want any starch in it though.  I guess a "semi" demi without the espagnole would work...basically veal stock reduction.  Another drawback with using demi though would be that I couldn't turn around and clarify the used butter...sure I could make a sauce out of it that would be great, but I'd have to use the hell out of that sauce to use it all.  At least with the beurre monte I can take the leftover and clarify it the next day for regular use, and I'll certainly be plowing through the clarified butter.  Although veal butter might be really good for sauteing...

The health inspectors around here aren't too bright, so I'm pretty sure I can explain away the pan of warm butter sauce if needed.  Actually they probably wouldn't even notice it.  The only things they seem to care about are washing hands 'properly', using gloves constantly, and fridge temps.


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Don't use demi in your resting liquid. Waste of time and product. There is a basis for the butter, in science and reason, so that makes sense. The demi, not so much. I think the demi would be better used by making a sauce for the steak after it is rested in the beurre monte. 

You should not have a problem with the health inspector. As long as you are not holding steak in the butter for longer than 4 hours, or things like that, you should be fine. Follow the procedure you would use for making warm butter sauces (i.e. beurre blanc, hollandaise, etc) and you shouldn't have a problem. 

I like where you are going with the ribeyes and sirloins. I like the idea of cold smoking to create a "wood smoke" flavor without a wood grill...nice idea. I worked the grill at a steakhouse for a while, and all our steaks got a baste if clarified garlic butter before going in the oven. I like where you are going. I would just caution not to overdo it on the smoke...but 45 mins doesn't sound like too much, especially for larger cuts. 

Good luck


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## robo (Sep 3, 2012)

i rest steaks at room temp. on a roasting rack and top steak with  a pad of butter till ready for pick up.


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## ddugan (Oct 15, 2007)

If you dont mind, I would like to see those as well


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

I'll be making some test steaks soon. Contractor just finished grouting the kitchen tiles this weekend, moved in the equipment on the line yesterday so they can wire the island equipment from the top today. I'll post my results when I get some test runs done.

Heres my line as it stands now...





  








IMG950832.jpg




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## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

wvman2374 said:


> I'll be making some test steaks soon. Contractor just finished grouting the kitchen tiles this weekend, moved in the equipment on the line yesterday so they can wire the island equipment from the top today. I'll post my results when I get some test runs done.
> 
> Heres my line as it stands now...
> 
> ...


How freakin exciting. These are your glory days.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Where's the restaurant?  You need informed unbiased opinions.


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

wvman2374 said:


> I'll be making some test steaks soon. Contractor just finished grouting the kitchen tiles this weekend, moved in the equipment on the line yesterday so they can wire the island equipment from the top today. I'll post my results when I get some test runs done.
> 
> Heres my line as it stands now...


Looks like a big space - I envy you!


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## cacioepepe (Apr 3, 2011)

wvman2374 said:


> Not sure I'd want any starch in it though. I guess a "semi" demi without the espagnole would work...basically veal stock reduction. Another drawback with using demi though would be that I couldn't turn around and clarify the used butter...sure I could make a sauce out of it that would be great, but I'd have to use the hell out of that sauce to use it all. At least with the beurre monte I can take the leftover and clarify it the next day for regular use, and I'll certainly be plowing through the clarified butter. Although veal butter might be really good for sauteing...
> 
> The health inspectors around here aren't too bright, so I'm pretty sure I can explain away the pan of warm butter sauce if needed. Actually they probably wouldn't even notice it. The only things they seem to care about are washing hands 'properly', using gloves constantly, and fridge temps.


I just posted the same idea in another thread, but it seems just as relevant here. After butchering our dry aged new yorks we would grind and render the beef fat. During service the fat would be heated and aromatics would be added and put into a third or half hotel pan on the station. We would rest all the steaks in the aged fat. This kept the juices in (probably even more than beurre monte, because there is no water in the fat like in the BM) and added another layer of flavor. Awesome technique.


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## wvman2374 (Nov 11, 2012)

cacioEpepe said:


> I just posted the same idea in another thread, but it seems just as relevant here. After butchering our dry aged new yorks we would grind and render the beef fat. During service the fat would be heated and aromatics would be added and put into a third or half hotel pan on the station. We would rest all the steaks in the aged fat. This kept the juices in (probably even more than beurre monte, because there is no water in the fat like in the BM) and added another layer of flavor. Awesome technique.


Wow thats clever!

What fat are you using for this? I'm assuming you're dry aging the subprimal strip loin, and you have to trim that down...is it the fat from the fat cap? Or from other parts of the animal from the butcher or your own butchering?

Moving into the new kitchen on tuesday. Lots of work to be done at that point. Its a decent sized space but we are short on equipment...six burners, one oven, etc.. And the owner doesn't quite understand the amount of work that goes in to this level of food production; his background is in the turn-and-burn chain stores and hes never been involved with an everything-from-scratch kitchen before. So getting him to understand the production schedules and labor needs is a bit difficult. I might try...if I have the energy to spare...to keep a daily journal at that point of everything that gets done in order to get the kitchen operational. In any event I'll definitely post some stuff here regarding the steaks and what I do to them.


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## soesje (Dec 6, 2012)

I find this very interesting and would like to give it a try.

But what does one do with the meat after it has rested in the butter? Warm it up to serving temperature in the oven a few mins? (thats how we usually finish our meats after it has rested in the drawer of that very temp you mention....so thats different...)


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