Thursday, January 3, 2008

Beefsteak Dinner (Whole Beef Tenderloin Roasted in a Kosher Salt Crust)

It is our family tradition to cook a Beefsteak dinner on New Years Eve. For those of you who don't know, "Beefsteak" is what a whole beef tenderloin roasted in a "cast" of Kosher Salt is called in North Jersey. The meat is cooked rare, sliced thin, dipped in melted butter, and served on thin sliced Italian or just plain white bread. It is always accompanied by a "relish tray" of raw carrots, celery, scallions, radishes, olives and pickles. Sometimes people serve fries at a Beefsteak dinner, but I have always thought they fill you up to much to have room for the star of the show.

I have never heard of this style of cooking a beef tenderloin outside of my native North Jersey, but in those parts there are whole businesses built around doing "Beefsteaks". It is common for organizations to hold Beefsteaks as fund raisers. They are also often done for political fund raisers. The best way to do a beef steak though is with a bunch of friends for a special time of celebration.

When I was growing up my uncle used to cater Beefsteaks and this is how the tradition got handed down to me. I have old eight millimeter films of my parents hosting new years eve Beefsteaks our house in Clifton. (My folks were quite the party people in those days.) One wonderful memory I have is of sitting in School # 4 on West 2nd Street and smelling the delicious aroma of beef steak roasting in an open pit at Hap Nightingales, the beef steak caterer next to the school. (By the way, Hap Nightingale is still owned by the Nightingale family in the same location they have been cooking Beefsteaks for the last 60 years.)

This year we had our beef steak at the home of Russ and Debbie, in Lancaster, PA. We introduced the tradition to them a few years back and Russ always wants to get together to Ring in the New Year with this decadent tradition. He invited a few friends over to join us, so the tradition is spreading outside of it's North Jersey environs.

You can find different recipes for salt crusted beef tenderloin on the Internet, but all of them complicate this simple way of cooking this select cut of beef.

Here is my recipe for how to cook a Beefsteak. You have to follow it to a T to get the full North Jersey experience.

North Jersey Style Beefsteak Dinner

1 whole beef tenderloin, trimmed (about 6 or 7 lbs.)
1 box Kosher Salt
Water
1 lb butter
2 loafs Italian Bread

Preheat oven to 400.

Moisten kosher salt with enough water so that it just sticks together.
Place tenderloin in a low sided pan, bend thin end of tenderloin up so that the girth of the meat if fairly uniform. Put a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the beef. Encase the beef fully in the salt so that is completed covered with about 3/4 of an inch of salt and no meat is showing through.

Roast the meat in the oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until the thermometer reads 120. Let meat rest in the salt crust for another 1/2 hour to 1 hour. It will continue to cook in the salt crust. Remove salt crust when temperature is between 140 and 145.

While meat is resting heat butter in a roasting pan until it is just melted.

Rinse salt off meat. Slice it thin. Place sliced meat into melted butter. Meat should be rare to medium rare. You can cook it to be more well done in the butter if desired, but this is not recommended.

Serve meat on thin slices of bread. Pass around the relish tray, and the fresh ground black pepper. A traditional thing to drink with a beefsteak dinner is red birch beer on tap.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I want to have a traditional beefsteak dinner for my husband's 40th birthday party but want to do it myslef (with help of course...). Can you tell me how much beef i'll need for 30 adults? And any otehr tricks of the trade you may know...
donna
donna.trabattoni@buckconsultants.com

nannajayceebee said...

Wow, that brings back memories. I live in Texas now, and was trying to decribe "a beefsteak." It's an entire event, not just a food. I grew up in North Jersey. I remember my dad talking about "going to beefsteak" that the Masons put on. He mentioned Hap Nightingale's too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe! I grew up in Paterson in the 60s and 70s and I can remember attending beefsteaks at my dad's Masonic lodge and the PBA. This will definitely become our New Years tradition.

Anonymous said...

Three questions:
How many people would this serve? (6-8 lb tendlion)

Would one want to sear the outside of the meat first? Just to get color?

Why the salt crust, couldn't one just sear the outside of the meat, slice then place butter?

Some of the beefsteaks in Jersey just grill over a flame, I think.

Unknown said...

We figure 1/3 lb of uncooked beef per person. I am not sure why we do the salt crust, except that this is the way it was handed down to me. Finally, yes I know that Nightingales, which is one of the last remaining beefsteak caterers cook theirs over a fire, also I don't know if they use a salt crust. The recipe I use is one that has been used since the 1930's by my uncle who did beefsteak catering on the side.

Unknown said...

Thanks for share beef steak dinner recipes.really its so delicious dish,thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Move to Florida after 8 yrs in Chicago and haven't been to a Beefsteak Dinner since. Guess I'll try this simple receipt
Bob

Kathy said...

I know this is an ancient thread but I need to know if you run the cooked meat under water to "rinse off the salt"?

Anonymous said...

My dad did beefsteak the same way ,but wrapped in a paper bag then put in the oven,we also lived in northern jersey,those were the days

Unknown said...

As a rule of thumb I like to go 1 lb per person , but with a beefsteak maybe a pound and a half uncooked. If this is all your serving maybe more

Anonymous said...

I live in florida orig from Jersey. Use to love this at The Brownstone. Tgank you for recipe.