A delicious, quick meal that will use some of your filet is beef stroganoff. This is the recipe I use...sounds complicated but you can simplify the sauce. The point is that the beef is sliced thin and quickly, very quickly, sauted and then tossed with the sauce and served over egg noodles. Delicious ! Beef Stroganoff (Silver Palate) 3 Cup Crème Fraiche (can use sour cream) 1 1/2 Tbl Dijon mustard 3 Tbl tomato paste 3 Tbl Worcestershire sauce 2 Tsp paprika 1/2 Cup demiglace (or good beef broth) 3/4 Tsp salt fresh black pepper To Taste 1 Lb firm small sized, white button mushrooms 10 Tbl butter (or a combo of butter)and EVOO 24 pearl onions 3 Lb of beef filet Italian parsley Chopped Combine creme fraiche, tomato paste, mustard Worcestershire, paprika, demiglace (or beef broth if you don't have demi glace), salt and pepper in a medium size sauce pan. Simmer slowly for 20 minutes or until sauce is slightly reduced. Do not boil. Remove from heat and let sit covered. Cut a small x in the bottom of each onion. Bring a pot of water to the boil and drop the onions in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain the onions and run under cold water. Peel the onions. Melt 3TBSP of butter in saut pan. Saute Mushrooms until tender. Remove mushrooms and add 3 TBSP more butter, saute onions just until lightly golden. Remove the onions from the pan and add to mushrooms. Cut the meat into thin slices on the diagonal. Heat the remaining butter in the same pan. Cook on high heat just until lightly browned,do not over cook.This dish can be prepared to this point several hours before serving. To complete, set sauce over medium low heat and bring to a bare simmer. Add mushrooms, onions and any accumulated juices. Simmer 5 minutes. Add beef and juices, heat just until meat is heated through. Serve immediately over hot noodles , garnish with the parsley.

I know the LC pieces I have warn against heating past medium. I've pushed the envelope a bit occassionally, but I'd be hesitant to heat it "screaming hot." Lodge or other CI is cheap, LC is not. I'd not risk it. I like to sear in a skillet, too, One thing I've found is that this method is not ideal if there's a bone involved because the meat quickly shrinks enough to create a small airspace next to the bone. Wonder if others have had this problem. I also tend to like my strip side slightly more done than the tenderloin side, so that presents issues of its own. So I rarely buy Porterhouse, but I'll be happy to order it at a steak house that knows what they're doing better than I do. :) John - Glad your meal worked out. My guess is your "pretty ok" is "pretty excellent" by most people's standards. Interesting about your eel concoction. MC@H mentions using fish sauce to mimic some of the nuances of aged steak, but I don't recall if they marinate it for a while, or how long. Unfortunately I can't locate that cookbook (or much of anything cooking related) to look it up, as my kitchen is still not back together.

jojoco, that is a very good article to read about the concept of resting meat. Thanks for posting the link to it. One thing I like about this forum is the exchange of ideas, and knowledge. Otherwise, this might as well be another "Recipe Exchange". I will repeat, that I enjoy preparing steak thinner is a personal preference, in no way I am disputing other ways are no good. Furthermore, I am not recommending not to rest the steak if you are to prepare steak the normal way. You should absolutely rest the steak. As the article points out after resting the steak, the temperature will drop from 210 degrees F to only 125 Degrees F. A 125 degree steak is enjoyable, but my personal preference is to have my steak served at close to 210 degrees. My personal preference is to have more crusted steak while still have the center rare or medium rare. I achieve that by having the steak prepared thin. My personal preference is to have more surface area to pick up seasoning, and that is also accomplished by having more surface area. I have business lunches almost everyday, and I think I have been to every single steak house in the entire NYC area more than once; I am in total agreement with LindaC, if a restaurant were to serve steak my way, it would shut its doors in one week. ThatÂs not what most people expect how a steak is to be done. Regarding the article, interesting and thorough it may be, I do have questions regarding a few issues. I am not sure the fact that a steak drips some juice out will change its flavor. As the steak drips, the volume gets smaller, the concentration of flavor remain the same. In any case the relative volume of juice exuded is so small it will make no difference to the taste buds. Not that it matters, juice dripping is a fact, but the presumption as to what cause it had ignore a few possible liquid behaviors. Viscosity changes under different temperature and protein in blood can coagulate after longer cooking resting time. I also find it very curious that the author did not measure the interior temperature rising during the resting period. The so called "carry-over cooking temperature" rise during resting is a basic thermal dynamic behavior. If the outside temperature is at 210 degrees, the higher temperature will migrate inwards (Entropy), that is what I have been taught, and that has been documented by other studies regarding resting. dcarch

Both but there are only a couple of places I will order steak when eating out. Usually I cook it at home.....or, uncook it actually. I want it extra, extra rare. Cold in the middle. I would rather eat cardboard than a well done steak. I also don't want it warm in the middle. I eat steak a lot, but mostly at home. The way I cook it, is rub sr flour on it...not enough to consider it breaded...put it in a hot skillet for about a minute, just a dab of oil...not more than a tablespoon, just so it doesn't stick. Turn it. One more minute or there about....done.