Steve’s Fabulous Steak Sauce

Not A1 but better!

The color of this sauce is a dark chocolate brown and the flavor not only outstanding on meat but promotes the meat’s flavor marriage to big red wines.  I use an immersion blender to process the sauce until very fine. If the destination includes small-necked bottles, you may want to consider a course strainer to remove any large bits, which may impede the pour ability. I think the exercise of making a sauce like this is a good one for any chef who may need more faith in their abilities. Achieving this sauce may seem almost magical. Originally, I was intending to mimic A1 Sauce, which is very good. Now, I much prefer this one as it spicier.

If making a hot and mild version, consider doubling the recipe and split the sauce before adding all of the hot pepper. The sauce is so good that it goes quickly so consider doubling the recipe.

1 Chopped onion

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

1 Small can tomato paste

Start with 1 cup of water (add more and sauce cooks and to adjust thickness)

2/3 Cup orange juice

1 Teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce

1/8 Cup red wine vinegar

½ Cup brown sugar

1/3 Cup sugar or enough to correct the sweetness

½ Teaspoon of ground ginger to start (adjust to taste)

1/8 Cup lime juice (juice from two limes)

1/8 Teaspoon of ground cloves

1/8 Teaspoon of ground coriander seeds

½ Teaspoon of ground mustard

1½ Cup raisins

½ Cup orange honey

2 Cloves crushed chopped garlic

6-7 Tablespoons of tamarind paste¹

1 Tablespoon ground orange rind

White pepper, black and red pepper to taste

Pinch of thyme

Salt to taste

Sauté 1 chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook until onion is translucent. Add ginger and garlic. Cook 1 minute then combine tomato paste, raisins, tamarind paste, lime juice, vinegar, honey and water. Cook down, adding water as necessary, until well blended, about a half an hour. Using a hand-held post blender, blend all the ingredients finely.  Add water as necessary to thin the sauce as it thickens at this stage. Add all other ingredients and cook another 10-15 minutes. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt, sugar, vinegar levels as necessary. When cool, pour the sauce into canning jars, tightly fit the lids, and sterilize the sealed jars in boiling water for an hour.  The sauce is now ready for long-term storage.  The flavor will deepen and further develop with age.

Note

1.        The paste of the tamarind in 1 pound blocks can be found in Asian markets offering Thai ingredients. Alternatively, use fresh tamarind pods, discard the outer pods, filaments, and seed pods. Softening these by boiling them in a bit of hot water which makes the paste easier to work with.