- Thank you to Lionsgate
for sponsoring this episode. I was excited about John Wick Chapter 4 coming out this month and that's why I wanted to
make this dish from Chapter 2, steak and fries cooked in duck fat, a fitting final meal for
villains and henchman alike. You can see John Wick
Chapter 4 in theaters now. To find showtimes near you, head to the link in the video description. - Duck fat, makes all the difference. - [Winston] Jonathan. - Have you seen the menu here? Lot of options. - Jonathan, listen to me. - A man can stay here a long time and never eat the same meal twice. - Hey, what's up, guys? Welcome back to Binging with Babish where this week we're taking a look at the steak and duck fat
fries from John Wick 2. Now, you might notice that
I have one of the gold coins used as currency in the John Wickaverse but look a little bit
closer and you'll notice that it is emblazoned with the
Peter Luger Steakhouse logo. That's because this is
in fact a chocolate coin from a quintessential
New York City steakhouse. So I think we can all
agree this is a funny joke and/or observation of some kind, one that I definitely didn't just film thinking that I would
come up with something when recording the voiceover. So now that we've established that that's definitely not what happened, we can get down to cooking. First up, I wanna test the best potatoes from which to make duck fat fries. The classic and ubiquitous
Idaho russet potato, the less starchy and more waxy Yukon Gold, my personal favorite for virtually
every potato application, a golden potato from which
the Yukon Gold is derived, a red potato whose only
red quality is its skin and an Eastern potato, potato
I've never heard of before. These guys are all getting
the same treatment. I'm peeling them, cutting
them into uniform fries and parboiling them in salted
and vinegar spiked water to help them keep their
shape for 15 to 20 minutes or until they're very
nearly falling apart. I'm then allowing them to cool completely on a wire rack set in a rim baking sheet before engaging in a
two-step deep frying process in duck fat, a frankly unfortunate amount of which needs to be used
in order to deep fry. First, we're heating it
to 275 degrees Fahrenheit for a low and slow initial fry. If you wanna see more about the three-step gourmet
french fry making process, click the link in the upper
right hand corner right now but we're basically confiting the potatoes at this temperature until they've
turned just golden blonde, no browning whatsoever. These guys are then
drained on paper towels and allowed to cool the
room temperature once more. We're then raising the
temperature of the duck fat just shy of its smoke point, 360 some odd degrees Fahrenheit, frying the potatoes one last
time until golden brown, about five minutes and draining
once again on paper towels. After rinsing and repeating with all the varietals of potatoes, we can determine which one
makes for the best fries. The eastern, red and
golden potatoes were a bust turning floppy after only a
few minutes out of the oil. The russets were decent but the real winners were the Yukon Golds retaining a shatteringly crisp exterior and devastatingly creamy interior many minutes after cooking. So those are gonna be our fries of choice for our baseline first crack at this dish. Next up, it looked like the steak was definitely a filet mignon
which when they're this thick, your best bet for cooking at
home is gonna be sous vide. I'm pre-mixing together kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper so that I do not cross-contaminate
my salt pinch bowl generously seasoning them on all sides and preparing their bath bag which I'm front-loading
with a couple cloves of crushed garlic, fresh
rosemary and thyme, our steaks and several pats of butter, all of which I'm placing
to the sides of the steak so that when we vac seal things down, the herbs and garlic don't
leave a permanent impression on the surface of the steaks. Next up, we're dropping
our pretty little parcel into a preheated 130 degree
Fahrenheit water bath where it's gonna hang out for two hours. Any longer than that, you
better call Kenny Loggins 'cause you're gonna
have spent too much time in the danger zone. Then we're removing the steaks and thoroughly patting them
dry on some paper towels before heading over to the stove top where we've got a preheated cast iron pan generously lubricated
with high smoke point oil like vegetable or canola at the ready. Because the steaks are
already cooked through to our desired doneness, we wanna sear them as quickly as possible but because they're so thick, we can also engage in the
selfless act of butter basting adding four tablespoons of fresh butter plus the garlic and herbs
from the sous vide bag, reducing the heat to medium
and spooning it over the steaks until the butter is lightly browned and the steaks are
burnished and glistening. Pour the brown butter over the steaks to keep them warm and because it's awesome and then I'm gonna simply
saute the asparagus spears for three to five minutes in
the remaining fat in the pan. Once those guys are tender
crisp, it's time to plate up. It looked like a pretty
simple presentation of steak, asparagus spears
and symmetrical fries. So there you have it,
steak with duck fat fries. Now, this is normally the
part where I say it's good but can we do better? And it's definitely good but I feel like I kind of half-assed this so the question is, can I do better? Let's start with the steak. It's very, very difficult
to dry age meat at home but an interesting substitute
is the use of koji rice, a malted sweet rice used for making miso. I'm processing a handful of it and passing it through a fine mesh sieve to make some koji rice dust which I'm going to use to thoroughly coat all sides of my steak. The enzymes in this rice powder are basically gonna
fast ferment our steaks creating what some say is an equivalent to a 45 day dry age and
flavor and tenderness after only 48 hours
uncovered in the fridge. First, we're gonna rinse off all the koji and pat the steaks dry. As you can see, they've
even darkened in color just like they would've
if they were dry aged and from here they can be
vac sealed and sous vided for two hours before
searing, same as last time. Next up, the potatoes and this time, I wanted to try a method that much more efficiently
utilizes duck fat, the so-called potato pavé. So I've got two and a
half pounds of Yukon Golds that I'm peeling and slicing
thinly on a mandoline then I'm melting about a cup of duck fat, adding a pinch of kosher salt, a half teaspoon each garlic
powder and onion powder, tiny whisking to combine and pouring over the
potatoes in a large bowl then I'm gently tossing
everything together to make sure that each slice of potato is generously coated in duck fat. Then I'm rubbing down a small loaf pan with the excess fat on my gloves and lining the loaf pan with
a sheet of parchment paper pressing down in the sides and corners to make sure that it's flush and then beginning to shingle the potatoes layer by layer into the loaf pan until it just can't
support any more potatoes, pressing them down to make sure that they're as tightly
packed as possible. Greasing down the parchment paper overhang and folding that overtop then this guy's headed into a preheated 225 degree Fahrenheit oven for three hours effectively confiting the potatoes and creating a loaf of delicate layers. As soon as it comes out of the oven, to ensure loaf cohesion,
we gotta weigh it down. Place it on on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any errant overflow. Place the same size loaf pan overtop and fill that guy with the heaviest stuff you can get your hands on,
rice, fermentation weights, both then we're letting this guy
cool at room temperature for at least an hour
before fridging overnight. The next day we can retrieve
our potato fat log thing and begin slicing it up
in preparation for frying. Use the parchment to pull
out the potato parcel and once you've trimmed
off any rough edges, we can start cutting this
thing into quote unquote fries. Make sure this thing is
extremely cold when you slice it otherwise it might fall apart. Take a moment to admire the
lovingly layered cross-section. Trim off the rough edges and break down into rectangular prisms which we're going to arrange on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer
for at least two hours up to a few days. We want them totally solidified so they don't fall apart in the oil. Next up, there appeared to be
a viscous sauce in the plate so I'm going to assume it's a Bordelaise, a classic French mother sauce achieved by combining six
ounces of dry red wine, one small finely diced shallot,
two springs of fresh thyme and one bay leaf in a medium saucepan bringing to a simmer and cooking
down to a syrup consistency about six to eight minutes at which point we're gonna
add a cup of demi-glace cooking for about another five minutes until syrupy enough to
coat the back of a spoon. Now, Bordelaise is a
pretty harsh acrid sauce so after straining and setting aside, I'm probably gonna end up
mounting it with butter when we serve. Speaking of butter, that's gonna be my one
upgrade for the asparagus, combining one softened stick of the stuff with two finely minced anchovies. Set that aside because it's time to
bring everything together. Over on the stove top,
I've got some vegetable oil heated to 375 decrees Fahrenheit into which I'm going to
gently lower my confited frozen duck fat potato logs. Now, these are pretty delicate and they love sticking
to the bottom of the pan and to each other but
the rewards are great. Just look at this thing when
it comes out of the fryer. So I'm gonna continue cooking these guys, draining them on paper towels and keeping them warm while searing steaks and sauteing asparagus. A couple tablespoons
of high smoke point oil in the cast iron and olive
oil in the saute pan, adding the asparagus
over medium high heat, tossing things around and
adding two tablespoons of water, covering and allowing to steam for about two minutes in the pan in this method inspired
by America's Test Kitchen. Meanwhile, the steaks
are getting simply seared and sprinkled with salt. One great side effect of the koji is that it causes the
steaks to brown more quickly which is great when you're
dealing with sous vided steaks and you're trying to put
as much color on them as quickly as possible. Once our fries are done, I'm gently heating up our
Bordelaise in a small pan, reducing the heat under the asparagus, uncovering and allowing the
rest of the water to evaporate so that it can saute. Once cooked through and lightly browned, I'm killing the heat and
adding the anchovy butter tossing around quickly to
emulsify into a glossy sauce. Likewise, into the warm Bordelaise, I am rigorously tiny whisking two to four tablespoons of
butter, lightning its color and making it richer and
much more deliciouser. I'm hitting the potato pavés with big flakes of finishing salt and plating things up just like before albeit with a rich red wine sauce. And there you have it, steak,
asparagus and duck fat fries worthy of The Continental Hotel but do the potatoes taste
as amazing as they look? And the answer is a big time hardcore yes. They're ultra crispy and
taste distinctly of duck fat despite using a fraction of the amount. It's fussy and labor intensive but no more so than our
gourmet French fry method. Next up, the steak is fantastic. It doesn't taste exactly like dry aged but it's got the same funky,
nutty, sweet complexity and for a fraction of the time and cost. The basic iteration is certainly good but this one's really and
truly clean plate club worthy and for a last meal, you
could certainly do worse. Maybe just as a general rule of thumb, don't put out a $7 million contract on John Wick's head before eating. Thanks again to Lionsgate
for sponsoring this episode. I love the John Wick movies
for their world building and the way each film
introduces something new to the John Wick universe. The practical effects and stunt coordination is unbelievable, not to mention there's
usually a dish or two that I can take a stab at recreating. Go see John Wick Chapter
4 in theaters now. For more info, head to the
link in the video description. (calm music)
