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Mannheim

Steak-frites is a pan-seared or grilled beef steak served with a pile of fried potatoes, the house dish of the French and Belgian brasserie and the one by which most of them are judged. Both countries claim it, Belgium with the stronger case for the frites and France for the sauce culture around the meat. The cut is rarely a premium one: entrecôte is the classic, but bavette, onglet and faux-filet are just as traditional, chosen for flavour and chew rather than tenderness, and a bistro that lists filet is usually trading on the name. The sauce varies by house and region: béarnaise in most of France, a pepper sauce in the north, maître d'hôtel butter in Paris, and in Geneva the Café de Paris butter sauce that a handful of restaurants built an entire menu around. Dedicated steak-frites restaurants serve nothing else and bring the frites in two rounds so the second batch arrives hot.

The steak is cooked hard and fast. It comes out of the fridge early, is dried and salted, and goes into a very hot pan with a little clarified butter or oil, or onto a grill, for two to four minutes a side depending on thickness and the order; French kitchens take bleu, saignant and à point seriously and cook a bavette no further than saignant because it toughens. It rests for five minutes before cutting. The frites are the Belgian method whether or not the kitchen admits it: a floury potato such as Bintje, cut to about ten millimetres, rinsed, blanched in fat at around 150°C until soft and pale, cooled, then fried a second time at 180°C until golden and crisp. Beef dripping is the traditional Belgian fat and still the best; most French kitchens use vegetable oil. The frites are salted the moment they leave the fat.

Judge the two halves separately and then together. The steak should have a dark crust, be cooked as ordered from edge to centre, and release a little pink juice rather than a grey pool; the sauce should be a small quantity on the side or on top, not a flood, and a béarnaise should taste of tarragon and reduced vinegar, not of warm mayonnaise. The frites should be crisp outside, fluffy inside, salted, and hot when they reach you, which means fried to order and not held under a lamp. Mark down a steak cooked beyond the order, an unrested steak bleeding into the frites, thin fast-food style fries or frozen ones with a uniform coating, a sauce from a packet, and a plate where the frites have gone soft under the meat. A green salad is the only acceptable third element.

Steak-frites

BLOCK HOUSE Mannheim

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