Garlic Steak Fries | Food Wishes

Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with garlic steak fries. That's right, we are making garlic fries with garlic steak. Plus, I'm going to show you the fastest, easiest, purest, and most perfect cheese sauce ever. And while there are so many ways you can put steak and fries together, this just might be the best. And to get started, we'll go ahead and prep our skirt steak, which of course is called skirt steak because it looks exactly like a scarf. And whenever we work with this, we really have to pay attention to which way the fibers are going in the meat. And the direction they run is pretty easy to see. And the big mistake people make is once it's cooked, they try to cut it this way. But if you do, that makes it tough and chewy. Okay, we need to slice across this way. And if we do, we're going to get something much, much more tender. And once we're clear on that, we'll cut this into like four or five inch pieces. And since that last piece was already severed, that one's going to be a little smaller, but that's fine. And by slicing in sections like this, once cooked, we're going to be able to slice across the grain. And the pieces that will sort of match the size and shape of our French fries. And as we work our way through this, you'll notice it gets thinner towards the end. So those sections won't need as much cooking time. Or we can cook everything for the same amount of time. And the people that like medium rare can eat the thicker pieces. And our friends that like it more well done can enjoy those thinner pieces. And that's it. Once the cutting of the meat is complete, we will make our marinade, which starts with a ridiculous amount of crushed garlic. Oh yeah, I'm talking like six to eight large cloves. And to that we will add some kosher salt, one teaspoon per pound of meat, as well as some freshly ground black pepper, a few shakes of cayenne to stay in shape. And then we'll finish up with a little bit of white vinegar, plus a little bit of vegetable oil. And once everything's in there, we'll take our whisk and we'll give it a fast but thorough mixing. And once that's set, we'll transfer in our meat. And we will toss everything together until that meat is evenly coated. And if I wasn't filming, I'd probably use my hands because that did take me a few minutes with the tongs. But either way, once that's set, we'll go ahead and wrap it up and we will pop it in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of two hours. But if you can, I really think we should do this overnight, which is exactly what I did. And then the next day when we pull it out, it's not going to look good. It's going to look gray, but that's okay. And what we want to do at this point is take a spoon and scrape off any of the excess garlic from the marinade and just push it over to the side of the plate. And as you'll see, we'll use that later to make the world's best garlic butter. And that's it. We'll simply pop that in the fridge until we need it. And then once our meat's set and we're ready to rock, we will transfer an entire two-lb bag of frozen crinkle cut fries onto a foil line sheet pan. Oh, and I should mention we're not supposed to cook two pounds at once on one pan. All right, we're only supposed to do half a bag on a pan, but it's been my experience. If you spread them out perfectly and you cook them about 10 minutes longer than the directions, you end up with perfectly cooked crispy fries that we could enjoy right now, but we're not going to since we still have to cook our steak and a couple other things. So, what I like to do is just let those sit and then pop them back in the oven for about 10 minutes right before we're about to serve. And then for our next component, we will add some diced onion and pepper to some olive oil in a skillet set over high heat. And we'll toss in a pinch of salt. And what we'll do is wait for these to start sizzling. And once they do, we'll cook them, stirring for a couple minutes or until they start to take on a little bit of color and they start to sweeten and soften up a little bit. And once we think those have cooked long enough, we'll pull them off the heat and transfer them into a bowl. And then we'll very carefully and precisely measure in about a tablespoon of vinegar. And we'll give those a quick stir. And not only is that going to make for a beautiful and delicious garnish for our steak fries, but we've also flavored the pan a little bit in which we're about to cook our steak. But before we do, we'll melt a couple tablespoons of butter over a heat setting somewhere between medium and medium high. And we'll go ahead and transfer in our pieces of steak. And I have no idea why I just flipped that one. I guess I thought it would fit better. I don't know. Oh, and speaking of fitting, I couldn't fit all the pieces in this one pan. So, I'm going to cook those other couple pieces later. All right. In real life, if you're not filming, just use a couple pans. And of course, because we do have a variety of thicknesses, we will be turning those thinner ones first since those are only going to need a couple minutes per side. Oh, and speaking of thinner pieces, I didn't even realize this one was doubled up. So, I fixed that, which then made that our thinnest piece, which is why that's the first one I pulled out. And even though we're not doing this on high heat and a smoking hot pan, thanks to our marinade, we're still going to get some beautiful brown coloring. And as far as dness goes, it's really tough to get a thermometer into these thin steaks. So, generally, I'm just using the poke test. And once the meat firms up and springs back to the touch, it's usually somewhere between medium rare and medium. And the great thing about skirt steak, besides the fact it's one of the juiciest cuts of steak and has a very pronounced beefy flavor, is that it stays very tender and juicy. Cooked anywhere between medium rare and medium well. Right, believe it or not, even cooked well done, it's still pretty juicy. So, please relax and just get it close and you'll see it's going to work out beautifully. And once our last steak is finished, we'll reduce our heat to low. And while our steak rests, we'll transfer in the reserved garlic and we will sizzle that in the pan for about 30 seconds or so. And once that's been accomplished, we'll grab another chunk of butter and we'll go ahead and toss that in. And we will stir it around until melted. And once it is, we're going to have an incredibly flavorful garlic butter, which we'll use to spoon over our steak and fries. Oh, because I used unsalted butter, I am going to add a pinch of salt here. And that's it. Once the butter melts, we are done. And we will simply keep that in a warm spot for a couple minutes while we finish our final component, the world's best and easiest cheese sauce, which is nothing more than some heavy cream. To which we will add a little bit of cayenne and a pinch of salt. And we'll set that over mediumigh heat. And we'll wait for it to boil, which is only going to take a minute or two. So, don't go anywhere because, as you know, cream loves to boil over. And once that starts to rise up, you're going to want to give it a whisk. And then all we need to do is let this cook and reduce for 1 minute. At which point, we're going to transfer in our cheese. And we will turn off the heat. And we will start whisking. And we won't stop whisking until all that cheese is perfectly melted and emulsified in. And in case you're wondering, I used a combination of cheddar and pepperjack, which I think works best, but use what you want. I mean, you guys are, after all, the culinary elite of this new way to enjoy steak fruit. And while the sauce might look a touch thin at this point, as it cools down over the next few minutes while we slice our meat, it is going to thicken up a little bit, as you'll see in a few moments. And that's it. Once our cheese sauce is done, we'll go ahead and slice up our meat. Double checking we're going across the grain, which would be slicing these pieces the long way. And as you can hopefully see, this meat is very, very juicy. And that's because skirt steak is a very well marbled meat. And once that's sliced, if you want to cut it in half to make it a little more fork friendly, go ahead. But either way, we'll go ahead and slice up our meat. And I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to stop here and take a taste, which I'm happy to report was perfect in every way. And that's it. We'll pile up some hot fries in a bowl and top it with as much sliced steak as we want. And then we'll take our still warm garlic butter, which is almost as much garlic as butter, and we will spoon that over the top. And once that's been applied, we'll ladle over our cheese sauce, which as promised has thickened up a little bit. And then we'll finish up with that quick pepper and onion relish we made, which yes, is optional. You could just chop up some pickled peppers from a jar. or you could even spoon over your favorite salsa. And that's it. We'll finish up with some chopped Italian parsley, which looks and tastes great, but it also helps us digest the garlic and keeps our breath fresh, which is good since I heard we might be playing spin the bottle later. But anyway, I grabbed a fork and went in for the official bite. And that, my friends, if you're a fan of garlic fries or garlic steak or cheese fries or cheese steak, if you enjoy any or all of those things, you are going to absolutely love this. And yes, of course, if you want to waste time and effort and make your own homemade French fries, go ahead. But even if they come out perfect, which they won't, once we cover them with juicy meat and creamy cheese sauce, you're going to lose most of that crispiness. So, personally, I don't think it's worth it, but that's your call. Oh, and speaking of saving time, technically the cheese sauce is also optional since you can just toss a handful of grated cheese over the hot fries. But whether you make this as shown or do your own twist, this is my new favorite way to eat steak and French fries. And I really do hope you give it a try soon. So, please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.