A Splash Of Bourbon Brings Big Flavor To Steak Sauce

With its distinctive notes of caramel, vanilla, spice, and oak, bourbon is a warming, satisfying liquor with a touch of sweetness. Bourbon is just as at home in a sweet snack like bread pudding or candied bacon as it is in a steak marinade or simply in a glass — mixed into an old fashioned or paper plane cocktail or neat, sipped at a cocktail party with charcuterie boards. Its big flavor and alcohol content mean that it's best to drink bourbon with rich, savory foods that can stand up to its strength, like steaks and chops. But when bourbon is cooked, such as in a pan steak sauce, some of that alcohol cooks off, further deepening the smoky-sweet flavor and providing a perfect companion to a hearty seared steak. A bourbon pan steak sauce can be easily whipped up after sauteing your steak in a pan. Just remove the steak, leaving the remaining browned bits of meat and juices in the pan, and with a bit of bourbon and some other ingredients from your fridge and pantry, you have a delicious steak sauce.

Bourbon is a great complement to steak for a few reasons. First, it's a natural tenderizer; it contains enzymes that break down proteins, in much the same way as acidic fruit juices or heat will, so using bourbon in a marinade makes sense. But when you cook it, the bourbon can even further enhance steak's flavor. First, it evaporates more quickly than water, and that evaporation adds to flavor through our noses — after all, scent is part of what we think of as flavor. Also, when the alcohol evaporates, it leaves behind a more concentrated flavor. In the case of bourbon, that would be the smoky charred oak from the barrels in which it's aged, as well as the spices and sugars from the corn it's made with that give bourbon its sweetness. So when you make a pan steak sauce over heat and add bourbon, that alcohol evaporates quickly, leaving a concentrated sweet/spicy flavor that complements the savory, rich flavor of the steak.

To make a pan steak sauce with bourbon, start searing your steak (turning once) in a skillet in a little bit of neutral oil. Then, when the steak has reached desired doneness (a little underdone, so the meat can rest and come up to proper temperature), remove the meat and add about ¼ to ½ cup of bourbon to deglaze the pan, helping to scrape up those flavorful bits of steak in the pan. Then add some spice or aromatic ingredients, such as chopped shallot or garlic, peppercorns, Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. Finish with a pat of butter and whisk until it reduces to a syrup-like consistency and serve over your steak. Get more bang for your bourbon by marinating the steak first in a bourbon-infused marinade.