Equipment
Ingredients
Savory Bone Marrow Flan
- 500 g beef marrow bones, center cut
- 240 ml heavy cream, cold
- 120 ml whole milk, cold
- 2 shallot, minced
- 2 garlic, crushed
- 2 fresh thyme, whole sprigs
- 4 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 5 g kosher salt
- 2 g black pepper
Grilled Sirloin Strip Steaks
- 4 sirloin strip steaks, thick cut
- 15 ml olive oil
- 12 g kosher salt
- 6 g black pepper
- 2 g flaky sea salt
Nutrition (per serving)
Method
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit). Place the beef marrow bones on a foil-lined roasting pan.
Roast the bones for 15 minutes until the marrow is softened and slightly pulling away from the bone, but not melted entirely into liquid.
Remove the bones from the oven and carefully scoop the soft marrow out into a bowl. You need approximately 100 grams of marrow. Reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit) for the flans.
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the heavy cream, whole milk, minced shallots, crushed garlic, thyme sprigs, and the roasted marrow. Bring to a gentle simmer, then remove from heat to infuse.
Using an immersion blender, blend the hot cream and marrow mixture until the fat is completely emulsified and smooth.
Pour the blended liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, pressing firmly on the shallots and garlic to extract maximum flavor. Discard the solids.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, whole egg, kosher salt, and black pepper until completely combined and smooth.
Slowly ladle the hot marrow-cream mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly to temper the eggs without scrambling them.
Divide the custard evenly among 4 ramekins. Place the ramekins in a deep roasting pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake the flans in the water bath for 35 to 40 minutes at 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit). The edges should be set, but the center should still have a slight jiggle.
While the flans bake, lightly coat the sirloin strip steaks with olive oil. Generously season all sides with kosher salt and black pepper. Let them rest at room temperature.
Preheat a grill or grill pan to high heat.
Grill the steaks for 4 to 5 minutes per side. For medium-rare, pull the steaks when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 54 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit).
Transfer the steaks to a clean cutting board and let them rest for 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.
Carefully remove the baked flans from the water bath. Slice the rested steaks against the grain and serve alongside the warm flans, finishing the beef with flaky sea salt.
Chef's Notes
- For the silkiest flan texture, ensure your eggs are at room temperature before tempering. This prevents the rendered marrow fat from seizing when introduced to the yolks.
- Carryover cooking is a critical concept for grilling thick steaks. Pull them off the heat a few degrees below your target temperature, as the internal heat will continue to rise while resting.
- When initially rendering the marrow, avoid over-roasting the bones. You want the marrow to soften just enough to scoop easily, not melt entirely into liquid fat on the baking tray.
- Using an immersion blender before straining the custard base is vital. Simply whisking the marrow into the cream will leave distinct fat pockets that break the smooth mouthfeel of the final flan.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 days — Flans can be stored covered and reheated. Steaks are best consumed immediately but can be refrigerated.
Reheating: Reheat flans gently in a water bath at 150C/300F until warm through.
