Teriyaki Done Right

Oscar Night and I was cooking during all the red carpet setup (and Mike played video games). But I have a few thoughts on what I saw:
Someone tell Miley Cyrus to stand up straight. And stop acting/singing/speaking. Seriously.
Kate Winslet looked stunning in a silver column, channeling Veronica Lake with frizz-proof hair and great poise. That woman is gorgeous.
Poor Sandra Bullock had under-done eyes and waaaaaaaaaay too dark lipstick. Undecided as to how I feel about her dress, but congrats to her for her accomplishment.
George Clooney needs the back of his hair cut.
John Travolta wore JEANS as a presenter. I really hope there was some kind of accident and someone threw up on his tux pants and it was an emergency change, because otherwise that is NOT cool.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin randomly changed from bow ties to long ties halfway through the show... I'm sorry boys but that doesn't count as a costume change. Whoopi has your ass beat.

So, Teriyaki Hanger Steak & more roasted potatoes. Luckily, I do not have to fit into a slinky dress, and can instead blog in my pajamas. And eat steak and potatoes.

I admit right off that I use the Fresh Direct brand teriyaki marinade. I think it has fantastic flavor (frankly the Kikkoman blows) but it is still lacking something. So, I grate about an inch of fresh ginger into the bottom of the pan I'm going to marinate the steak in, and then add the liquid. Makes a huge difference.

This disgusting strip of tendon runs down the middle of my hanger steaks, and I always remove it before cooking because it is completely impossible to eat, and I hate dealing with it when I'm trying to scarf down my delicious teriyaki steak.

Because I do this, I end up slicing my steak into smaller serving sizes. If you are following along with this to do it yourself, keep that in mind when you try to cook your steak. I am cooking much smaller pieces, and so you might have to adjust your cooking times.

*I marinate this overnight, turning it once when I get up the next day

I generally brown one side of the meat in a little evoo for about 6-7 minutes, and then flip the meat and toss it into the oven at 400º for another 7 minutes, and my steak usually comes out rare to medium-rare, depending on the size of the hunks. Tonight, they were very small.

Once I move the steak to the pan to cook, I then pour all the marinade into a smaller pan and turn that sucker on high to reduce down. As it starts to boil, give it a stir so nothing burns on the bottom.

I'm serious about cranking the flame to reduce the sauce. Because of how fast cooking the steak is in this form, the sauce will actually take exactly that long, if not longer, to get to the "sludge" consistency that you're aiming for.

I also made roasted potatoes to go with the steak tonight, but this time I did not use duck fat. This was just my usual go-to roasted potatoes. Drizzle evoo, healthy sprinkle of salt, some fresh thyme sprigs, a crushed clove of garlic, and about a tablespoon of butter broken up. 400º until at your level of crispness - usually 30-45 minutes, turning once halfway through.
*Remove the garlic when you flip the potatoes because otherwise it will burn and turn everything bitter.

As everything finishes cooking, hopefully your sauce will have reached "sludge" status. You should be able to move it to the side of the pan without it sliding back as proof that it has reduced enough.

And yes, I nuked peas because the rest of the meal was enough work, and Mike really likes peas, and the Oscars were starting.

Presto! A meal that most of the starved actresses on my TV last night would trample their personal assistants for. And rightly so, because hanger steak is super tender, very flavorful, and actually a really good bargain. Maybe one day I'll finish it with grilled pineapple or some such fancy note, but right now, this version makes us happy.
Enjoy!