On Wednesday I had such a stressful day I felt like my head was going to explode. I work in a film archive (well no longer physically “in” it) and stress is usually absent from my working life. But sometimes I have a humdinger of a day and I end up as Rhona Cameron once put it, like a TIGHTLY-COILED-SPRING.
In the evening I forced myself to walk away from the computer into the calm of the kitchen and cook myself something soothing. I had a huge sirloin steak to hand and no real plan for it, but I knew there were quite a few steak recipes in my beloved Treasury…
My original copy is way more bashed around than this one. This photo is from an eBay listing and I was tickled by the listing which has this line in it, “First and utmost Mister Bone is not included in the sale; he is my product model and seems to love his job.” Haha! If I didn’t already have two copies of the Treasury I’d be tempted by this one as there is a mention of “several sketches and hand written quotes and notes” in the book. About the recipes? Ooh, catnip!
As I had a scroll through Vincent’s weighty tome, my spring slowly began to uncoil. I saw a couple of steak recipes I’ve tried before. I love Vincent’s Steak au Poivre and the Butterfly Steak Hong Kong too. I really wanted to have a go at his Steak Diane, but during this unusual time of plague, something untoward has happened, there is currently no Worcestershire Sauce in the cupboard.
But I had everything I needed for the Mustard Steak (if you saw how much mustard there is in my flat you would consider this an understatement)
so I set to it. I’m at now at the stage in this “go nowhere, see no-one, create mountains of washing-up every day even though you are just cooking for one person” situation where I CANNOT BE BOTHERED to cook on a daily basis. But if I can trick myself into doing it, it always does make me feel better. This steak certainly did, even though I almost set my kitchen on fire…
That photo was snapped after the entire pan was aflame just like Debbie Harry’s! Basically, I forgot to pour off the butter before chucking over the cognac. Once I got over the shock and scoffed it, It was DELICIOUS! The photo doesn’t do it justice.
The following doctored photo of Vincent seems 100% appropriate to illustrate this recipe and has taken me down a lovely research rabbit hole.
It appears on a wonderful recipe write up for Vincent’s Steak Diane recipe that you can find here. Further ferreting around took me to the author’s amazing website – Eat The Dead. I could spend hours and hours and hours looking at the amazing creations on this website so I heartily recommend all horror film fans and fans of creativity in cooking skip over there STAT! Those who know about my minor obsession with lamb cake will totally understand why this picture gave me conniptions. I was wiping tears from my eyeballs I was laughing so much when I spotted this.
I am SO making a Black Phillip Lamb Cake this Easter, even if there will be no guests to help me eat it all.
It might be a bit quiet around these parts for a while as I’m going to have my head down working on the Vincent Price book. Most of the recipes have been assigned to test cooks but if you want to be part of the action, do get in touch via the Contact Page as there are a couple of weird ones that need an eye casting over…
Ah, perfect . A thick juicy steak and a roaring fire, what could be better on a cold night, even if the roaring fire is in the kitchen. We would sometimes have ‘Steak Diane’ on my sister, Dianes birthday ! Also a favourite of my Dads. Delicious stuff . I think we’ve all had some of those coiled days and sometimes I’m amazed I cook so well for just myself, but it always helps and, as you know, I tend to cook stuff that can then be re-heated so in reality I probably really only ‘cook’ once every few days. I really must get a copy of that treasury someday, I don’t even own a copy of ‘Pricewise’ and to think this particular culinary journey I’ve been on started with you and your chum Nathalie’s Goulash vid !! Happy uncoiling – you’ve come so far with all of this there’s too much at steak to stop now -[ see what I did there ?] But foodie breaks are a must at all times !
Aww, this message has CHEERED me Mark. Thanks so much. Yes, I shall think of them as “coiled days” from now on. I wonder what the opposite is. Those days when you are strangely chilled and serene. Cat days? I saw someone say that you should take a cat day every now and then and just nap and stretch and lick your paws. Well, they didn’t suggest licking your paws but you know what I mean! I’m the same as you, in the week I probably cook once or twice but at the weekend. IT’S MAYHEM! MR R found a slow cooker in a place where people in his flats leave things they no longer want so he’s making slow cooked lamb chops with Rosemary this weekend, and his legendary spaghetti bolognese on Friday. It is stuff like this that keeps us going eh?! MARK, get a copy of the Treasury, you will LOVE IT. Ditto Pricewise. Put them on your Christmas list or treat yourself. They are both sooooooo good.
One day I will own both when I find them at the right ‘price’ [ No way to avoid that pun] either online or when the charity shops re-open ! But hooray for Mr R ! I found my soup maker by the recycling bins along with a big griddle based frying pan, a Dust Devil Dust buster and small cuddly ‘Dumbo’ film tie-in doll . I figured some Carny’s couldn’t afford to feed him in the pandemic and just left him there so I took him in as well, gave him a bath and he now sits to right of my screen ! .. Not being in the toil of a Film Archive or committed to a slate of cookery books ! I can ‘take off’ a little easier, but for me it’s the RSI in my arms & right shoulder I have to look out for ! If I don’t ration the time spent typing,etc I end up not being able to doing anything. So I call my coiled ones ‘Away Days’ because I’m ‘away’ from the PC even if I’m just sitting in the chair on the other side of the room !
Enjoy that epic eating . I have a ‘Sausage & Lamb Cassoulet’ recipe snipped from the waitrose mag I’m going to try sometime, but today I’m going to try ‘Delicious’ mags take on Goulash soup in the slow cooker for a slight change from VP’s & other versions I’ve cooked !
Haha – love the price gag. I love the idea of your little Dumbo keeping you company while you write. And I also love the idea of “Away Days”. I try and have time away from the computer at the weekends when I see Mr R, but I can’t resist tip tapping away in the early mornings while he’s still snoring in bed. I cannot break my early rising habit on Saturdays but OCCASIONALLY have a lie in on Sundays. I haven’t opened this month’s Delicious yet. It’s my little treat to self to have that delivered through my letterbox. Can’t remember the last time I cooked something from it but it’s lovely to browse…
Fairly sure it’s the first thing i’ve cooked from it, but I thought I would contrast and compare with Vincent and a ‘proper’ recipe I have in a Hungarian cookbook ! It was so nice I had some for lunch and dinner yesterday, but if you cook it I would knock back the carroway seeds to 1/2 a tsp instead of full. It was a bit too ‘Carrowayie’ if anything. It is a nice mag to browse I access it online as my brother added me to his ‘Readly’ account. Although the dinner and a movie column seems to have gone missing.
So fun to read about your cooking adventure!
Thanks Annette! It was scary there for a second or so, but it soon burned itself out…
Yes, I noticed that about the dinner & a movie column. I loved it when Fred and Kay did it, then it was written by another (uncredited) writer and it didn’t have the same OOMPH for me. I think I have quite a few unread editions of it under my bedside table. Perhaps it is time I cancelled my subscription!
Love watching your show. I have a dear friend who loves Sophia Loren. His name is Joe Dragonetti. I know he would love to see you do a show with a Sophia Loren recipe. Joe is 89 years old compared to Sophia’s 86. He lives in San Diego, CA which is nearby so he could even come by and cook on the show. He makes a great stuffed artichoke. Thank you. Anne Matison
Hi Anne – that sounds like a super idea! How I wish I lived in the USA and we could all get together and cook something from one of Sophia’s fabulous cookbooks together. She really knew her way around the kitchen and all the recipes of hers that I have tried have been GREAT! You are tempting me to get one off the shelf right now and make something from it. Thanks for taking the time to write to me. Ask Joe to put one of his stuffed artichokes in the post to me – haha!!