The Quality Chop House
Editor Keith Kendrick cooks a more affordable steak cut for Valentine’s Day from the renowned restaurant’s cookbook by William Lander, Daniel Morgenthau and Shaun Searley
Steak is the perfect Valentine’s dinner (for me, at least), but great-quality, high-welfare steak, as we all know, isn’t cheap. So what’s a romantic, albeit skint, husband to do? Enter The Quality Chop House cookbook.
The Farringdon-based restaurant of the same name is legendary with the foodie fraternity. Indeed, Marina O’loughlin – Good Food’s former restaurant critic who now writes for the Sunday Times – says, in her foreword for the book, that she’d, ‘happily eat here on a weekly basis’, adding, ‘This is one of those incredibly rare restaurants that simply gets everything right: setting, food, service.’
But rather than being a complicated, restaurantstyle cookbook, co-owners Will and Dan and head chef Shaun have set out to create recipes that are achievable for us home cooks. They say, ‘We’ve tried to avoid any (recipes) that might strike fear into the heart of an amateur cook. They’re all designed to provide maximum flavour in an environment where home cooks would be comfortable.’ Many of the dishes focus on economical ingredients, such as chicken gizzards, hearts and livers; pork shoulder, hand and belly; eel and sprats; and the melt-in-the-mouth confit potatoes, finely sliced and tossed with duck fat before being baked for three hours, then fried (a perfect accompaniment to any steak). But as they note, ‘Beef is synonymous with a trip to our restaurant. We pride ourselves on having lesser-known, cheaper cuts almost omnipresent, meaning you’re paying for the butcher and chef’s skill as well as the meat quality.’
That brings us neatly back to Valentine’s dinner. Fillet is the classic cut for such an occasion, but it can cost around £10 per person. Step forward onglet. Never heard of it? Well, until recently, butchers kept it a secret, reserving it from the carcass to take home. But now you can obtain it from a good butcher for as little as a fiver – and it’s big enough for two.
‘This cut is actually classified as offal as it’s situated on the outside of the diaphragm,’ QCH explains.
‘It benefits both from being a working muscle on the animal, which gives it lots of flavour, but also has all the lovely rich flavours you associate with offal. It’s an affordable cut.’ And it’s a doddle to cook: just a few minutes of searing in a hot pan with butter and thyme. The accompaniments need some prep, but make the effort. Your loved one will thank you.