Newsletter # 16 Gueridon Service – Table Cookery

A few newsletters ago I made mention of the term – ‘service a la Francaise’ – the buffet.  At a similar time in history the Russians had developed service a la Russe. Service a la Russe involved the carving of meat at a customer’s table. The French (again) took this concept a degree further and came up with Gueridon Service where food was actually cooked beside the customers table. This was done with the aid of trolley which was equipped with a burner, quality frypans and ingredients.

True Gueridon Service only existed in high-end restaurants and apart from the entertainment value for customers it gave an outlet for staff to show their skills. Most importantly it not only stimulated customer’s senses, it also stimulated demand for this same level of service.

How did it work?

Have you ever been sitting in a restaurant (a good restaurant) and after going over the menu from front to back, still been left wondering what you will order. Then something happens – a server carries a meal to another table; it looks good; it smells even better; was that sizzling you heard; you look at the menu again; finally you ask for guidance from your server.

That’s what you order.

What has happened is that three your five human senses have worked together to evaluate a dish – sight, smell and hearing. Your server has filled in the blanks – taste and touch (temperature and texture).

In Australia there are more than 50000 restaurants and cafes and only a small percentage of those establishments would be classified as high-end; fewer still are ‘fine dining’ and only a handful would offer an interpretation of Gueridon Service.

The Hilton’s ‘San Francisco Grill’, the Wentworth’s ‘Garden Court’ and Romano’s Restaurant are all long gone. The ‘Chef’s tables, tableside gelato bars, Teppanyaki  bars are modern interpretations of what some would consider a resurgence in Table Cookery.

But what has happened to some of the Table Cookery signature dishes? Fortunately not all have disappeared, but unfortunately they have been relegated to almost insignificance. If you had spied a favourite dish from years ago, ordered it and been left disappointed, you wouldn’t be the first customer. Steak Diane is one such dish.

Steak Diane  

As with many famous dishes, this steak has a vague European history but with many contenders putting up the collective hands as being the original inventor. Strangely enough it appeared in Australia in 1940 and at same time it appeared in the U.S.A., by then the recipe was anything up to twenty six years old and still being refined.

The original ingredients were thin cut, best quality steak; butter, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt, chopped parsley and with garlic as an option. WHAT! Garlic was optional? Clearly there was work to be done.

It is generally believed that once Steak Diane departed Europe and arrived in pre WW2 United States, dry mustard, lemon juice, chives and brandy found their way into the recipe. The brandy would have been almost certainly included in the table cookery version. But overall for me to call it a sauce at this point is a bit of a stretch. Enter fresh cream.

Today’s recipe is hopefully what you would expect. Once you have assembled your ingredients (which are not too onerous) it’s a pretty quick dish to prepare. Indeed your side dishes of choice will probably take longer. It would be great with Lyonnais potatoes and steamed vegetables.

If you are preparing it for guests, drag them into kitchen, dim the lights and flambé your work, they will be impressed.

Steak Diane

5 from 1 vote

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Servings: 2 people

Course: Main Course

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2 160g fillet steaks trimmed
• 10 ml Olive oil
• Butter
• 1 French shallot peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 15 ml Worcestershire sauce
• 20 ml Demi-glaze
• 10 ml Brandy
• 120 ml Cream
• Salt and cracked pepper
• Parsley washed, picked and finely chopped -1 Tbsp finished

Equipment

• A stainless steel or non-stick frypan is all that is required for this recipe.

Method

 

1. Prepare ingredients
   
2. Prepare the fillet steak. Cut of flatten to about 5 mm thickness
3. Heat the oil in the frypan
4. Pat the steak dry and season with salt and cracked pepper
   
5. Seal the steak in the frypan for 1 minute before turning. Seal the other side for a further 1 minute. Turn the heat down and take the steak out of the pan to rest on a plate.
   
6. In the frypan add the butter and when the butter is sizzling add the chopped shallot and garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes on medium heat.
   
7. Add, Demi-glaze, mustard and Worcestershire sauce
   
8. Add any collected juices from the steak. Reduce the liquid a little. Avoid scorching
9. Return the steak to the pan
10. Flambé with brandy
11. Add cream. Bring the sauce to the boil
    
12. Take out steak and place on pre-warmed serving plates
13. Reduce the sauce (if needed) to a coating consistency
14. Add chopped parsley to the sauce. Ready
15. Serve the sauce over the steak

Notes

Diane sauce is a stand-alone sauce that can be adapted to chicken, pork and lamb. It is also delicious on chips, as many a pub goer would know
I used reduced beef stock in place of Demi-glaze (Gravy)