Tri tip steak and Hop Back, Summer Lightning

 The cooking of steak is a subject that is full of controversy. I am not going to dictate how anyone should cook their steak because it will inevitably just lead to an argument, Suffice is to say that you need to please yourself on this issue. Just do it the way that makes you happy!

However, I am here to tell you that there is a lot more to steak than the usual Fillet, Sirloin, Rump, Rib eye hegemony. So here are the instructions:

a) Buy your meat from a butcher who can tell you how long the meat has been hung.

b) Talk to you butcher about the less expensive steaks: bavette, onglet, feather, tri tip etc

c) After you have cooked it to your liking, leave it alone for a surprisingly long time before you serve it. This is science not affectation!

Tri tip comes from the front end of the Sirloin and is sold a triangular looking lump, it is, halfway between a steak and a roasting joint. One side of the steak usually has a layer of fat across it. Consequently I cooked it partly on the hob and partly in the oven. I must stress again, this is the way I like to cook a tri tip, perfectly reasonable people can have other opinions, especially about things such as salt.

Tri tip Steak

• 1 tri tip steak
•  High quality salt
• Ground black pepper
• Oil or dripping with a high burn point.
• Aluminium foil

First and foremost make sure that your steak is taken out of the fridge long before you intend to cook it, I cannot stress how much difference this makes. Turn on your oven and set it to 240 degrees centigrade. Pop a heavy frying pan on the hob and get it "smoking hot". Rub the steak with a little oil, sprinkle with salt and lay it in the pan, fat side down. Leave it alone for 2 or 3 minutes, then turn it over for 2 minutes more. Lift it and seal the edges one at a time for a minute or so. You should now have a lump of beef with a lovely salty bark on it

The steak now needs to go into the oven for between 8 and 12 minutes depending on your preference. Just before you put it in add a twist of pepper. Now remove the steak put it on a board and cover with the foil. Leave it alone for 10 minutes - I mean it, a full ten minutes!

Carve the steak into thick slices and serve with a salad or chips!

For the record, I had this with salad only simply didn't need the chips.

(If you are making a sauce for this pour any juices from the board into it)

The Match

I first encountered Summer lightening on Cricket tour in the late 90's, and I have always had a bit of a soft spot for it ever since. It is not an over statement to suggest that this beer started a new beer style, Summer Ale. It comes in at a punchy 5% so it is not to be taken lightly. On the nose it has an almost lemony hit (but not in an American IPA way). On the palate, the lighter malts used hold their own and give the beer great balance. The finish is clean but not overly sharp or astringent. It manages to be both light and very much an English Ale. This is not just for summer drinking.

A darker, richer beer might have been more obvious, but I was serving this with a salad in a citrus dressing and the match up seemed perfect. Even if you were to build it up with chips or mash the malty body of the beer would be perfectly comfortable with the dish