A new use for coffee and cocoa

Quick. What is this? Chocolate muffin with sugar sprinkles? An extreme close up of a cocoa rolled truffle? Nope. Guess again.

It’s steak.

Earlier in the week, The National Post ran an article about adding coffee to a dry rub. Not only did the recipe call for java, it used cocoa. Coffee and chocolate? How could you go wrong? I was so intrigued I waived my usual ban on newspaper recipes.

Against my better judgment, I followed the recipe faithfully. A whole tablespoon of salt seemed like an awful lot when up against a mere 5 tablespoons of other ingredients. But it was Kosher salt, often used for crusts — and a dry rub is just a spicy crust. Besides, I’d committed to following the recipe for experimental purposes. So, I added the whole amount.

The recipe also called for dry frying. I would have baked the steak in a hot oven after an initial stove-top searing, but again I followed the instructions as written. And what did I get for my obedient compliance? A smoke-filled kitchen and steak so salty even my sodium fiend of a husband struggled. Don’t get me wrong, I love an excuse to down more wine, but this took the fun out of guzzling cab sav.

After a couple of days spent re-hydrating, I tried again. Only this time I followed my gut.

Here’s the recipe (based on Jason Chow’s adaptation of Trish Magwood’s recipe. I’m betting she got it from Kevin Bacon).

Caffeinated Dry Rub

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp coffee, finely ground
• 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 pounds steak

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Mix dry ingredients together and sift through a sieve to remove any lumps.
3. Coat one side of steak with half the rub and pat down lightly with your hand.
4. Place a plate over steak and flip to expose uncoated side. Cover this side with the remaining dry rub. Pat lightly with your hand.
5. Let steak sit while oven heats (about 10 minutes).
6. Meanwhile, heat a heavy oven-proof frying pan over medium-high heat. Do not add oil.
7. Place steak in hot pan and sear for 2 minutes.
8. Flip and sear another 2 minutes. It should look like this:
9. 
10. Bake steak in oven for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on how well done you like your steak and how thick it is.
11. Once removed from oven, let steak rest on a board for 10 minutes.

This is our steak after 12 minutes of baking.

So, was it better? Infinitely. We didn’t have to turn on the fan and open the doors. It was nicely spiced, with a bit of heat, but not enough to swig an entire bottle of vino.

Did I like the combination? It was a welcomed change, but I’m not going to add it to my favourites list. I prefer my coffee in a mug and my chocolate in bar form. That said, come summer, I might try a paste variation for the BBQ. I can see this making an interesting fajita when served with Margaritas. I’ll use the extra salt to crust the rim.