Sirloin Grilled in Wood Strips
created by Iron Chef French II, Hiroyuki Sakai
Battle Mishima Beef
reverse-engineered by David J Rust

Ingredients:

Steps

1. Season the sirloin with the half teaspoon of salt. In a hot skillet over high heat, brown the sirloin in a tablespoon of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once highly browned, de-glaze the pan with the Alimore. Bring back to a simmer and cook for a minute or two more before removing from the heat.

2. Cut the garlic bulbs open and add them around the sirloin. Sprinkle the sirloin lightly with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Add the sirloin fat around the meat in addition to the potatos and lay the thyme over the dish. Place in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

3. Remove the meat from the oven. Drain excess liquid from the skillet.

4. On your work surface, lay out the first of the wood sheets and sprinkle the surface of it with the crushed peppercorns. (Just use a mallet to crush the 20 peppercorns, or even roll a heavy bottle over them while they are in a plastic bag.) Lay the roast sirloin on top of these and wrap it up in the sheets of wood. Use all of them, overlapping and in different directions to completely cover the sirloin. Return the meat to the skillet and surround it with the asparagus stalks and return to the 375 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the wood has browned and provided its smokey flavor to the meat.

5. While the meat is roasting, in a blender, mix the dijon mustard and the egg. On high speed, slowly drizzle in the 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Do this over a period of several minutes until the mixture thickens into a sauce. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Place in a side dish.

6. Remove the wood-wrapped sirloin from the oven and cut away the wood sheets. Slice thinly and serve with the mustard sauce.

Serves 6 as a medium entree.

Iron Chef Notes:

The preparation of the mustard sauce was not shown, so I'm presenting a simple one that is based upon the preparation of mayonaise. The judges didn't seem too fond of the sauce and one of them commented that it was too weak. Hopefully, this version will be strong enough for the beef.

I have no idea how hard it is to find Alimore, or even if I'm spelling it correctly. However, Sakai made the comment that he chose it to help combat the greasy flavor that the fat might leave in the meat. Feel free to subtitute as needed.