The Luger-Style Sliced Beefsteak Tomato and Sweet Onion Salad
Chapter 1: Starters & Salads
Do not attempt to elevate this dish with micro-greens. Before the cast-iron skillets start smoking and the dry-aged porterhouse starts rendering its fat, surviving the intimidating list of a la carte cuts requires an acidic counterpunch built to cut straight through the impending creamed spinach. Take a steak knife to a summer beefsteak tomato and a Vidalia onion, slice them thick as a thumb—a half-inch thick—flood the slices with bottled steak sauce, and pass the bread.
Before you start
Make the sauce a day ahead.
The Old Fashioned Sauce deeply improves when given 24 hours to meld in the refrigerator, making it the perfect prep-ahead element for a steakhouse dinner party.
Ingredients
- high-quality ketchup1 cup
- Worcestershire sauce3 tbsp
- dark brown sugar2 tbsp
- mild molasses1 tbsp
- apple cider vinegar2 tbsp
- prepared horseradish2 tbsp
- anchovy paste1 tsp
- Louisiana-style hot sauce1 tsp
- garlic powder1/2 tsp
- kosher salt1/4 tsp
- coarsely ground black pepper1/4 tsp
- Beefsteak tomatoes3 large
- sweet onion1 large
- kosher salt and cracked black pepper1 tsp
Method
- 01
Combine the steak sauce ingredients.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, dark brown sugar, molasses, apple cider vinegar, horseradish, anchovy paste, hot sauce, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.
- 02
Whisk the sauce aggressively.
Mix until the sugar and molasses are completely dissolved and the mixture is smooth, bearing a flavor profile somewhere between a traditional brown steak sauce and a spicy seafood cocktail sauce.
- 03
Rest the sauce in the refrigerator.
Transfer the sauce to an airtight glass jar or container and chill. While it can be used after 1 hour, resting it for 24 hours allows the complex acids and sugars to marry properly.
- 04
Arrange the vegetables on a chilled platter.
Shingle the thick tomato slabs and onion slices alternatingly across a large serving plate in a carpaccio style, or stack them.
- 05
Season the vegetables and dress.
Give the arranged tomatoes and onions a high-altitude dusting of kosher salt and cracked black pepper to draw out their juices, then pour a generous ribbon of the rested sauce directly down the center. Serve immediately with extra sauce on the side.
Notes
Respect the tomato season.
If you cannot source genuinely excellent, ripe beefsteak tomatoes, wait until August to make this dish. A pale, mealy supermarket winter tomato will destroy the soul of this recipe.
Tame the onion if necessary.
The raw onion provides a necessary, sharp enzymatic bite to contrast the heavy meal. However, if your supermarket white onion is overwhelmingly astringent, you may soak the unseparated slices in ice water for 15 minutes, then pat them completely dry before plating.