Meet Your Meat: Tyler Wells’ 35-day dry-aged steak frites
In a new occasional series, Betty Hallock explores all things meaty and fatty.
Did you know that Tyler Wells, the co-founder of Handsome Coffee Roasters, is also a swell cook? He’ll be serving a pop-up dinner (hosted by This Is Not a Pop-Up) at Square One in Hollywood this week and on the menu is 35-day dry-aged steak frites. So let’s talk about this steak.
THE CUT: Wells collaborated with Alex Jermasek, who worked at Lindy & Grundy and is now in charge of meat fabrication at Short Order. Jermasek has been dry-aging (“for a whole month and half a week,†he says) organic grass-fed beef from Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, Calif. The meat “develops this crust and as it ages it concentrates the flavor -- really nutty, oaky, full-flavored, grassy, buttery beef.†Two cuts are used from the hindquarter of the cow, splitting the sirloin strip and top sirloin.
HOW IT’S COOKED: With beef tallow, the fat that comes from the same section of the cow as the steaks. The tallow is ground and simmered in a rondeau for 45 minutes until “it renders out into this beautiful golden fat you can cook in,†Wells says. “I’ll be doing some combination of sous vide/poaching them in beef tallow and searing them on a flat top, just under medium rare. These steaks really shine on the rare side.†The French fries, cut from Kennebec potatoes, will be triple fried in tallow.
THE FUNNY THING IS: “When I went to culinary school in Pittsburgh, I was a vegetarian,†Wells says. “I would always get these fries from down the street and then found out they were fried in beef tallow.†The first post-vegetarian thing he intentionally ate? A 14-ounce New York strip “from start to finish.†Cooked in truffle butter.
WHAT IT WILL COST YOU: The steak frites is part of a five-course dinner that costs $50 per person.
Tyler Wells @ This Is Not a Pop-Up, this week only, Thursday to Sunday. On the menu: winter soup with Japanese sweet potato, Granny Smith apple, fried bread and cheddar; citrus salad with spicy winter greens, salty marcona almond butter and crottin mousse; Stemple Creek short rib with charred romanesco; steak frites with tallow fries and carrot-top butter; and ricotta croissant bread pudding. Make reservations online, email [email protected] or call (323) 451-1767.
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