Oryx steak

Ingredients

The meat

• 4oryx steaks
• gemsbok, about 200 g each
• at room temperature
• salt and coarse black pepper
• a little oil

The pepper sauce

• 2 tablespoonsgreen peppercorns
• or crushed black pepper
• 150 mlcream
• 100 mlbeef stock
• 1shallot, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoonsbrandy, optional
• a knob of butter

To serve

• potatoes or pap
• a green vegetable

The rule

• cook it rare
• rest it properly

Directions

1. Take a couple of minutes off beef timings. Check it early rather than late. Take them out of the refrigerator. Let them come to room temperature. Cold meat cooks unevenly in a hot pan. Season them with salt and coarse pepper. Season just before they go in the pan. Salt sitting on meat draws water out. That water then prevents browning.
2. Season them at the very last moment. Rub a little oil onto the meat. Oil the meat rather than the pan. Heat a heavy pan until very hot. A properly hot pan sears immediately. Lay the steaks in the hot pan. Do not move them at all at first.
3. Turn them and give three more. That is for a steak about two centimetres thick. Adjust it all to the thickness. Judging them takes a firm press. Press the steak with a finger. Rare feels soft and quite yielding. Take it off before your target. The steak keeps cooking as it rests. Take it off a few degrees early. Lift the steaks onto a warm plate. Cover them over loosely with foil.
4. Let them rest for five minutes. Making the sauce is done in the same pan. Pour off any of the excess fat. Add the chopped shallot to the pan. Cook it for a good two minutes. Never wash out the hot pan first. Pour the brandy into the hot pan. Let it bubble and reduce right down. Let all of the alcohol cook off. Give it about one full minute. Take the pan off the heat first.
5. Stand well back as you pour it in. Never pour from the bottle over a flame. Add the green peppercorns to the pan. Crush some of them with a spoon. Pour all of the beef stock in. Let it reduce down by about half. Let it bubble right down properly. Pour all of the cream in to it.
6. Let it simmer for two minutes. It should coat the back of a spoon. Stir in a knob of butter off the heat. Butter gives the sauce a gloss. Add it off the heat and swirl it in. Pour any juices from the plate into the sauce. Do not throw those juices away.
7. Set a steak on each warm plate. Spoon the sauce over or beside it. Warm plates matter with lean meat. It cools very fast on a cold plate. Warm them in the oven briefly. Serve potatoes or pap alongside. Serve a green vegetable with it. It does not keep at all well after.

Technique

• Game meat is extremely lean with very little internal fat, and that is the single most important fact about cooking it: fat melts and bastes the muscle as meat cooks, and lean meat has no such protection, so it dries out very fast. Cook it rare or medium rare — beyond that it goes dry and tough with no recovering. It also cooks faster than beef of the same thickness, so take a couple of minutes off beef timings and check early.
• About fifty degrees is rare and fifty-five medium rare; beyond sixty it is dry. Take it off a few degrees before the target, since it keeps cooking as it rests. Then rest it five minutes covered loosely — resting matters more with lean meat because there are fewer juices and losing them to the board is far worse.
• Spirits added to a hot pan can ignite, so take the pan off the heat before adding the brandy, stand back as you pour, and never pour from the bottle over a flame.

Substitutions

• Crushed black pepper stands in for green peppercorns; crush half and leave half whole for both flavour and texture.
• Springbok and kudu are farmed alongside oryx in Namibia and cook the same way, being equally lean.

Variations

• Oryx is dark and deeply flavoured but not strongly gamey — closer to lean beef than venison, and milder than people expect.
• Make the sauce in the same unwashed pan, since the browned residue carries a great deal of flavour, and pour the resting juices from the plate into it.
• Game animals need less water than cattle and handle drought far better, which is what makes them a sensible crop on arid Namibian land.

History

Namibia’s commercial game farms supply oryx, springbok and kudu meat; game accounts for a large share of restaurant menus in Windhoek and Swakopmund.

Frequently asked questions

What is Oryx steak?

Oryx steak is a main from Namibia: lean dark gemsbok steak, grilled rare and served with pepper sauce. Namibia’s commercial game farms supply oryx, springbok and kudu meat; game accounts for a large share of restaurant menus in Windhoek and Swakopmund.

How long does Oryx steak take to make?

Oryx steak takes 15 minutes plus resting of preparation and 12 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Oryx steak?

Yes, within limits. Crushed black pepper stands in for green peppercorns; crush half and leave half whole for both flavour and texture. Springbok and kudu are farmed alongside oryx in Namibia and cook the same way, being equally lean.

What is the most important thing to get right in Oryx steak?

Take a couple of minutes off beef timings. Check it early rather than late. Take them out of the refrigerator. Let them come to room temperature. Cold meat cooks unevenly in a hot pan. Season them with salt and coarse pepper. Season just before they go in the pan. Salt sitting on meat draws water out. That water then prevents browning.