One day, I was craving steak tartare and decided to experiment. My initial idea was to serve the dish with mini brioche grilled cheese sandwiches, but I thought it’d be better to add the steak on top of a grilled cheese sandwich. I made it for the 15 Church staff, and everyone freaked out. Since I’m a fan of Korean food, I thought the addition of an oyster paired with eel sauce was in order, and what over-the-top-delicious dish is complete without caviar? Hence, I present The Superfecta: four Thoroughbreds of the culinary world stacked in perfect harmony.
Chef: Michael Mastrantuono
Restaurant: 15 Church
Saratoga Bite: The Superfecta
15 Church’s Superfecta
Ingredients
• Rustic sourdough, sourced from Brooklyn
• Cave-aged gruyère
• Sharp provolone
• Japanese mayonnaise
• Irish butter
• Wellfleet oysters
• Buttermilk
• Flour
• Cornstarch
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Frying oil
• Capers
• Kobe beef, from Texas
• Vidalia onion, finely diced
• Olive oil
• Eel sauce
• Caviar
• Micro Dijon mustard greens
Instructions
Slice sourdough to a half an inch thick and make a sandwich with the gruyère and provolone. Spread a bit of Japanese mayonnaise and Irish butter on the outside of the bread and cook in a pan until the bread is extra crispy. Remove the edges of the sandwich. Soak a shucked Wellfleet oyster in buttermilk. While it soaks, combine flour, corn starch, garlic powder and onion powder, and mix well to incorporate. Remove oyster from buttermilk, roll it through the mixture and deep fry.
Next, fry capers. Dice the Kobe beef into tartare consistency, and add raw Vidalia onions and olive oil. Layer a generous amount of the beef concoction on the grilled cheese, followed by the oyster, eel sauce and caviar. Finish the dish with a salad of micro Dijon mustard greens and fried capers.
