Baba Yaga sandwich (aka John Wick sandwich)
Instructions for 1 sandwich with enough meat for 3 or 4 sandwiches
20 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour and 20 minutes
Ingredients:
Bourbon brown sugar glaze- 1⁄2 cup bourbon
- 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons butter (used to finish sauce)
- NY strip steak, about 1 to 1.5 inches thick
- kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil
- ground black pepper
- 2 bread slices
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 3 to 4 tablespoons chunky or crunchy peanut butter
- multigrain cereal flakes
- honey
- sliced steak (from above)
- bourbon brown sugar glaze
Directions:
Remove the steak from the refrigerator and place it on a plate or cutting board. Liberally salt the exterior of the steak, top, bottom, and sides. Let the salted steak rest for 25 minutes.
Bourbon brown sugar glaze: add all ingredients except for the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and let everything simmer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, the sauce should have reduced. Stir in the butter and keep warm while you cook your steak.
NY strip steak: after the steak has rested for 25 minutes, place a cast-iron pan on the stove over medium or medium-high heat and allow the pan to warm up for 5 minutes.
While the pan is warming up, wipe the steak dry with paper towels. The salt should have made the exterior of the steak lose some liquid, but we need the steak to be very dry when it goes into the pan.
Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan and allow it to spread out over the pan surface a little. If you have an infrared thermometer, check to ensure that the pan is above 450 F ( 230 C).
Place the steak into the pan, and press it down all around to make sure that the surface of the steak has full contact with the hot surface of the pan.
Cook, without touching the steak, for 4 minutes.
After 4 minutes, flip the steak and cook it untouched for another 4 minutes. While the second side of the steak is cooking, you can add more salt and ground black pepper to the exposed side if you wish. You can also spoon a bit of the glaze on top of the steak at this point.
After a total of 8 minutes of cooking time, using tongs, grab the steak and press the sides of the steak onto the surface of the pan. Definitely do this if you see any large pieces of white fat on the edge of the steak. You'll only need a minute or two for each side.
Once the sides are lightly seared, move the steak to a cutting board to rest for five minutes. At this point, you can add black pepper to the exposed side of the steak.
After 5 minutes of resting time, you can slice the steak and get ready to build the sandwich.
Sandwich assembly: wipe out the pan you used to cook the steak in. Add butter to one side of each slice of bread and toast just that side in the pan until the bread is browned and crispy.
Add peanut butter to the non-toasted side of one piece of bread. Top with multigrain cereal flakes and honey.
Then add slices of the steak and top that with some of the bourbon brown sugar glaze. Close the sandwich with the other slice of bread, toasted side facing out.
Serve your John Wick sandwich and enjoy (maybe with a strong pour of bourbon).