This story comes from our February 2018 issue. For more content like this, subscribe to the magazine. Pictured above: Chef Matt Zappoli’s Chateaubriand for two. Photo by Aaron Bristol.
For those who love to cook, cooking for those we love comes naturally. It’s an act of love in itself—that a thing your hands created will provide not only sustenance, but pleasure, to someone you care about. Whether you’re cooking for the love of your life, a friend or yourself, making a really good Chateaubriand can say “I love you” without saying anything.
Chef Matt Zappoli.
And when that love/friend/you slices into meat so tender it surrenders to your knife without a fight, with a perfectly rosy interior and a taste so buttery, so deeply rich and meaty, they wonder how you were able to achieve such an accomplishment, just tell them that Chef Matt Zappoli taught you how to cook the perfect Chateaubriand.
And it was easy.
Zappoli’s approach to food is “keep it simple,” a mantra he’s brought with him to NYY Steak. His foundation is in French cooking, and after graduating culinary school he went to work at the three-Michelin-star Aureole in New York City with his mentor, Charlie Palmer. Just like this Chateaubriand, Zappoli says almost all the proteins there were cooked in butter, garlic, shallot and herbs, a classic technique for infusing insane amounts of flavor into food. It’s a little “chef’s secret”—and, well, now you’re in on it.
See below for the full recipe.
Chateaubriand for two
by Chef Matt Zappoli, executive chef at NYY Steak at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Ingredients:
- 22 ounces beef tenderloin (center cut)
- 1 ounce kosher salt
- ¼ ounce black pepper
- 4 ounces vegetable oil
- 6 ounces whole butter
- 1 ounce shallot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ bunch thyme
Method:
Pat the beef dry, then season with salt and pepper. Preheat a large sauté pan on high heat. Add the oil and sear the beef on all sides. When the beef is browned on all sides, add the butter, shallots, garlic and thyme. With a large sauce spoon baste the beef with the butter and aromatics. Continue spooning the butter over the beef until the beef is evenly browned, roughly five minutes. Place the beef on a roasting rack and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until an internal temperature of 127-128 degrees. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice and serve.
Sous vide method:
Season the beef with salt and pepper. Place in vacuum bag with oil and thyme. Vacuum seal in a Food Saver machine. Cook sous vide for 2 hours at 128 degrees Fahrenheit. Pat dry and follow the same method to sear and baste the Chateau the same way. No oven time required.
