I Spy with My Little Rib Eye...

...some whiskey cream sauce.

Yes, our readers, time for a man meal. Rarrr!

Uncle He-Man has half a cow in his freezer. And like all good friends would (and should) do, we offered to make a sacrifice and help him eat some of that thar beef he done got. Ouch, that hurt to type. He provided us with eight rib-eyes for Rib-Eye Steak with Whiskey Sauce (p. 166).

This was our first time with two things. One: cooking with whiskey, and two: cooking steak in a skillet. It was much simpler than we had imagined. And, thankfully, Ree gives great guidance on how to properly and successfully sear the rib-eyes - more on that later in the post - keep a-readin'.

We began by dicing half a medium-sized yellow onion. By doing so, we doubled Mrs. Drummond's recipe. We melted butter in a small saucepan and added the onion. This cooked on the stove top until the edges of the onions were lightly crispy and browned.

Next, we removed the pan from the heat, so as to not catch our hair on fire, and poured in a half-cup of whiskey.

We stirred this together until much of the alcohol evaporated, then poured in a half-cup of beef broth. Salt and pepper were added to taste.

A couple more tablespoons of butter were added to the sauce. This was then brought to a boil for about 30 seconds. We lowered the heat and added a half-cup of heavy cream. Ree's recipe calls for light cream, but we had some leftover heavy cream from our last adventure. Plus, who's counting calories at this point anyway? We sure aren't.

We left this to thicken as we prepared the rib-eyes. The rib-eyes asked to be salted and peppered. We obliged.

In a large skillet we melted a couple tablespoons of butter. Once the butter began to sizzle, we placed two of the rib-eyes into the skillet.

Ree recommends two minutes per side for a medium-rare steak. This is what we did for the fellas. We recommended to ourselves to cook the steak a wee bit longer for our preference. We'd rather have less mooing on our plates. We know, we know, it's un-American, and more acurately, un-Midwestern.

Because we made a fairly large number of steaks, we did decide to clean the skillet partway through the operation to avoid burning the butter, smelling up the kitchen and scaring away the neighbors. After our first batch we started having flashbacks to our onion strings and the smokiness that ensued. So don't worry, the rib-eyes were spared.

We tasted the sauce, added a touch more salt, and were ready to dish up - rather, plate our gourmet steaks.

The Maker's Mark whiskey that we used has a very oakey characteristic. Even after the alcohol evaporated, you could still taste the savory flavor. This, combined with the sweetness of the yellow onion, made for a wonderful compliment to the already tasty beef.

Thanks, Uncle He-Man, for the steaks. We'll help you out any time!

Happily full,