Whiskey Glazed Steak Tips

1 lb steak tips
1/2 cup Jack Daniels
1/2 cup apple cider
2 tbls light brown sugar
1 tbl Dijon mustard
pinch of cayenne
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (original called for 4 tsps)
salt and pepper
1 tbl butter (optional)



Whisk together whiskey, cider, brown sugar, mustard, cayenne, vanilla and vinegar. Put 1/4 cup of it into a zipper bag together with the tips. Push out the air, seal and put in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Reserve the rest of the whiskey mixture. Remove the tips from the bag, discard the marinade. Pat the tips dry with some paper towels. Heat up some oil in a fry pan till just smoking. Season the tips with salt and pepper, cook till well browned on both sides and till almost done. Move them to a plate and cover tightly with foil. Pour the rest of the whiskey mixture to the pan and deglaze. Reduce heat and let simmer till reduced by half. If you're using the butter add it in now and stir it around to melt and mix. Add tips to glaze with any collected juices. Let cook till done how you like, turning a couple of times to coat them up. Any glaze left in the pan can be spooned over the tips or used to glaze carrots or something. I recommend carrots.

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First off, props where they are due. This is adapted from an America's Test Kitchen recipe for whiskey glazed pork chops, which was in turn adapted from a certain chain restaurants concept. My girlfriend really wanted steak tips (and we had some, as opposed to chops) and I wanted to try something new, so this is what I made. I added less vinegar than the original called for and forgot to add the butter at the end to finish the sauce. But they still came out wicked good. Sweet and tangy, with a distinct taste of Jack Daniels but none of the harsh alcohol flavor. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I'm going to try it with pork and chicken too, I bet they will also be good. Plus, I didn't have cider so I used apple juice. I can only imagine cider would have been much better.

Ok, first the sauce/marinade. Start with the JD. You could probably use bourbon or some other kind of whiskey, but JD has a great flavor for this kind of thing so I recommend it. Now cider, vinegar, vanilla, mustard and brown sugar. Oh, and take blurry pictures because you haven't bought a decent tripod yet. Please. It will make me feel better. Whisk to combine. Now put your tips in a zipper bag and pour in a quarter cup of the sauce. Squeeze out the air and seal it up. Mix it around till they are evenly coated and toss it in the fridge for an hour or two. I just did one and they were fine. Once they have marinated, take them out, toss out the marinade and pat them dry with paper towels. Now you want to heat up a pan with a couple teaspoons of vegetable oil on medium-high, till just smoking. Season the tips with some salt and pepper and drop them in. Sear them on both sides. You are going to be finishing them in the glaze, but you want to do most of the cooking now. How long it takes depends on how done you want them. A couple minutes a side will be more rare, more will be less rare. Aren't I helpful? Heh. You will probably just want to cut one open and see how it looks. It boils down to individual tastes here. You want it about three quarters of the way done, however done is for you. Once they are that done put them on a plate and cover them with foil. Your pan should have a whole mess of fond, like this. Isn't that lovely? I do so enjoy a good fond. Now deglaze the pan with the rest of the sauce. Bring it to a low boil and let it reduce by about half. Here is where you would add the butter, if you are so inclined. Now put the tips back in and turn them a couple times. You should also pour in whatever juices have collected while the tips rested.Let them sit for a bit then turn them again. Do this a couple times, till they are done how you want and coated in sweet, delicious glaze. Now take them out again. Now, you could just spoon the rest of the sauce over them, but I thought some glazed carrots would be nice. So I threw in a bunch of (frozen, I admit it) carrot slices and tossed them around till cooked and coated with glaze. It was quite nice. Now you should eat it. This picture here doesn't do the tips justice, that's why it's at the bottom instead of the top with the recipe. I don't know what happened, probably a combination of the weird lighting in my kitchen and my lack of photography skills. But anyway, there is it. Enjoy.