Outback's New Smoked Porterhouse Is Actually Served In Smoke
Outback Steakhouse seems excited to celebrate the holidays with seasonal meals. Aside from a shrimp-topped Kingsland Pasta, and a Cinnamon Oblivion ice cream dessert, there are some seasonal steaks on offer, according to Brand Eating. The New Sirloin & Tasmanian Shrimp reads like a tasty mess of their 'bloomin' options. Fried shrimp get a Nashville-hot treatment next to a sirloin doused with spicy butter.
The final seasonal option to celebrate the 2022 holiday season involves some unique techniques, special equipment, and some table-side dramatics. A porterhouse steak, which combines both a New York strip steak and a tenderloin steak (per MasterClass), is smoked, which is already pretty celebratory. But the restaurant chain is taking things to the next level.
After the two sides of the bone-in steak are sliced, they're served beneath a glass dome filled with more smoke. Presumably, that will add an extra dose of smokiness to the steaks and side of asparagus. Even if that's not the case, the real magic is pulling off the dome and releasing the aroma of smoke and steak to the diners at the table. That's some holiday drama we can all get behind! But if you can't get to an Outback, can you still get in on the smoked-meat action?
Do you need to walkabout the Outback for smoked steak?
The "smoke under a dome" technique has been a favorite of high-end restaurants for years, and it's fairly simple to do at home. At Fat Duck, the 2005 Best Restaurant in the World, according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants, Chef Heston Blumenthal often engaged this clever smoke-filled flair. Now, you can buy a smoking gun from his own line of cooking tools. These tools emit cold smoke through a flexible tube to wherever you'd like. They've become a popular part of bartender's tool kits for cocktails such as the smoked old fashioned.
So, if you're willing to smoke a porterhouse and have a smoking gun. All you need to replicate this meal at home is the glass dome. You can splurge on a clear polycarbonate dome from an online retailer like Webstaurant Store. Or, just snag the dome to a cake stand. Some even double as a punch bowl (per Williams-Sonoma). What's more seasonal and holiday-themed than a smoked steak? A punchbowl!