Kerri Conan

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED January 24, 2022

In the 1970s, the chef Nora Daza opened the restaurant Aux Iles Philippines in Paris, in the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank, and the luminaries descended. Brigitte Bardot came for the lumpia (page 107); Simone de Beauvoir put in an appearance, and reportedly so did a Bourbon prince. Among the specialties was tenderloin anointed with soy sauce and calamansi (an indigenous citrus with a bit of the sweetness of an orange but tart as a lime), touted on the menu as Steak Philippin. This was bistek, and it was one of my Lola’s signature dishes, too. She’d take London broil, a cheaper cut of meat, and pound it into tenderness with a mallet. Then she’d cut onions into rounds 1/2-inch (12 mm) thick) and give them a quick sear before tossing a little water in the pan so it flared up and the onions got extra crisp. I like to use rib eye, which is a splurge but worth it, with the pillowy fat cap and lush marbling of the meat — enough fat to coat your lips—and the bright sting of citrus cutting through it. The dish has only a few ingredients so each one matters, especially good olive oil. (And use calamansi instead of lemon if you can find it.) When the pan is hot, be ready to move quickly — the mini-steaks should barely kiss the skillet, just enough the meat keeps its blush at the center. – Angela Dimayuga