Chef Joost
Aardappelschotel met Gehakt
A plain name for a quietly clever dish: fresh mince, sweet fried onion, nutmeg, and mashed potato baked until the top goes golden and the table goes silent.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Biefstuk met Jus
Created by
A hot pan, a spoonful of butter, and a splash of water: the Dutch steak whose real luxury is the jus, glossy enough to demand bread at the table.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Date Night
Quick Meal
30 min
Active Time
10 min cook•45 min total
Yield2 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, biefstuk met jus occupies less space than a shopping list: good steak, hot butter, water in the pan. The season for it was not spring or autumn but payday, or the grey Tuesday when the table needed to feel a little kinder. That is the Dutch way with certain luxuries. We do not always dress them in ceremony. We put bread nearby and pretend nobody is watching the last spoonful of jus.
But let me tell you a secret. The name is a foreign dinner guest we adopted so thoroughly it forgot its coat. Biefstuk is our Dutch mouth making beefsteak its own, and jus is French for juice, which sounds grand until you see what happens: a splash of water hits the brown butter and meat juices at the bottom of the pan, and suddenly the whole meal is in that dark, glossy puddle. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, even when the history is hiding in a frying pan.
Loetje made this dish famous in Amsterdam, yes, and any cafe that teaches a country to ask for more sauce has done useful public work. But home cooks had the method first. The trick is not a professional trick. Dry meat, hot pan, enough butter, a proper rest, then water instead of wine or cream. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. The steak is the occasion; the jus is why people reach for bread.
Biefstuk is recorded in Dutch by the late eighteenth century as a borrowing from English beefsteak, at a time when pan-fried steak had become fashionable across northwestern European city dining rooms. In Dutch kitchens, the jus, from the French for juice, became a frying-pan economy rather than a flour-thickened gravy: browned butter and meat juices loosened with a little water. Cafe Loetje, opened in Amsterdam in 1977 by Ludwig Klinkhamer, turned this household method into a national reference point by serving steak with enough dark butter jus for bread, fries, and argument.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
kogelbiefstuk or ossenhaas steaks
Quantity
2 steaks, 180-200g each
2.5-3cm thick
fine sea salt
Quantity
3/4 teaspoon
neutral oil (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
unsalted butter
Quantity
50g
35g for frying, 15g kept cold for finishing
cold water
Quantity
75ml
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
white bread, fries, boiled potatoes, or green salad (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| kogelbiefstuk or ossenhaas steaks2.5-3cm thick | 2 steaks, 180-200g each |
| fine sea salt | 3/4 teaspoon |
| neutral oil (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| unsalted butter35g for frying, 15g kept cold for finishing | 50g |
| cold water | 75ml |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| white bread, fries, boiled potatoes, or green salad (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy frying pan or cast-iron skillet, 26-28cm
- •Tongs
- •Wooden spoon
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Dry the steak
Take the steaks out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking, then pat them dry on every side with kitchen paper. Salt both sides just before they meet the pan. A wet steak boils before it browns, and then the jus begins with an apology.
- 2
Heat the butter
Set a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add the oil, if using, and 35g of the butter. Wait until the butter foams, quiets, and shows nut-brown flecks; that is the moment. If it smells sharp or turns black, lower the heat and begin again with fresh butter, because bitter butter makes bitter jus.
- 3
Sear and baste
Lay the steaks into the pan away from you. Cook for 2 minutes without poking them, then turn and cook 2 minutes on the second side, spooning hot butter over the top. For steaks 2.5-3cm thick, cook 1 more minute per side for medium-rare, or use a thermometer: pull them at 50C for rare, 54C for medium-rare, 58C for medium. They'll climb a little while they rest.
Your pan should hiss confidently, not scream. If the butter blackens before the meat browns, the heat is vanity, not technique. - 4
Rest the meat
Lift the steaks onto a warm plate and grind black pepper over them now, after the fiercest heat has passed. Rest 5-7 minutes. Tip any juices that collect on the plate back into the pan when you make the jus; they belong there.
- 5
Lift the jus
Take the pan off the heat for a breath, then add the cold water carefully. Return it to medium heat and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon, loosening every browned bit into the liquid. Let it bubble for 30-60 seconds until glossy and slightly reduced, then swirl in the remaining 15g cold butter. Taste before salting; the steak has already spoken.
- 6
Serve simply
Spoon the jus over and around the steaks, not in a polite line but generously, because this is the dish. Serve with white bread, fries, or boiled potatoes and a simple green salad. A kuiltje, a little hollow, in mashed potatoes is also proper engineering: it keeps the jus where it belongs.
Chef Tips
- •Buy steak of even thickness, not a thin minute steak. Thin meat overcooks before the butter has time to brown; 2.5cm is the small luxury that makes the recipe behave.
- •Use water for the jus the first time. Wine, stock, mustard, and garlic all have their charms, but they change the story; water lets butter and beef speak plainly.
- •Pepper after the sear. Black pepper in hot butter can go acrid, and the jus will carry that bitterness all around the plate.
- •If there are leftovers, slice them cold for bread with mustard the next day. Reheating a cooked steak asks too much of it.
Advance Preparation
- •The steaks can be patted dry, salted lightly, and left uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours; bring them out 30 minutes before cooking and pat dry again.
- •Do not make the jus ahead. It is the pan's memory and must be made after the steak has rested.
- •Have bread, plates, and sides ready before the steaks hit the pan. Biefstuk waits badly, and jus waits for no one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
460 calories
Total Fat
32 g
Saturated Fat
17 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
175 mg
Sodium
980 mg
Total Carbohydrates
0 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
40 g
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