Meatopia London & Josh Ozersky’s Dirty Steaks

Meatopia rolled into town again last weekend. A US food institution and brainchild of food writer Josh Ozersky, this was their second year in London. Meatopia gathers the best chefs, butchers, artisans, evangelists and burgerati and has them cook over fire – and only fire – for the weekend at Tobacco Dock. Only the best naturally raised and ethically sourced meat is used.

Chefs this year came from all over the UK, the US, Singapore & Brazil. Mixed in with all of this was an American Whisky Bar, some pretty raucous live music and dancing. Lots of fun & great food. Here are my highlights and your guide on how to cook Dirty Steaks at home.

(Some of) the burgers of Meatopia – Fred Smith’s Dream Burger (made with 60% Welsh wagyu short rib beef and chuck); the MeisterShack Burger from Mark Rosati of Shake Shack; 60 day aged beef burger with American cheese & bacon in a traditional sesame seed bun from Zan Kaufman of Bleecker Burger.

Charlie Carroll / Flatiron’s Whole Spit Roast Dexter, served in a yorkshire pudding with fresh horseradish cream.

Joe McCafferty / Flesh & Bun’s Pit Smoked Lamb in a Steamed Bun (with Korean spices)

Roasted hung Jamaican Quail with Paprika spiced corn from Dave Pynt, Burnt Ends, Singapore (where I had one of my best meals this year – more on that and Singapore soon).

Roasted hung Jamaican Quail with Paprika spiced corn from Dave Pynt, Burnt Ends, Singapore

Pork Ribeye with Roquito Pepper Salsa from Lewis Hannaford & Richard Turner & Foxlow

Pork Ribeye with Roquito Pepper Salsa from Richard Turner & Foxlow

Slow Smoked Leg of Lamb, marinated in dijon, roasted garlic & fresh rosemary then grilled and served with a sauce of fresh mint, olive oil, lemon zest and chopped chilli from Andre De Luca of BOS BBQ (Brazil).

Slow Smoked Leg of Lamb, marinated in dijon, roasted garlic & fresh rosemary then grilled and served with a sauce of fresh mint, olive oil, lemon zest and chopped chilli from Andre De Luca of BOS BBQ (Brazil)

And those Dirty Steaks from Josh Ozersky. Also called Eisenhower steaks, because this is how President Eisenhower liked to cook steak for his guests, except he liked to use sirloin that was about 4 inches thick. Josh used T bone steaks (from Turner & George). He cut some of the thick fat off the sticks and put this on the fire first, then he liberally covered the remaining steaks in butter and a sprinkle of sea salt before putting them onto the logs directly. He took them out a couple of times to check their cooking progress, reapplying butter before putting them back in. When perfectly rare, he seasoned them again, rested, sliced and served.

How did they taste? They had a fantastic outer crust / bark with a perfectly rare, tender and very smoky interior. I will be making them this way again. Try it – and let me know how you get on.

I attended Meatopia as a guest. You can read more about Meatopia on their Meatopia UK website and Meatopia US website. The next event is Meatopia X: The Carnivore’s Ball in October in New York.

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