Here's How A Grooved Board Can Upgrade Your Large-Cut Steak Sauces

Ask someone about their favorite steak sauce, and what you thought was a simple question might turn into a 2-hour seminar on the glory of A.1 sauce — or an equally impassioned take-down of the classic store-bought steak condiment. But there are a lot of delicious sauces to put on steak aside from store-bought options, including classics like red wine sauce and béarnaise sauce as well as compound butter that melts to create a sauce right on the plate.

Then there are those who say steak is best served plain, maybe with a sprinkle of salt and pepper to slightly enhance the meaty flavor. Chef Gordon Ramsay's method for making "perfect" steak calls for nothing but a New York Steak, salt, and pepper, and a baste of butter when the steak is done cooking. Why keep things so simple? Steak lovers in one Reddit thread explained that they keep things simple so that the flavor of the meat can shine through, and that they don't want to overwhelm the beef flavor with a complex sauce. But there's one method of making steak sauce that results in something that won't overpower the flavor of your meat, according to one expert. And you can make it right on your favorite grooved cutting board.

"Board sauce" is a type of steak sauce that's made right on your cutting board. It was popularized by chef Adam Perry Lang, but many home cooks have since put their own spins on the method. Amazing Ribs says the method is to chop some fresh herbs, put them on a cutting board, drizzle them with olive oil, and then plop a hot steak on top before it's rested. When you slice into the steak, its juices are released onto the cutting board, mixing with the herbs and oil to create a flavorful sauce that's actually filled with beefy flavor. The meat doesn't get drowned out by the herbs, claims Amazing Ribs. That's because the board sauce adds back the steak flavor that was held in the meat juices.

A grooved cutting board or carving board (you can make your own carving board pretty easily) will collect all of the juices that run off from the meat and sauce, so you can collect them and pour that back over the meat. The herb version of board sauce sounds similar to chimichurri, but there are tons of variations. One Reddit user shared their creamy horseradish board sauce, and another shared a thyme, mint, and tomato board sauce that was served with a roasted leg of lamb. Basically, when it comes to board sauces, the world is your oyster. That reminds us: Oyster sauce would be tasty in a board sauce recipe too, wouldn't it?