Recipe Shed: Faux Carpet-Bagged Fillet Steak

A traditional carpet-bagged steak is stuffed with oysters and was popular in the 1950s and ’60s. But I couldn’t find any oysters near where I lived, so I stuffed these with slices of Cropwell Bishop Stilton cheese. You don’t need a Sous Vide water bath to do this recipe, but it helps. Cook the steak to medium-rare by vac-packing the steak and immersing it for one hour into a water bath set at 57.5C. 

After an hour, snip the vac-pack open, remove the steaks and create a pocket in the steak by slitting them with a sharp knife and then stuffing with the cheese. Then heat a frying pan to very hot, oil the steaks and sear on both sides to create a Maillard Reaction (in which the sugars on the steak brown to create a crust and an amazing flavour).

Serves 2

2 fillet steaks
4 slices Stilton cheese, or any strong blue cheese
A little sunflower or vegetable oil

Prepare and cook as above and serve with chips and creamed spinach.