Steak Diane is a dish of a pan-fried beefsteak with a sauce made from the seasoned pan juices, generally prepared in restaurants tableside, and sometimes flambéed. Steak Diane” does not appear in the classics of French cuisine, and may have been invented in Belgium, London, or New York. The earliest attestation of Steak Diane by that name is in Australia in 1940, when broil t bone steak was mentioned in an article about the Sydney restaurant Romano’s as their signature dish.
Tony’s Grill in 1938 and named it in honor of Lady Diana Cooper. Clerici may have learned the dish from Charles Gallo-Selva, who had previously worked at the restaurant Quaglino’s in London, which was serving steak cooked tableside in a chafing-dish in 1937, though it is not clear what the dish was called. During the 1940s, steak Diane was a common item on the menus of restaurants popular with New York café society, perhaps as part of the fad for tableside-flambéed dishes. Other stories mention the Café de Paris in 1930’s London and the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro.
Steak Diane is similar to steak au poivre. The steak is cut or pounded thin so that it will cook rapidly. It is seasoned with salt and pepper, quickly sautéed in butter, and set aside. A sauce is prepared from the pan juices with various flavorings. Lobel’s Culinary Club, August 17, 2012 : “Steak Diane is among those popular dishes in ubiquitous cosmopolitan, Continental-style restaurants of the 1950s and ’60s that combined high style with leather banquettes, white-linen table cloths and dishes of American and European influences, a bit of theater and dramatic preparation.
Steak Diane was the rage in the 50s and early 60s, especially in New York. Leah Koenig, “Lost Foods of New York City: Steak Diane”, Politico, March 14, 2012 : “Lost Foods of New York City is a column that celebrates the food and drink that once fed the city, but have disappeared. Jan Aaron, 101 Great Choices: Washington DC, Part 3, p. Steaks, Chops and Fancy Egg Dishes, International Cooking Library, International Publishing Co. Mayfair”, “Heard here and There”, Sydney Morning Herald, February 29, 1940, p. PHS”, The Times, April 11, 1978, p. John Fuller, Guéridon and Lamp Cookery: A Complete Guide to Side-table and Flambé Service, 1964, p.
Nino of the Drake”, New York Times, November 19, 1968, p. Grace Glueck, “Hotel gives fête for its Maître D'”, New York Times, October 26, 1967, p. Stanley Turkel, Great American Hotel Architects, 2019, ISBN 1728306892, p. Please log in with your username or email to continue. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy.