Say you decide to rearrange one day. Not a move the sofa from the left side of the room to the right side of the room type of change. I mean two bedrooms and one guy cave completely, entirely turned inside out & upside down. There is a word for this, well actually there are a few but I will stick with deranged and astronomical. I’ve come to the conclusion that the finished product we sometimes picture in our mind is a whopping tease.

The point to all of this is that I assumed I could have everyone’s closets cleaned out in a day or two while they were all out of the house. Then I could paint the rooms on the sly while they were off playing this weekend. Mmm,Hmm…Not! Can I say “Stuff”. Loads & loads of stuff. Clothes, toys, games, shoes…heavens the shoes. And no, they are not mine. Itty bitty pieces of “What is that, what does this go to & do they really need this?” all over the place. Well guess what? I’m busted.

The guys came home yesterday to find half of the boys closet out in the living room. Half mind you, which left us with about a 4×4 area of clear space in the living room. You can shudder now. The three of them were suffering from slack jaw and shock all evening. I could have lobbed popcorn into their mouths all night and not missed a shot. Did I mention the guy cave is their video game headquarters? The reality of my plan to turn that room into M2’s bedroom could explain the deer in the headlights look on their faces. They had an idea what was coming, they just didn’t know it would be now.

With the house still in a state worthy of a special edition episode on Hoarders, I decided to employ distraction via their stomachs. What could appease them better than steak and potatoes? Okay something sweet but that is coming soon. Now the meat and potatoes would suffice for the monkeys but my surfer would need a touch extra.

Wild Turkey (otherwise known as Kickin’ Chicken), Cajun spices and rich juices from Angus beef . Can I hear an Aw-Yeah! I had seen a menu with bourbon steak sauce listed and figured I would add a wee bit of bourbon to the juices from my steak, throw in some Cajun kick and see what happened. Boy am I glad that I did.

Now this is one of those play in your kitchen, use all five sense’s and feel your way through it recipes. I am going to walk you through this as best I can but when you go to make it your self the amounts per ingredient may vary a smidgen. Here is what you will need to get started…

Kickin’ Chicken Steak Sauce

Steak Juice (rendered from approx. 2.5 lbs tenderloin)

2 dabs of butter

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1.5 oz Wild Turkey 101 (approx. one shot)

1 tsp Cajun spices

Preheat the oven to 400. Then season the steak with sea salt and cracked pepper. Rub it in ya’ll, it will make your steak ever so happy.

Prep your cast iron grill skillet  or your grill. I brush a little olive oil across mine. If you are cooking your steaks on a grill be sure to place an aluminum pan below the steaks in order to catch the juices.

Sear the steaks on both sides for approx. 3-4 minutes.

Then repeat for the same amount of time making a lovely cross hatch pattern, but do not cook it all the way through. Gotta love those grill marks!

Finish the steaks in the oven. The amount of time they cook will depend on how you like your steaks so just keep a close eye on them. Some people like their steaks to sit up and moo. Personally I am not fond of steak Tartar, I like my steak D’ Ead.

Once the steaks have finished baking let them sit while you make your side dishes. The longer they rest, the more juice. We want the juice. We need the juice. This is all about the juice people. See it up there? That my friends would be brown gold.

Now for the fun part. Time to engage all of your senses because this will go fast, approx. 10 minutes or so. You will be adding the next four ingredients within a minute of each other. Just enough time to stir them around and marry the flavors before each new addition.

Keep the steak juices in the same warm pan they baked in, set the pan on an eye with the heat set to medium high. Drop in a couple dabs of butter. Once the butter has started to melt add 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce. Sight-Melted Butter…Sound-A slow simmer, just beginning to boil.

Okay, here’s the punch. 1.5 oz of “Kickin’ Chicken”, 101 proof Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon. The amount of bourbon that you add will be to suit your taste, so only a little bit at a time. I of course went for it.

Here is my favorite part. Add  1tsp of your favorite Cajun spice mix.

See that low boil up there…that is what you want, but only while you put in the ingredients and for approx. three minutes after that. Once all of your ingredients have been added, lower the heat to medium low and simmer. Keep stirring the sauce until it is near the consistency of A-1. Smell-From strong bourbon to a hint of bourbon. Taste-You tell me 🙂

You know that you have reached perfection when you taste the sweetness of reduced bourbon, the tang of Worcestershire and the subtle kick of divine Cajun Spices; all married into one glorious sauce. You can’t help but smile and want to hog it all for yourself. Let’s just say I did well and my surfer has not only forgiven me for the house being wrecked but he can’t stop asking for more Kickin’ Chicken Steak Sauce. He is TICKLED ya’ll! TI-ICK-LED.

You really, really have to try this recipe! The next time that I make this steak sauce it will be with the juices rendered from about 50lbs worth of beef. Seriously! That way I can have a bottle or two to last me a while. Let me know how yours turns out.

Feel free to take this recipe tweak it, play with it and make it your own.

Love ya,

Tickled Red