Cooking a cow, month by month

Learn how to cook fillet

This molecular gastronomy recipe uses a technique from John Campbell, executive chef of the two Michelin starred Vineyard at Stockcross near Newbury, UK.

The beef, surprisingly, is really rather easy, which is appropriate for a premium cut like fillet. Good food does not need to be mucked about with to make it taste good.

The science bit is simply the way Campbell uses a low temperature to cook the beef fully while keeping it tender all the way through, rather than a high temperature that causes the meat to dry and toughen from the outside inwards.

While you don’t need a vacuum cleaner or nitrous oxide chargers, you will need an oven that can be set to 60C – that’s around one-third of the heat at which most people roast beef.

For the ice cream, you can use the old freeze-and-beat, freeze-and-beat, freeze-and-beat method. For fancy presentation serve it with spring vegetables and herbs, some ready-made caramelised onions, and maybe some horseradish mash on the side.

Keep your pre-loved chunks of marrow bone, wash well, freeze and use them as containers for the ice cream.

HOW TO COOK IT

For the ice cream, put six sliced onionsin a saucepan with a few spoonfuls of water and cook over low heat for one hour, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown.

Cool, then puree. Heat 75ml of milk in a clean saucepan, add 2 tsp sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove pan from heat and stir in 350g of the onion puree along with another 100ml milk, 125ml cream, 1tsp salt and some ground pepper.

Churn the mixture according to your ice-cream machine’s instruction book. You’ll have some leftovers, but it’s not really worth making less.

Next, take two fillet steaks around 170g each. Set the oven to 60C. Put a non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Rub the beef with vegetable oil, season lightly, then put the steaks in the pan and sear for around 30 seconds, turning them to brown them all over.

Place the steaks on a roasting tray and put them in the oven for 55 minutes, turning halfway through cooking, until cooked to your liking. Jenni Muir

Buy your meat at Boucherie Michel, First Floor, Jiezuo Building, Xingfucun Zhong Lu, Chaoyang district (6417 0489). Open 9am-8.30pm daily.

Buy your onions, vegetables and milk at Jenny Lou’s, 6 Sanlitun Beixiaojie, Chaoyang district (6461 6928). Open 8am to 10pm daily.