Sugar Steak with Rosemary Pan Sauce

Sugar steak—that is, a steak sprinkled with sugar to help it develop a deeply caramelized crust when cooked—is said to originate at Bastien’s steakhouse in Denver. We also were inspired by a recipe for breaded veal steaks with a caramelized sugar sauce in “The Talisman of Happiness: The Most Iconic Italian Cookbook Ever Written,” authored by Ada Boni and first published in 1929. We melded the ideas to create this homage to Louis Camille Maillard: a sugar-seasoned, seared steak with a caramelized sugar pan sauce. If the profile sounds too sweet, rest assured the sugar turns pleasantly bittersweet and a touch of soy sauce and red wine vinegar keeps flavors in check. For the restaurant-quality emulsified-butter pan sauce, make sure to cut the butter into smallish pieces and keep it in the refrigerator until needed. A 2-pound, 1-inch-thick top sirloin steak is a great choice for this, but two strip steaks are excellent, too. We advise passing on rib eyes, though, as we found them too fatty for the sauce, which is rich and buttery.