Professor Whitehead's Beef Teriyaki

Home at last, but too tired to cook, and besides I can't leave you hanging. So the last, at least for a while, of my Cooking With Alice re-posts. This is all good. Beef, what more can I say? A teriyaki sauce made with sake, that you light on fire - awesome! Grilled to perfection and served over a volcano of white rice. Of, course Alice's instructions were a bit flawed on how to set the sauce aflame - she advised to turn off the heat, when you really need to crank it up (luckily, I know how to set food on fire).  In fact, if you read the recipe, you'll see most of  it is wrong, but yet oh, so right. P.S. I threw in some green pepper for added measure.

"The Tiki Caves" (The conclusion to our three-part island epic) Professor Hubert Whitehead, played by the great Vincent Price, is a nut job archaeologist holed up in a cave on Oahu. The boys venture into the cave to return what they believe to be a cursed idol to its ancient burial ground. Professor Whitehead ties them up because he fears they will steal his latest find, a scary tiki head he calls Oliver (foreshadowing of Cousin Oliver, perhaps?). He would have gotten away with it too had it not been for those meddling kids (Curses!). This same plot is played out earlier in the series when the Bradys are on their way to the Grand Canyon and encounter a crazy old prospector played by Jim Bakkus (yes, who also played Mike's boss Mr Matthews). Confused? Don't be, this is the way TV worked back when you actually watched it on your TV. Mike and Carol come to the rescue and the Bradys celebrate with a luau on Waikiki.  A-lo-ha.


The Recipe:

3c sake
1c sugar
3c soy sauce
1 8 1/2 pound rib steak with bone removed

In a saucepan mix the sake and the sugar cook low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat and ignite (or turn the heat up if you really want a flame) the sake mixture with a match, shaking the pan until the flame dies. Add the soy sauce and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue boiling until the mixture thickens and becomes syrupy. Pour the sauce into a shallow bowl large enough to dip the steak.
Preheat the broiler or barbecue grill, be sure the coals are white hot. Dip the steak into the teriyaki sauce, coating the meat thoroughly. Broil or barbecue until desired doneness, dipping the meat in the sauce again when it is turned (which makes no sense, brushing the or basting yes, but dipping, no). Reheat the remaining sauce. To serve, slice the steaks into 1/2 inch slices and arrange the slices on a warmed plate. Pour the remaining sauce over the steaks and garnish with parsley (which you notice is not on the ingredient list, but that's the way Alice rolls). Serve with hot rice and the remaining sauce on the side (even though you have already poured the remaining sauce over the meat, again welcome to my world!). Makes 8 servings.

Special equipment: Fire extinguisher and dashboard hula girl