Every pub in the country has a steak sandwich. Very few have a good one, and almost none have this one — because the difference between a decent steak sanger and the one people talk about afterwards is not the steak. It’s what you spread on the bread.

Margaret River truffle aioli does in one jar what a bistro does with three pans: rich, garlicky, unmistakably truffled. Add slow-cooked sweet onion and Keating & Co Mello Rello tomato relish for the tangy counterpoint, and the sandwich stops being lunch and starts being an occasion.

What you need

2 minute steaks, about 150 g each (porterhouse or scotch fillet, flattened thin)
1 small ciabatta, split, or 4 thick slices sourdough
3 tbsp truffle aioli
2 tbsp Mello Rello tomato relish
1 large brown onion, finely sliced
A big handful of rocket
Olive oil, a knob of butter, and a pinch of truffle salt

Method

Start the onion: cook it in the butter and a little oil over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft, sweet and deep gold.
Get a frying pan or barbecue plate properly hot. Oil the steaks — not the pan — and sear 60–90 seconds a side. Rest for 3 minutes and season with truffle salt.
Toast the bread cut-side down in the steak pan; those pan juices are seasoning, not mess.
Spread truffle aioli generously on both faces of the bread. Build from the bottom: rocket, steak, onions, relish. Crown it, press gently, halve on the diagonal.

Two rules keep this sandwich honest. First, thin steak beats thick here — a flattened minute steak cooks in the time the bread takes to toast and never fights the bite. Second, rest it properly: three minutes on a board keeps the juices in the meat instead of soaking the bread. Feeding four? Double everything and sear the steaks in two rounds, so the pan stays screaming hot for each one.

Serve with a wizard pickle on the side and hot chips — which, yes, you should also be dipping in the aioli. If the jar somehow survives the week, it has strong opinions about burgers too.