So I tried twice and have failed both times at this dish.
The steak part is easy enough, but I’m having trouble getting the sauce to a proper thickness. I reduce the sauce like Chef Jon tells me too, but the sauce never seems to thicken. It just evaporates into nothingness.
Not sure what I’m doing wrong, the heat maybe? Or is it the cheap Brandy?
Or is it just a bad recipe?
Anyway, your thoughts are appreciated.
It is a pretty straight forward sauce. The easy way to cheat is to follow all the steps without concerning yourself too much about reducing the sauce. If it isn’t to your liking slowly stir in some instant mashed potato flakes, a little at a time until it is how you like. I don’t use instant mash for any other purpose and it has the advantage of being basically tasteless. Useful for anything that needs thickening at the last minute for serving.
Well, yeah, it is going to evaporate. That’s the point. First you reduce the brandy, then you reduce the beef stock, and then you add the cream and by that time you’re not really reducing it much any more. Finish with butter. It doesn’t become a sauce until you stir in the cream. All the of the previous stuff is going to be flavoring the cream.
Wow, that must be one of his first videos ever, the quality is much better these days. Have you watched many of his other videos? While I like Binging With Babish for the entertainment factor, Food Wishes is the best for straight up cooking stuff. Chef Jon seem more interested in showing you what to look for rather than have you follow a recipe that isn’t working well, and I love that.
That said, reducing liquids is something that has given me fits at times as well. I tried to make Alton Browns rib recipe and could not get the sauce to a syrup-like consistency no matter what I tried.
Is there a lot of oil/ fat in the pan when you are making the sauce? It doesn’t reduce and will keep the liquid fairly thin if there is too much. Did you reduce the broth before adding the cream? That instruction seems to have been glossed over and not even shown in the video. If that isn’t the issue, then potato flakes is a good suggestion or you could use a tiny bit of flour or corn starch to thicken it up, but that is going to take practice to get right, as well.
That’s a good tip on the mashed potatoes. If you use flour to thicken, if you’re not careful with flour as a thickener, it can overwhelm the sauce.
You might tryAlton Brown’s steak au poivre. That’s the one I started with, and it’s a bit simpler than Chef Jon’s (no beef stock). Basically he puts 1/3 cup brandy in the pan to deglaze it, flames it, cooks it down a bit, and then adds the cream, and cooks it down to the desired consistency, and then seasons it with salt.
what sort of beef stock are you using? the only way this will thicken the way it’s supposed to is if you’re using real bone broth that consists of the gelatin that renders out of the bones during an 8 hour simmer. it’s the gelatin and collagen that makes the sauce thick.
here’s a good veal stock recipe with good explanations. How To Make Restaurant Quality Veal Stock Like a Professional Chef
You can also thicken with corn starch or arrowroot powder. One of them you’re not supposed to use with cream, but I forget which.
Are you using heavy cream? If you are, I’m not sure why it’s not thickening for you. That stuff gets coat-the-back-of-a-spoon thick reasonably easily, by the time you reduce by about a half or so. And, like Ascenray says, reduce the Cognac first. I’ve never used stock in my steak au poivre, though. If I did, I would do the same and reduce it before adding the cream. And by reduce, I mean reduce it until it’s basically a glaze. Chef Jon doesn’t seem to take it quite that far, but I would have reduced it a bit more than he did. In any case, with heavy cream, it should thicken up like a charm. There is no need to use a starch-type of thickener in it, and I would advise against it.
I would agree with this. I’ve only made it a few times because I’m not a huge steak fan but yeah, reduce it just a bit more than you might think then add proper cream. Keep your eye on it and keep it moving in the pan. Using the right pan and a proper whisk is very helpful. The sauce should come together quickly.
My pan sauces got a lot better when I discovered the magic of a flat whisk, for what that’s worth.
For me, reduction sauces don’t so much come together “quickly” as they do “suddenly.” I can seem like you’ve got the deglaze boiling forever and then you almost miss it when it changes character. That’s when you want to stir in the next liquid for another round of boiling.