Mrs. solost and I rarely go out for New Year’s Eve anymore. Our NYE tradition, such as it is, is me making a fancy dinner, maybe we watch a movie before the NYE live shows begin, and try to stay awake until midnight.
First I was thinking Steak Oscar, a tenderloin topped with asparagus and crab meat in a béarnaise sauce. Bought all the ingredients today.
Then I thought, haven’t made Steak Au Poivre (a tenderloin covered in coarse ground pepper and topped with a sauce reduction of of Demi glacé, cognac and cream) in awhile, and that’s always been a favorite of ours. I have a bottle with a little bit of cognac left and some heavy cream in the fridge.
Mrs. solost says either sound equally good to her. I can’t decide either; think I’ve used up my 2022 allotment of decision making. What do y’all think?
Disclaimer: not a binding poll. Despite which option wins, I may decide on the opposite choice. But I value your opinions, and the winning option may very well sway me in that direction.
Tough call. I love both of these. Maybe lean towards the au poivre, simply because asparagus is out of season right now. But have the Oscar for a special occasion in the spring.
Already picked up the asparagus. $3 something a lb. Since it’s out of season. If I do Au Poivre I’ll serve the asparagus as a side. That and maybe some air-fried potato wedges. Um, I mean pommes frites.
Poll is 50/50 so far at 2 votes each. It’ll be funny if the poll stays a tie. Then I guess I break out a quarter to flip.
Since you’ve already bought the ingredients specifically for this meal, I’d stick with the original plan. That’s the point where I consider the die to be cast.
The only way I might do otherwise is if I had some other plan with those same ingredients (and other thing I already have) that I could do later.
I had a tenderloin au poivre for dinner on Tue. Can recommend. Full disclosure: I did not cook it; a professional did.
This.
One of my decision-making tricks for tough choices like this is to flip a coin. E.g. heads Oscar, tails au poivre. Then when I reveal the coin I listen to my instant reaction. It’s either "Yaay! or “Rats!” Then I do whichever thing corresponds to Yaay even if that wasn’t what the coin told me to do.
And no, there’s no way to go wrong with that menu no matter what you decide.
The only ingredient I bought specifically for the Oscar was some lump crabmeat, and that can be repurposed for crab-stuffed mushroom apps or maybe crab cakes on New Year’s Day. Think I am leaning toward the Au Poivre, and Mrs. solost is also now saying she maybe does favor the Au Poivre as well.
I picked au poivre both because it’s delicious and because the Oscar has crab meat which I’m not a big fan of, and even if I was, I’m of the belief that crab has no business being on top of a steak. Also, IMHO the au poivre looks better and I prefer the sauce.
Missus Morty has to work both New Year Eve and New Year Day. I’ll be eating leftovers in her absence. Not complaining, we have some really good stuff vacuum sealed in boil-bags and stashed in the freezer. Right now I’m thinking the frozen spare ribs, sauerkraut and dumpling package is looking good, paired with a home brewed dunkel. But I may change my mind and boil a bag of home made lasagna and make a nice salad. Got some with some cheap Italian red to wash it down with.
Life is good, I don’t need any fancy ah-poovie stuff.
That’s pretty much my take. I prefer simpler for the most part, and I don’t really get the crab meat and steak pairing. Then again, I’m a surf or turf kind of guy, not both. Steak au poivre is pretty much perfect for my tastes.
2 TB butter, divided
2-3 medium shallots, thinly sliced
3 TB brandy or cognac, your preferred
2 cups beef broth
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Melt one TB butter in a flame-resistant pan. Add shallots and sauté over medium heat until well wilted and slightly browned.
Turn off heat under pan. Add brandy, swirl and flambé . When flames die down, add beef broth, return to a simmer until mixture is reduced by half. Add mustard and stir to combine well.
Over low heat, add remaining TB of butter and swirl to thicken the sauce. Pour over your prepared steaks and try not to moan while eating.
The au poivre recipe has given me a small inspiration for roast beef gravy. I usually serve it with a hunter sauce mix made with about half a cup of wine, in preference to demi-glace. Might be interesting to substitute cognac for wine, and maybe add some butter and shallots.
It seems that it’s become ‘tradition’ for me to cook the ribs from the Christmas roast low-and-slow in the oven for New Year’s Eve. So we’ll have BBQ prime rib ribs.
Yeah, it’s really looking like an Au Poivre NYE. I just actually looked at the recipe for Au Poivre I linked to in my OP— I put in a link for the sake of the post, but I didn’t look at it too closely because I have my own recipe. I usually just do black peppercorns, but I see that recipe (which supposedly is the Julia Child recipe) includes several types of peppercorns including allspice. I really like how allspice pairs with beef and I’m pretty sure I have some whole allspice. So I will use ground black pepper and allspice corns!
Also, IMHO the au poivre looks better and I prefer the sauce.
