I’ve been wanting to make steak au poivre. To that end I bought some meat. I didn’t intend to make it tonight, but I was looking at the ‘value pack’ of meat and figured I could spare some for dinner. (I’d only eaten a bowl of bagged salad for breakfast, and an artichoke for lunch and I wanted something quick and easy.) I didn’t want to cook it on the coals. As long as I was going to pan-cook it, why not do a half-assed job of steak au poivre?
The meat had been trimmed of all fat round the edges by the market’s butcher. I chose a nice cut that was more economical than the kind I should have used.
I didn’t feel like crushing the multi-coloured peppercorns between two pans, so i just used the built-in grinder on the jar. I planned to cook the meat for three minutes per side for medium-rare. I had the heat a little high, so it came out actually medium-rare instead of the more-rare medium-rare that I prefer. I popped the two meat halves into a 200ºF oven while I made the sauce.
Whoops. No shallots. I used garlic instead. And I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing and used all of the butter instead of half of it as I should have. (I didn’t realise this until I went to put the other half of the butter in later.) I don’t have any cognac, so I used Napoleon brandy. Same thing, right? Just made in a different area? Once it was reduced to a glaze I added the cream, saw that I had already used the butter, added the meat drippings, and reduced the concoction by half. I poured it on the meat and put freshly-chopped parsley on top.
It was pretty good. The meat was tender. I should have used more pepper. I love pepper, but I didn’t want to over-do it on my first attempt. Next time I’ll do it the right way, and make some asparagus to go with it.
A brandy sauce on a peppersteak is a bit furrin to me. (Though I have no doubt it was delish.)
I’d do everything the same, except:
Season the steaks with sea salt as well as coarse pepper.
After they’re done, set them aside, covered in a warm oven.
Cook the shallots in the drippings until they’re soft, but not caramelized.
Add 1 cup cabernet, and reduce to glaze. Add 1 cup of beef broth, and reduce by half. Add 1 cup of heavy cream and reduce until it looks just so. Add a little more sea salt and introduce the stuff to the cow.
Sometimes I use a crazy amount of pepper. Other times I am not so peppery.
I live in an apartment so I have no choice, but it’s actually my favourite way to have steak. To be honest, I never even really liked steak til I started to do it that way. I’ve always been a pepper freak.
There’s probably a traditional method of steak au poivre.
But, I think it’s a recipe that lends itself to some jacking around.
Garlic/shallots.
Brandy/cognac.
Herbs/no herbs.
Any reasonable combination of butter & heavy cream.
It might not technically be “steak au poivre” anymore, but with a little experience, it’s easy to make a delicious sauce with whatever you have on hand.
We were at a dinner for our small company, and everyone was there. The folks next to us had ordered the steak au poivre, as had we. Out came the main dish, the medallion of steak encrusted with multicolored roughly-ground peppercorns.
The woman next to me said, in wionderful and un-ironic innocence:
“Hey! This steak au poivre has pepper all over it!”
For pepper steak I do a roast. I get a Virginia Roast (I have never seen them anywhere else, it is about a one and a half to two pound chunk of really lean beef) and roll it in crushed Szechuan peppercorns until it is totally coated and black. It looks like a stupid amount of pepper but it doesn’t turn out that way. Roast some veges with it and make the sauce on the stovetop to pour over everything. I just cut the roast into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
I use a two- to two-and-a-half-pound chuck roast frequently for Wednesday Night Barbecue, though I try to get one that’s well-marbled rather than lean. I coat it with Montreal steak seasoning (which I think is basically garlic salt, red pepper, black pepper and paprika) and pierce it all over with a fork. Then I throw it on the barbie and cook it rare. It’s always tasty and tender.
The recipe I tried calls for cognac. I’ve had boeuf burgonogne, of course. The wine seems to have a more ‘earthy’ flavour than what I made last night. It’s all good, though.
I did salt the steak before peppering it. I almost reached for the kosher salt, but since I was just playing last night I decided to use regular salt.
For someone who doesn’t drink (at least hardly ever), I have quite a lot of sauce in the house. I’ve had that brandy lying about for probably ten years. May as well use it up!
Yeah, I’m a pepper fiend. I really should have used more pepper. Now I know.
I should point out that I don’t eat the whole thing myself! WNB has at least two people, and sometimes five. When there are fewer people there are leftovers that can last a couple of days.
I saw Alton Brown do steak au poivre the week before my wife’s birthday. So, I decided to use his recipie and prepare it for her birthday. It was fabulous!
Although AB’s recipie didn’t include any challots or garlic that I remember.
I’ve jjust made it again – this time with shallots. Tasted pretty much the same as it did last time: delicious!
I wonder if they sell brandy at the supermarkets here? In CA it would be a no-brainer. Yes. Here in WA? I’ll have to check. See, there’s only a swallow left. I’ll finish it off after I finish my cabernet.
There was a meat sale at the market. I bought some steaks that I think were lower quality than the ones I used before. Also, I had to trim all of the fat off myself; as opposed to the pre-trimmed meat of previous meals. And I changed brandy. I used all of my Raynal Napoleon Brandy on the previous meals. Not wanting to use ‘the good stuff’ for cooking, I bought a 1.75 ltr. bottle of Jacques Cardin ‘Finest French Brandy’.
Now, it wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t as good as the other times. Why not? Was it the meat? or was it the Brandy? Or was it both? (Please say it’s the meat. I don’t want to cook with the Courvoisier!)
