Peppercorn sauce

[Ferraridriver]

Just having a yen for a good pepper steak.

Anyone make their own sauce? Anyone buy it, if so how was it?

I do know better than to expect a good result with a packaged dry mix, By bought I mean a premixed sauce in a bottle, usually from France.

What steak do you usually use with peppercorn sauce.

We used to go to a restaurant that had really good sauce but served it on New York steaks. I had to ask for fillets, they were delicious but they are long out of business.

[Dave Grubb]

Are you are talking about steak au poivre?

If so, I commonly use sirloin------and very good brandy or cognac!

Here is the basic recipe that I use:

Steak au Poivre

• 4 tenderloin steaks, 6 to 8 ounces each and no more than 1 1/2 inches thick
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/3 cup Cognac, plus 1 teaspoon
• 1 cup heavy cream
Directions
Remove the steaks from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour prior to cooking. Sprinkle all sides with salt.
Coarsely crush the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle, the bottom of a cast iron skillet, or using a mallet and pie pan. Spread the peppercorns evenly onto a plate. Press the fillets, on both sides, into the pepper until it coats the surface. Set aside.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and olive oil. As soon as the butter and oil begin to turn golden and smoke, gently place the steaks in the pan. For medium-rare, cook for 4 minutes on each side. Once done, remove the steaks to a plate, tent with foil and set aside. Pour off the excess fat but do not wipe or scrape the pan clean.
Off of the heat, add 1/3 cup Cognac to the pan and carefully ignite the alcohol with a long match or firestick. Gently shake pan until the flames die. Return the pan to medium heat and add the cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and whisk until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Add the teaspoon of Cognac and season, to taste, with salt. Add the steaks back to the pan, spoon the sauce over, and serve.

I have a large stone mortar and pestle which makes cracking the pepper to the correct size easy. A grinder will not give you the coarseness this dish calls for.

To impress guests, I have them gather around in the kitchen as I do the flambé.

I use heavy cream and bring the cream to room temperature to save a few minutes in that phase. I also add more Cognac after the flambé than the recipe calls for, I add to taste but that is one of the real pluses to the flavor of this dish. I use Courvoisier V.S.O.P or XO Cognac depending on what is in the cabinet at the time.

It is really very simple and the results are supreme

[UTAH]

I like it. I also bring my steaks up to room temps before grilling them. Trying your suggestions makes sense.

Hunter

[Dave Grubb]

I commonly allow 2 plus hours to "normalize". I place the unwrapped steak on a rack above a plate. I salt both sides generously. Depending on my mood I also add rub, either my own or commercial.

Allowing it to rest on a rack allows even rehydration on both sides.

Cooking methods and time vary based on thickness and source (fresh or from the freezer). Steaks that have been frozen have lower moisture content than never frozen, which reduces cooking time.

We both like steak medium rare with a node toward rare. That is not easily achieved starting with cold meat, which ends up with a grey layer of "well done" before the heat penetrates to the center.

The science is obvious: starting with a cold steak at 35 F and finish at 125 F is a 90 F delta T. From room temp of 72 F to 125 F is a 53 F delta tee.

I "test" doneness by pushing on the surface of the steak to gage firmness---it's a "feel" that is best learned by trying.

I allow the cooked steak to rest for about 5 minutes before serving, as it gains a few degrees temperature in the core.

My preferred thickness is 1 1/4" to 1 1/2".

My preferred cut, porterhouse.

Going back to the original subject, the reason I prefer sirloin for steak au poivre; it is favorable, boneless, and reasonably lean without a total absence of fat.

[Ferraridriver]

Are you are talking about steak au poivre?

That sounds delicious, I'll give it a try. Almost all the recipes I've seen call for shallots, what do you think about shallots?

[Dave Grubb]

That sounds delicious, I'll give it a try. Almost all the recipes I've seen call for shallots, what do you think about shallots?

I have never done that---but now likely will try them. I regard all of my recipes as a blank canvas. I am not sure where this one came from but I have tried the addition of diced mushrooms (shiitake seem particularly well suited) and diced garlic----but then I add garlic to most everything!

A thought on variations, this is a rather simple sauce, there are not a lot of layers or complexity to it. The Cognac is the star of the show and I would not want to compromise that. Guests who have never sipped Cognac remark about the flavor and often seem surprised when I tell them the source.

[Ferraridriver]

Speaking of cognac, my first experience with cognac was in Furth, a suburb of Nuremberg in 1953-55. I would buy a 375 ml bottle of the local cognac for 5 marks which was $1.25 US and sip it all night in the local gasthaus. You put an empty snifter in front of the chair next to you and you were guaranteed a lovely fraulein for the evening.

That cognac was a wonderful sipping experience, earthy with distinct flavors. Nothing at all like the VSOP cognac we buy here.
The beer was the same, we drank the local which was so much better than what they called export beer.

[Dave Grubb]

I have found the same to be true in many countries with many things. Possibly the most notable are wines. I have often said that the French reserved their absolutely worst wines to export to Quebec, where they would be consumed with gusto because of the origin

In Italy, I always order the vino locale. I have had some of the finest wine poured from bottles with no labels.