Steak au Poivre

One of the most basic fundamentals of French cooking: a pan sauce. Tasty and decadent. Don’t let the simplicity of this dish fool you. Few ingredients combined correctly can become more then the sum of their parts, gestalt.

The traditional cut of beef for this dish is the ever popular filet. While the filet is an incredible cut of beef and very tender, it is expensive. Any grilling type steak will do well for this dish. Used here is the strip steak. This cut has great flavor, good fat marbling, and not overly tender.

Steak au Poivre

Steak and a pan sauce for two? Somebody's getting lucky tonight.

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Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine French

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb 1" thick Steak
• 2 tbsp fresh cracked pepper
• kosher salt to taste
• 2 tbsp avocado oil
• ½ cup cognac
• ½ cup heavy cream
• flake salt

Instructions

 

• Season steak with kosher salt and all of the fresh cracked black pepper.
• Heat cast iron pan over medium high heat and add avocado oil.
• Sear the steak for 2 min per side and then lower heat to medium low.
• Keep flipping the steak every 2 min until your desired internal temperature is reached on an instant read thermometer. 120° internal will give you a medium rare steak after resting. Once reached, place on a plate and loosely tent with foil.
• Raise heat to mudium and add cognac. The cognac should ignite from the heat of the pan. Have a pan lid ready if you feel like the flames are too large, you can cover the pan. If it does not ignite, it can be lit with a lighter. Scrape the bottom of the pan, releasing any fond from the steak. Cook and reduce for 1-2 min.
• Add in heave cream and lower heat to medium low. Whisking frequently, cook 5-7 min. Sauce is ready when it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Remove steak from plate and slice against the grain on a cutting board. Whisk any juices from the resting plate or cutting board in to the sauce pan.
• Portion sliced steak and pour sauce over.

Notes

Any quality steak cut will work for this recipe. Filet, strip, ribeye, sirloin. The important part is that the steak isn’t over 1″ thick. Too thick and it won’t cook properly.

Fire and cooking go hand in hand. There will be fire in this recipe. Some basic precautions will help manage this. Never throw water on the fire. Have a pan lid ready to cover the pan, just in case. Baking soda works for emergencies. 

Do not pour flammable liquids (cognac) directly from the bottle. Measure them out and pour from a separate container. This is cooking, not “burn down your kitchen” class.

Keyword beef, pepper, steak