madbaker: (Chef!)
[personal profile] madbaker
This week on Resolution Recipe-o-Rama: Steak au poivre.

2 8-oz steaks of whatever cut (I used Prather skirt steak)
1 oz olive oil
1 oz freshly cracked peppercorns
2 oz butter (I used less)
1/2 oz Cognac
2 oz dark veal stock (I used house-made chicken stock)
salt & pepper

Heat oven to 425. Moisten the meat very slightly with oil, then dredge each of the steaks in the crushed peppercorns to thoroughly coat. Don't be shy with the pepper. Heat the remaining oil in a skillet over high heat. When hot, add 1 oz butter. Place steaks in the pan and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook to desired doneness - about 7 minutes for rare, 10 minutes for mediumish-rare. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the steaks from the pan to rest.

Return the skillet to the stovetop and carefully stir in the cognac. As much fun as it is to create a column of flame as you add flammable material to an incredibly hot pan, it's not really desirable or necessary. Unless you're a pyromaniac, I recommend carefully adding the cognac to the still-hot pan off the flame, stirring and scraping with a wooden spoon to get every scrap, every peppercorn, every rumor of flavor clinging to the bottom of the pan. Now place the pan on the flame again and cook it down a bit, by about half. Stir in the veal stock and reduce over medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

To make steak Diane, whisk a spoonful of Dijon mustard and a touch of cream (I used creme fraiche) into the final sauce.

What worked: Nice flavor, especially with the Dijon added. I thought that the oven time might overcook the steak, but it was still on the medium to medium-rare side after 9 minutes. The sauce, minus the peppercorns, was faboo.

What didn't: Too peppery - we couldn't eat the peppercorns and had to move them to the side of the plate. And I like pepper. I'd probably dredge in ground pepper with a soupcon of cracked peppercorns instead.

Will I make it again? I might well, subject to changes as noted above. It was pretty easy and a nice change from our usual, which is straight-up broiled.

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