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Steak au Poivre

Name: Steak au Poivre
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 400 g Sirloin steaks; 2 tbsp Whole black peppercorns; 60 ml Cognac; 150 ml Heavy cream; 100 ml Beef stock; 40 g Unsalted butter; 1 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil; 10 g Flat-leaf parsley; 1 tsp Fine sea salt

Steaks in a pepper crust, seared and then deglazed with cognac into a cream sauce. A quarter of an hour in total, which makes it the quickest dish in the book — and one of the most demanding on timing.

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 15 min
Difficulty: Intermediate

About this dish

Born in the Parisian bistros of the Belle Époque, where a crust of cracked pepper served as much to flatter ordinary meat as to season it. The cream and cognac sauce came later; what never changed is that the pepper must be cracked coarsely and at the last moment.

Gluten-free
Not vegetarian because of Sirloin steaks, Beef stock
Contains dairy because of Heavy cream, Unsalted butter

Ingredients

2servings

400gSirloin steaks
2tbspWhole black peppercorns
60mlCognac
150mlHeavy cream
100mlBeef stock
40gUnsalted butter
1tbspExtra-virgin olive oil
10gFlat-leaf parsley
1tspFine sea salt

Instructions

Take the meat out 30 minutes ahead. Crush the peppercorns coarsely in a mortar or under a heavy pan, press them onto both sides of the steaks, and salt only at the last moment.
5 min
Tip: Finely ground pepper burns and turns acrid; cracked, it forms a crust. Salt just before the pan — salt draws out water, and a wet surface will not colour.
Heat the oil in a heavy pan until it is barely smoking. Sear the steaks 3 minutes a side for rare, adding half the butter halfway through. Rest on a warm plate.
6 min
Tip: A genuinely hot pan and one turn per side. Constant flipping stops the crust forming and drives the juices out.
Off the heat, pour the cognac into the pan, return it to the heat and let it reduce by half, scraping up the browned bits.
3 min
Tip: Always pour away from the flame — alcohol ignites easily over one. The scraped fond is half the flavour of the sauce.
Add the stock, reduce for 2 minutes, then the cream, and let it thicken for 3 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
5 min
Tip: The sauce should coat, not cover. Reduced too far it turns greasy; not far enough and it pools under the meat instead of clothing it.
Off the heat, whisk in the remaining cold butter, add the juices the steaks released while resting, adjust the seasoning and scatter over parsley. Serve at once.
2 min
Tip: Cold butter whisked in off the heat gives the shine. The resting juices are concentrated steak — throwing them away discards the best of it.