Steak au poivre recipe

Steak au Poivre recipe

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About this recipe

In this blog post I will guide you thru the steps and ingredients needed to craft this recipe. Grab your favorite apron and let's start.
This recipe for Steak au poivre is a classic French dish that showcases the rich flavors of a perfectly cooked steak. Coated in a cracked black pepper crust and seared to perfection, the steak is then served with a decadent pan sauce made with brandy and cream. The combination of the tender steak, aromatic pepper, and creamy sauce creates a truly indulgent dining experience.

Keywords: steak, French cuisine, black pepper, pan sauce, indulgent.

steak au poivre recipe details

Steak au poivre recipe, recipe Rating: 4.5
Number of votes:101 

Ingredients

2	Sirloin (entrecote) steaks, between 175g and 250g each thinly cut
1 clove(s)	garlic, crushed and finely chopped (optional)
2 tbsp	heaped, whole black peppercorns (or use a mix of black, green, pink and white as avaiable)
2 tbsp	olive oil
1 medium	shallot, finely chopped
1 small	knob butter, unsalted
1 glass(es)	brandy
1 dash(es)	heavy, quality red wine
100 ml	double cream

Instructions

About an hour before intending to serve, providing time permits, otherwise a few minutes before cooking mix 1 tbsp olive oil with the garlic (if used) in a small bowl and brush over both sides of each steak. Allow to rest as long as possible on a plate in the refrigerator. Crush the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar if you have one; place a small amount on a dessert or tablespoon and crush with another placed above it; place on a length of cling film on a work surface, pour on peppercorns, place another sheet of film over the top and crush with rolling pin; pulse in a blender; what you want is a course-textured crush and not something resembling ground pepper. Use the coursest ground pepper possible as a last resort, but only if necessary.

Warm two plates in advance.

Heat a heavy frying pan on the hob, on a high heat. You need the pan to be searing hot in order to seal the meat within a few seconds of contact and to create a crust of seared pepper and meat. This is less possible if the pepper is too finely crushed or ground or if the pan is not quite hot enough.

Pour the crushed peppercorns onto a shallow dish or tray. Brush off as much of the garlic as possible (if used) using the point of a knife as it is there only to infuse flavour into the steak. A few bits remaining will not make a dramatic difference. Press both steaks into the crushed pepper, turn over to coat other side, until well covered. Repeat if necessary to fill any large gaps.

The steaks should ideally be quite thin, but if thicker allow about 1 minute additional cooking time. Add steak to pan and sear on both sides, reduce heat and cook for 1 minute if you like your steak ‘blue’ or extremely rare. For rare to medium, allow an extra 3 minutes, and for medium to well done an extra 1-1½ minutes. Turn at least once about mid-way in respective cooking times, or more often at lesser intervals, but not more than 2-3 times in total. Once the steaks are cooked remove them from the pan and set aside on a dish to rest.

Pour off most of the oils from the pan, return pan to heat and allow to reach cooking temperature. Add shallot and fry gently to soften. Pour in brandy. Immediately, using a taper, match, or a gas-filled cooker lighter (not a petrol lighter unless you like your meals to taste of petrol), flame the brandy. Please exercise care as you neither want to burn your kitchen, hair, eyebrows or clothes. When the flames are diminishing add the red wine, scraping bottom of pan to release any caramelised residues that are sticking to it. Reduce sauce volume by about one third to one half. Add the cream, warm and stir until sauce slightly thickens.

Remove warmed plates, using cloth or oven gloves if necessary. Place one steak on each plate and pour about half the sauce over each steak. Serve immediately with fine vegetables (steamed asparagus or fine green beans are commonly used, or a salad of choice) and a few frites (chips or French fries).

You may note that no salt is used in this recipe. It simply is not necessary as there is quite enough pepper to provide flavour.

Preparation time:
ca. 1 hr 30 min
Grade of difficulty:
medium
Calories per portion:
n/a