gtwy

Steak au Poivre

Pepper-cream sauce for 5–6 filets. About 5 minutes in a small saucepan, before or while they rest.
Spoon it on at the plate. Leave the filets out of the pan.

Follow The 666 Degree Steak. Cook filets 6–7 minutes instead of 4. Maldon all over the steaks. The pepper is in this sauce.

Need

  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp soft beef fat from an earlier steak, only if it still smells like beef (optional)
  • 1 small shallot, minced (skip if none)
  • 1 Tbsp coarse cracked black pepper (fine grind: 2 tsp)
  • ⅓ cup brandy
  • ⅔ cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • a double pinch of Maldon
  • 1 pinch MSG

Method

  1. Medium heat. Butter in, plus the beef fat if you kept it.
  2. Shallot about 30 seconds. Pepper about 20 seconds, until toasty.
  3. Off the heat. Add the brandy. It may flame. Let that die. Medium heat. Reduce until the pan is almost dry, about a minute.
  4. Cream and Dijon. Simmer 1–2 minutes, until it coats a spoon.
  5. Off the heat. Double pinch of Maldon and one pinch of MSG. Stir, taste, stop.

Hold it off the heat if the steaks are not up. Warm on low about 30 seconds when they come off. A splash of cream if it tightened.

Pan
Not the 666 iron. That pan goes in dry, and it is too hot to sauce in after. A 666 filet leaves fat, not fond. The optional teaspoon is the beef. Skip black, burnt, or stale fat. More than a teaspoon greases the cream.

Pepper, brandy, salt
One tablespoon of coarse crack is the dose. It should taste like pepper. Fine grind is 2 teaspoons. Do not add more after the cream.

Cheap brandy is the right bottle. A sipping cognac is wasted. Give the ⅓ cup the full minute. A short pour: top with dry white or dry sherry (fino, manzanilla, or amontillado). No sweet sherry.

Unsalted butter. Salt is the double pinch of Maldon here, and Maldon all over the steaks. One pinch of MSG with that salt. It makes the cream beefier. A second pinch of MSG sits on the brandy. Stop.