Like many treasured French dishes, steak au poivre abides by certain tenets: It begins with a piece of beef that is crusted in crushed peppercorns and ends with a glossy, peppery pan sauce. But otherwise, it’s shaped by the choices of its cook.
Depending on where you dine out, you might envision steak au poivre as a cozy bistro meal or a steakhouse splurge — but it’s also the kind of restaurant dish that you can achieve at home (for a fraction of the price). Whether you’re cooking to impress a valentine or to treat yourself, this thoughtful recipe will ensure a perfect, stress-free dinner.
Choose the right cut of meat.
Selecting a richly marbled cut of beef is its own insurance against subpar steak — it’s more forgiving if it’s slightly overcooked. Lean filet mignon was once favored for its tenderness, but a boneless rib-eye or strip steak, marbled with fat, has infinitely more flavor, and a higher surface area to hold more toasted peppercorns. Cooking one large rib-eye to share looks more lavish on the plate — and it’s easier to cook one steak perfectly than two.
It’s hard to say whether a fattier cut of beef even strays from tradition — Anthony Bourdain favored a pavé, while Jacques Pépin suggests a shell steak. Even the origins of the dish are unclear. “Since it’s a flashy dish, with Cognac flambé, it feels more Parisian than Norman to me and more 1920s Paris to be specific,” said Maryann Tebben, author of “Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France.” “But this may be one of those dishes that is very hard to pin down, since pepper sauces have been popular in French cooking since the Middle Ages.”
Crack whole peppercorns evenly.
Crushing peppercorns is a tedious task; there’s simply no way around it. But, as the central flavor of steak au poivre (which translates to pepper steak), it deserves care. A mortar and pestle do a solid job of containing the pesky errant pieces — peppercorns pop like popcorn when crushed — but pulverize them unevenly. For uniformly cracked pieces, place the peppercorns in a large rimmed sheet pan and crush small clusters with the flat side of a chef’s knife. Black peppercorns are traditional, though you could certainly swap in a portion of white, green or pink peppercorns, or even whole Sichuan pepper. All varieties must be freshly crushed, as store-bought cracked pepper tastes dull and dusty by comparison.
Perfect the pan sauce.
After the peppercorn-crusted steak is seared, a simple pan sauce is created by softening shallots in the pan’s fat, then adding a splash of alcohol for verve. (Cognac is preferred, but brandy tastes just as good.) Julia Child famously feared flambé, but you can bypass any potential flames by simply deglazing the pan off the heat, allowing the Cognac to dislodge any browned bits with the burner off.
The difference between a loose sauce that runs on the plate and one that glazes your meat is strictly time: Add some stock and allow it to reduce until the sauce becomes nappante, or thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. A spoonful of butter adds a silkiness that balances the pepper’s bite, and heavy cream binds it into a satiny sauce that doesn’t break or separate.
Lastly, plating matters: Fanning your sliced steak on top of the sauce feels more modern — and looks more refined — than dousing the meat in sauce.
The technique for steak au poivre is relatively simple, the results elegant. With the right cut of meat, and some modest tweaks, the classic dish feels timeless.
Recipe: Steak au Poivre for Two
By Alexa Weibel
A celebratory French dish that likely originated in Paris in the 1920s, steak au poivre might be associated with white-tablecloth dining, but it is a recipe that you can easily make at home for a fraction of the price. It begins with a piece of beef that is crusted in crushed peppercorns, then topped with a silky, peppery Cognac pan sauce. In this version, using one large, well-marbled rib-eye steak instead of two individual filets means it’s more affordable, more flavorful and simpler to cook. (Preparing one perfect steak is easier than two.) Season generously, sear on the stovetop, then finish in the oven for even cooking. Let it rest while you prepare your pan sauce. Slice your steak into generous slabs and fan it out over your sauce, a move that makes the meat look more plentiful and the finished dish more lavish than if you drizzled the sauce on top.
Yield: 2 servings
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1 large (1 1/2-inch thick) boneless rib-eye (or strip) steak (about 1 1/4 pounds); see Tip
- 3 scant tablespoons whole black peppercorns
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons minced shallot (ideally as finely minced as possible)
- 1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
Preparation:
1. Remove the meat from the fridge and let sit for 20 minutes.
2. Prepare your peppercorns: Set your peppercorns on a cutting board and, little by little, using the flat side of a large chef’s knife, press a (manageable!) cluster of peppercorns until they’re crushed. Transfer to a pie dish or similar vessel.
3. Lightly season both sides of the meat with about 3/4 teaspoon salt total. (Be conservative, as you’ll be preparing a pan sauce from the meat drippings later, and you can always add salt then.) Dredge the meat in the peppercorns, coating both sides.
4. Heat the oven to 425 degrees, then heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Once the oil is rippling hot — it should sputter if you flick a peppercorn into it — place the meat in the pan and brown on both flat sides, about 4 minutes per side. (If you have a sizable fat cap — a thick layer of white, chewy fat — on either of the smaller sides, sear them off until browned, 30 seconds to 1 minute per side.) If possible, take the temperature of your meat before adding it to the oven, so you have a sense of how long it’ll need to cook.)
5. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook to desired doneness, about 3 minutes for medium-rare (the temperature should be about 132 degrees). Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the meat to a cutting board to rest.
6. Add the shallot to the skillet and cook over medium-high until softened, stirring frequently, about 1 minute. Turn off the burner, then pull the hot skillet off the heat. Add the Cognac. (If the reaction between the heat and alcohol produces a flame, don’t panic! It will subside in a minute.)
7. Return to the stovetop, stir to deglaze and cook over medium-high 1 to 2 minutes, until the liquid evaporates. Add the stock and cook until thickened and saucy, 6 to 8 minutes.
8. When the sauce is almost done reducing, slice the steak crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.
9. Once the sauce has reduced until thick enough to coat a spoon, pull it off the heat. Whisk in the butter, then the heavy cream (if using) and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the sauce on a serving plate and transfer the steak on top. Serve immediately.
Tips:
The rib-eye has a good amount of fat, which lends a lot of flavor, but you could also use a strip steak of similar proportions, a slightly cheaper option, or even filet mignon (you’d want two 6- to 8-ounce pieces, each about 2 inches thick), if you’re feeling fancy.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.