Steak au Poivre

Pepper Steak. Literally this means pepper steak. And, with all apologies to the French and to Mssr. Escoffier, the prototypical French cuisine (in the realm of steaks) follows a pretty basic formula: Good steak and rich sauce. Steak au poivre is no exception, though contemporary chefs often take a slight bent to the traditional style in order to jazz up this traditional fare.

Steak in heavy sauce. NOW I've got your attention, eh?

Barely, but I'm kind of awake. Steak what now?

As usual, I start with my spirit animal, Julia Child. Not only is her base recipe for anything fantastic, but her instruction are incredibly explanatory and easy to follow. With all apologies to Mrs. Child, I also perused some other recipes online, and I discovered that these days, many steak au poivre recipes call for an amount of heavy cream in addition to the base sauce of cognac, broth, and butter. I still followed her instructions for the peppering and the cooking of the steaks though.

I served the steaks with frites (french fries, yo) and grilled asparagus, though any green will do. This is another one of those meals where a little bit goes a long way, and two thick New York strips easily feeds 4 people. The primary keys to making this meal are as follows:

• Pepper the steaks well in advance. You WILL notice the flavor in the actual beef itself as long as you've given the steaks enough time to take in the flavors. A minimum of four hours, rubbed/smashed/massaged with crushed peppercorns, covered, and refrigerated will impart the beef itself with a delightful peppery flavor.
• Pan-searing a steak is a thing of beauty. However, perfecting this art will take some practice (oh no, I have to eat more steak?!). You want to make sure you have nice, thick steaks, at least 3/4 an inch thick (and thicker is better here). You will see from the shots below that I got an amazing golden brown crust on my steaks, while able to keep the center a good medium. Always sear on a medium-high to high heat, adjusting constantly to prevent burning and smoking oil.
• Use a cheap cognac. You can get a small bottle at your liquor store for under $10. Just kindly go up to the counter and say "Hello good sir or madam! I would like a bottle of your cheapest, smallest cognac!" My experience lead me to believe I was not the first person to do so, as he knew exactly what I was looking for. Must be a lot of steak au poivre fans in my hood!
  
• Give the sauce time to thicken. A thin sauce will be rather flavorless, while a nicely condensed sauce, even at a small volume, will simply pop on the palette!
• I believe it was Mark Bittman who taught me that most people ruin their asparagus on the grill by charring it. The key to perfect grilled asparagus is a low heat and a delicate touch. Slowly cooking the asparagus will provide a smoky grilled flavor without the bitterness most people associate with grilled variety. You are looking for a mostly firm, bright green stalk with the ends just starting to turn golden brown. Don't believe me? Try it my way, leave one on the grill to turn into charcoal mush, and then give it a taste test. Anything worth doing is worth taking the time to do right!
• As always, prep everything you can before hand to make life easier during cook time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Steak au Poivre and Grilled Asparagus

Cooking Time: 30 Minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2.5-3 lbs. New York Strip Steaks, 3/4 to1 inch thick
• 2 tbs. peppercorns
• 1/2 lb. (one bunch) asparagus
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• salt
• pepper 
• 7 tbs. butter
• 2 tbs. canola oil
• One shallot, minced
• 1/3 cup cognac
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Since we will be outside, grilling, I highly recommend a white or rose. Save a bottle of red for the dinner - a nice Zinfandel will go well with the rich steak dinner.
2. Dry your steaks with paper towels and set them on a plate.
3. Crushing the peppercorns: the violent version - Place your peppercorns in the center of a dish towel, then pick up the corners of the towel so that all the peppercorns are resting at the bottom. At this point, I lay the ball of peppercorns on the counter, continuing to hold the ends of the towel so nothing can escape. Then I think about people misusing "their" when they mean "there" or "they're" and I take a meat tenderizer and just beat the crap out of the peppercorns for a few good whacks. The key is to crush, not grind or pulverize, the peppercorns. They should be split and cracked, but not in a powdery form. Now empty the peppercorns into a bowl.
4. Rub the steaks thoroughly with the cracked peppercorns. Now cover and set in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Remove the steaks from the fridge about an hour and a half before you intend to begin cooking them to get them back to room temperature. Cooking your meats at room temperature allows you an easier time in getting a fine sear to the outside.

   

   We kept half of one of the steaks sans peppercorns for the child eating with us. She was way more into the fries and asparagus dipped in ketchup anyway. Fact: teaching a child to say "au poivre" is one of life's delights.

5. The steaks, including the sauce, take very little time to cook; however, they deserve your mostly undivided attention. Therefore, I handle the asparagus first.
6. Prepping asparagus; you're doing it wrong. As I mentioned when talking about prepping brussels sprouts, if you're prepping your asparagus correctly, you will lose a whole lot of mass. First things first: put that knife away. The proper way to prep your asparagus involves the following: hold the tip in one hand, hold the woody stem in the other. Bend the asparagus until it breaks. Asparagus will break at the point where the tender delicious parts are above, and everything else below is too woody to eat anyway. Then end result may be smaller than you would have cut, but you will be rewarded with asparagus that is delicious from one end to the other! 
   
7. Set your grill to low, and let the grates heat up. In the meantime, cover your asparagus in the olive oil, and a healthy dose of salt and pepper.
8. Lay the asparagus out with space between each piece. Now patiently sip your wine and allow it to slowly cook.
   
9. Sometime after about 7-10 minutes, you should begin to flip the asparagus. You will know the time is right because the bottom half will have begun to brown. Cook this side for an additional 5-7 minutes until it is golden brown. If any asparagus begins to blacken, remove it from the heat immediately.
   
10. Remove the asparagus. Add a pinch of salt, and let sit while you finish the steaks. If you choose to cover the asparagus with foil, do so lightly to allow heat to escape: too tight, and the heat will continue to cook (and overcook) your asparagus.
    
11. Now for the steaks. In a cast-iron skillet, over a medium high heat, add 2 tbs. butter to the 2 tbs. canola oil.
    
12. Once the fats are hot and shimmering, almost smoking, lay your steaks in the pan. Allow to sit until a fine crust forms; approximately 3-4 minutes.
    
13. After the bottom of the steaks are brown, flip. Allow to cook on this side again for 3-4 minutes. This should provide you with a nice medium rare steak once finished.
    
14. Remove the steaks from the pan and set aside on a separate plate. Allow the steaks to rest while you cook the sauce, tenting with foil to maintain some heat.
15. Pour the oil out of the pan and return it to the stove top. Over a medium-high heat, add one tbs. of butter. 
    
16. Once the butter has melted, add the shallots. Cook the shallots 1-2 minutes until becoming translucent and golden brown.
    
17. Pour in the broth, and bring to a simmering boil. Cook for one minute. Use a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan, scraping all the good crusty bits of steak and pepper off the bottom of the pan and into the forming sauce.
    
18. Add the cognac and again bring to a simmering boil. Cook until the mixture begins to reduce, approximately 3-5 minutes.
    
19. Turn the heat to medium, and begin adding the remaining butter, 1/2 tbs. at a time. Wait until the last piece is almost entirely melted before adding the next.
    
20. Remove the pan from the heat, and slowly incorporate the cream. If the sauce appears too thin, cook over medium-low heat until a slightly viscous consistency is achieved.
    
    
    
    
21. Serve with frites (get a deep fryer - you will thank me), asparagus, and a glass of wine. While the sauce is intended for the steak, I can assure you it is good on just about anything!
    

Final Notes:

• We subbed in chicken broth for beef broth. It was an okay substitution, but I do no recommend it unless in a pinch.
• As you can probably tell form my pics, the sauce ended up less viscous than I would have preferred. Follow the recipe here and your results will be significantly better. Do as I say, not as I do!
• I lied. We drank crazy good beers while we cooked the asparagus!
• This post needs more cat pics.
  
• Bon appetit!