I've had this cookbook forever but I never cooked from it. I'm glad I found this thread to motivate me.
Tonight I made Steak Au Poivre, p. 130. It was very easy, just a task of coating the steak with a thick layer of black pepper (the Kirkland brand worked great), fried up the steak, then reduced it with cognac and added butter. Entire dish didn't take more than 30 mins. I used a cheap sirloin (AB wrote this was standard) and the demi-glace and butter forgave the stringiness of the meat.
My personal opinion, it was too much pepper! Next time I'm going to reduce it by half. However Mr. Smokey says that is how Steak Au Poivre is suppose to taste. It was too spicy for me, but the combination of the sauce and potatoes made it tolerable. The taste is delicious.
Sorry for the crappy photo, these were taken before dinner was gobbled up.