question about peppercorn sauce

[toni]

Can someone help me find out if there is a thread on peppercorn sauce for steak? I typed in the words and I don't know how to figure out the long list of seemingly unrelated titles that came up when I said to start the search.

I am going to make a peppercorn sauce for New York strip steak. Can you tell me if it is okay to use a non-stick pan for the sauce that includes beef stock, brandy and heavy cream? I think I remember reading in the past that when you make a sauce that you reduce, you are to use a stainless steel one. Is that correct? Also, the recipes I see for steak au poivre call for searing the steak on the stove in a hot pan. Do I use stainless steel or non-stick? Does it matter? I only have non-stick pans other than a cast iron skillet, but if I need to buy something that would be the best for this recipe, I would do so. I think the steak would stick like glue to the cast iron one. Thank you for any ideas...or recipes.

[Grub]

I've done steak au poivre in both stainless and non-stick pans, and I'd say there's no question that stainless is the way to go. You WANT things to stick in the pan when you sear the steak -- that stuff brings a lot of good flavors to the sauce. With a non-stick pan, the only way you can get any of that good stuff into your sauce, is to scrape the browned bits off of the edges of the steak -- not a very efficient or sensible way to go.

The method I use, is to cook the steaks in a stainless steel pan, and once done, put them on a plate and keep them warm in the oven. Then, with the same pan, deglace it with brandy (and put it on fire if you want) and scrape the sticky bits loose. Add beef stock and cream, and let reduce. Once that is done, the steaks will have released some jus while resting in the oven, so whisk that into the sauce.

If I had to pick between non-stick and cast iron, I'd probably go with the latter.

[Marlene]

A stainless steel pan is a good investment, particularly for searing meat and then making pan sauces with the drippings. However, if you'd rather not spend money on a pan, then definately use the cast iron pan. If your cast iron pan is seasoned properly, you won't get a lot of sticking, but you will still get the good fond that Grub is talking about, which is essential to enhance the flavour of the pepper sauce.

[Domestic Goddess]

Can somebody post a recipe for peppercorn-sauce? I would like to fix this and slather over grilled burgers. Maraming salamat in advance.

[deltadoc]

I would use the cast iron pan. Heat it up as hot as you can. S&P your steaks and rub with a little Olive Oil. Throw in the pan (pan should be seasoned, but has no oil in it). Let fry on one side without trying to move it for 3 minutes. Shake the pan by its handle (use potholders), and the steak(s) should break free on their own.

Turn steaks over, and sear for 3 more minutes.

Take whole pan and steaks and put in 400-450 F preheated oven for about 5-8 minutes for med. rare depending on thickness of steak.

Remove pan from oven.

Remove steaks and put on a plate and cover with alum foil or a pot lid.

Add some butter to the cast iron pan on the stove now. Add 2-3 TBSP of chopped shallot or red onion. When shallots (onion) are just turning clear, deglaze with some dry wine (red or white). Add 2 TBSP of green peppercorns that have been slightly crushed (or use Black or a combination of both).

Add heavy cream. Reduce to consistency you are looking for. Salt to taste.

Note: Instead of cream, try using a nice cup of demi-glace. Follow same recipe instructions.

doc

[scott123]

Just about every Steak au Poivre recipe I've seen has been deglazed with cognac or brandy. The warm, somewhat caramelized note of the brandy goes perfectly with the dish, imo.

[Six-pack-to-go]

  toni said:

I think the steak would stick like glue to the cast iron one. 

←

If the steaks in your cast iron stick like glue then

A) it's not seasoned well enough

or

B) the tempature isn't high enough

The idea of searing is to have a high tempature pan. When the steak hits the pan you should hear the SIZZZZZZZZZLE. If not your pan isn't hot enough. Initialy it will stick to the pan. don't mess with it, don't touch don't try move it around, let it be. after about 30 secs to one minute the meat will release and you will be able to flip it.

I just made some steak with Cabreles sauce this past weak in a cast iron pan from a thriftstore my GF picked up that I had to to sand down and reseason because of rust. Month later I seared steak and it had the most amazing carmelization I've ever produced out of any pan.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Six-pack-to-go (log)

[toni]

You all were wonderful to reply with your suggestions and support. You were soooooooo right!!! The cast iron pan worked every bit as wonderful as you said, and I couldn't have asked for a pan to have worked any better. I read the replies this morning, and armed with more confidence, I prepped and had everything ready to eat a marvelous steak this evening. The only real problem was cooking 5 New York strips and only 2 N.Y. strips fit into the cast iron pan. So, I had to put the 2 seared steaks in the oven while I seared another 2. (Not enough time to go around for the last steak since I wanted to get the peppercorn sauce going.) What do you do when you are cooking multiple steaks? Maybe I need to get another pan and never have this dinner for more than 4.

Now, the sauce was very good, but I wish I knew what the consistency should have been like. Mine was very thin. I was making sauce for 8 servings to be sure I had enough. As I mentioned, I was using beef stock, brandy, and heavy cream. The sauce I made used chopped shallots and a little garlic sauteed in butter and then I added crushed dried green peppercorns. I added about one-half cup brandy and cooked down to almost dry and then added about 1-1/2 cups beef stock that I made the night before. ( I had already reduced the stock a lot and then added one-half cup red wine to the stock.) I added 1 cup heavy cream and cooked a little trying to be careful so the cream would not separate. Maybe it is supposed to be thin, not a heavy-laden gravy. You might tell me I used too much of each liquid.

I seared the steak 3 mins. each side, and then I got caught up in kitchen chatter as I was working on the sauce and the vegetables, and oh, my gosh!!! I left the steak in the 450 degree oven for about 20 mins. Horrors!! After 5 mins., the instant therm. only said a little over 100, so I put them back in and forgot. However, the steaks were a little pinkish (I wanted med. and one on the rarer side.) but the flavor and texture were wonderful. Add the sauce, and I would say it was very successful.

If anyone has any thoughts or corrections for me, I would love to hear them, and if anyone makes a peppercorn sauce, please share your ideas.

Thank you again, everyone for taking the time to respond. It really did give me guidance and support.

[Grub]

That's great, well done! I think someone else already might have mentioned this, but I realize that I left something out of the recipe I described: Dijon mustard... You don't need a lot, because it can overpower the sauce, but a little bit will really bring the flavors out, and round it out, I think.

[deltadoc]

  scott123 said:

Just about every Steak au Poivre recipe I've seen has been deglazed with cognac or brandy. The warm, somewhat caramelized note of the brandy goes perfectly with the dish, imo.

←

Brandy or distilled brandy (Cognac) is good! But like most things, they should be good tasting to use in a sauce. I use white wine and savor the demi-glace, sometimes I use cognac (hennesey's) when I use cream. I wasn't sure if the original poster was well versed in cooking, so I didn't want to waste good cognac if the sacue technique wasn't quite there yet!

doc

[scott123]

  toni said:

You all were wonderful to reply with your suggestions and support.  You were soooooooo right!!!  The cast iron pan worked every bit as wonderful as you said, and I couldn't have asked for a pan to have worked any better.  I read the replies this morning, and armed with more confidence, I prepped and had everything ready to eat a marvelous steak this evening.  The only real problem was cooking 5 New York strips and only 2 N.Y. strips fit into the cast iron pan. So, I had to put the 2 seared steaks in the oven while I seared another 2.  (Not enough time to go around for the last steak since I wanted to get the peppercorn sauce going.)  What do you do when you are cooking multiple steaks?  Maybe I need to get another pan and never have this dinner for more than 4.

Now, the sauce was very good, but I wish I knew what the consistency should have been like.  Mine was very thin. I was making sauce for 8 servings to be sure I had enough. As I mentioned, I was using beef stock, brandy, and heavy cream.  The sauce I made used chopped shallots and a little garlic  sauteed in butter and then I added crushed dried green peppercorns.  I added about one-half cup brandy and cooked down to almost dry and then added about 1-1/2 cups beef stock that I made the night before. ( I had already reduced the stock a lot and then added one-half cup red wine to the stock.)  I added 1 cup heavy cream and cooked a little trying to be careful so the cream would not separate. Maybe it is supposed to be thin, not a heavy-laden gravy. You might tell me I used too much of each liquid.

I seared the steak 3 mins. each side, and then I got caught up in kitchen chatter as I was working on the sauce and the vegetables, and oh, my gosh!!!  I left the steak in the 450 degree oven for about 20 mins.  Horrors!!  After 5 mins., the instant therm. only said a little over 100, so I put them back in and forgot.    However, the steaks were a little pinkish  (I wanted med. and one on the rarer side.) but the flavor and texture were wonderful.  Add the sauce, and I would say it was very successful. 

If anyone has any thoughts or corrections for me, I would love to hear them, and if anyone makes a peppercorn sauce, please share your ideas.

Thank you again, everyone for taking the time to respond.  It really did give me guidance and support.

←

1. Unless it's very old, heavy cream doesn't separate. You should definitely reduce the sauce with the cream, as cream contains a great deal of water. I, personally, find that if I use enough cream to give a velvety consistency to the final sauce, the amount of milk fat involved tends to mask the other flavors in the sauce. Cream should be a player, not a starring role. To achieve the thickness I'm looking for, I usually whisk in a tiny amount of arrowroot slurry. Peppercorn sauce shouldn't be a gravy, but at the same time, fully rested steak will give off a lot of juices on the plate, and, with an already loose sauce, you'll end up with steak surrounded by peppercorn soup.

2. 'Holding' steaks in an oven until they are ready to serve is standard restaurant practice- just not at 450 degrees. 300-325 is a better range. Also, as the steaks sit in the oven, they'll give off some liquid. Make sure that liquid ends up in the sauce. Cook the rare steaks last and hold the medium ones.

3. Your utilization of previously made beef stock was an excellent choice. I find that the fond left over from a pan seared steak doesn't have enough depth of beef flavor for a robust peppercorn sauce. I always have frozen beef stock on hand just for this purpose.

Btw, shallots are the traditional French approach to this sauce, but if you get a chance, try it with caramelized onions. With the warmth of the brandy, the sweetness of the onions, the umami in the beef and the bite of the peppercorns, it can be a transcendental experience

Overall, I find peppercorn sauce (and steak making) much more of an art rather than a science. I'm extremely precise/anal about most of my dishes, but with peppercorn sauce, the variables are such that you have to play a lot of it by ear. The amount of liquid being released by the steak, the amount of frozen stock I have on hand/the level of concentration, the number of guests I'm cooking for, the cut of beef, the residual moisture in the caramelized onions, the varying requests for states of doneness, the final volume of sauce- a lot of things can change. I taste a lot as I go and add ingredients as necessary.

[toni]

Thank you again for the responses about peppercorn steak. Grub, I will look more into the idea of adding Dijon mustard to the sauce the next time I make it, which will be soon. How much would you add to about 1-1/2 cups stock and about 1 cup cream?

Deltadoc, that is very interesting to use white wine and I will consider that. How do you think it changes the flavor from the red wine in the sauce?

Scott 123, You are a wealth of information and I so appreciate all of your ideas! It will help me next time to know that I don't have to worry about the cream separating. I wasn't sure how much I should reduce the sauce once I added the heavy cream, and since I was adding all liquids, I didn't know if it really would thicken. Now, in my earlier information I did leave out that I did brown 1/2 yellow onion in some butter and added that to the beef broth after the broth heated. I was told to caramelize the chopped onion, but I didn't know what caramelized onion was, so I browned it in about 2 TBSP. butter. Why didn't the person say to brown it if that is correct? I did try to keep the butter out of the sauce when I added the onion to the sauce, but I never saw any butter left in the bowl under the strainer. In your opinion, anal or otherwise, ( I love that someone else is so detailed) would you add shallots and onion?

Thank you for your suggestion of a 300-325 degree oven.

One more question Other than getting the nice flavor and bits from the pan on the stove, is there any other reason to not cook the steaks on the BBQ? The steaks in the cast iron pan came out great as I said, but the idea of all the steaks coming off at the same time from the BBQ and less kitchen clean up is tempting. And remember, I used a home-made beef stock.

[deltadoc]

  toni said:

Deltadoc, that is very interesting to use white wine and I will consider that.  How do you think it changes the flavor from the red wine in the sauce?

One more question Other than getting the nice flavor and bits from the pan on the stove, is there any other reason to not cook the steaks on the BBQ?  The steaks in the cast iron pan came out great as I said, but the idea of all the steaks coming off at the same time from the BBQ and less kitchen clean up is tempting. And remember, I used a home-made beef stock.

←

Since I've been cooking for nearly 50 years, I get tired of the same old same old.

Therefore, I've tried different things. Sometimes on purpose, other times because I'm making do with what I have on hand.

For dry white wine, I use a 15 year aged Dry Zack wine. We have several cases of it in the basement which we bought while it was still available. So I use that white wine a lot. We love the flavor of it (obviously!).

Sometimes, I have some red wine leftover (the dregs as it were), and then I'll sometimes use that to deglaze.

Very occasionally, I use some purified water to deglaze if no wine is available. I don't do that very often!

I tend to stay away from heavy cream. It's like eating ice cream without the sugar and coldness. But it loaded with fat. I make my own stocks, my own Espagnole sauce, and from those in combination, I make my own demi-glace (half-glaze). The process of making demi-glace removes almost, if not all, traces of fat. Then the only fat in my sauce is the pan drippings and some additional butter for the shallots or onion. The sauce is so good, and has little fat per serving, so I say, "Why not do it?"

But once in a while, we have some heavy cream to use up, so once I even mixed the cream in with a demi-glace to see what happens. The cream pretty much overwhelmed the delicate nature of the demi-glace, and I also ended up with a LOT more sauce than I needed.

An interesting trick I picked up somewhere was to crush the peppercorns while they are in a container with cream. I read that the burst of flavor from the crushing process would be sure to be captured by the cream. Frankly, it was hard and messy to do (cream tends to splatter when crushing black peppercorns), and I didn't detect any additional "burst of flavor" that the cream supposedly was picking up that I would have missed otherwise.

So, the point is, once you get some technique down, armed with a general sense of food, how to cook it, and the blending of flavors, experiment!

doc