Steak au Poivre

Serves: 4
Time to cook: ~ 1 hour


Ingredients

  • 2 New York strip steaks (~ 1½ lb. total)

  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

  • 1 Tbsp. ground pepper or whole black peppercorns

  • Some neutral oil (vegetable, avocado, etc) or ghee (which I prefer)

  • 4 garlic cloves, 2 smashed, 2 thinly sliced

  • A couple springs of thyme

  • 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided

  • 1 large shallot

  • ⅓ cup cognac, dry sherry, or brandy

  • ½ cup heavy cream


Mise

  1. Salt the steaks

Season the steak with salt. If you have the time, let it sit uncovered in the fridge overnight.

  1. Bruinoise the shallot

Think dicing, but even finer. We want the shallot to melt into the sauce.

  1. Measure out your liquids

Pour the heavy cream and liqour into separate containers and keep them handy.

  1. De-stem the thyme

This is incredibly annoying and it's better to do it before there's any heat going.

  1. Crush the peppercorns

If you decided to use whole peppercorns (good for you!), now's the time to coarsley crush them up. I recommend using a mortar and pestle, but a ziploc bag will do just fine too.


Cook

  1. Season your steaks with salt again, and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. This will pull the moisture to the surface of the steak, leading to a better sear and crust.

  2. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels.

  3. Start heating a cast iron or carbon steel pan over medium-high heat.

  4. Add your oil of choice into the pan and let it heat up for a minute or two.

  1. If your steaks have fat caps on the side, start by searing that. Hold them with tongs and let the fat render out for a couple mintues. Once the fat is golden brown, place the steaks down and let them cook undisturbed until a beautiful, golden crust has formed.

  2. Flip the steaks over and repeat on the other side.

  3. Reduce the heat to low, and add 2 Tbsp. butter to the pan, along with the thyme and smashed garlic cloves.

  4. Baste those suckers with the butter for a couple minutes.

  1. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let them rest while you make the sauce.

  2. Add the remaining butter, shallots, sliced garlic, and pepper to the pan and cook until they're fragrant and have some color.

  3. Turn the heat off, and add the cognac (or your liquor of choice).

  4. If you're really feeling badass, you can try lighting the cognac with a stick lighter to flambe it. If you're not feeling badass, just let it cook down until it's almost evaporated.

  5. Turn the heat back on to medium and scrape the bottom of the pan to achieve maximum flavorfulness from the fond. Let the cognac cook off a bit, until you can leave a trail in the pan with a spatula.

  6. Add the cream and bring it to a simmer until it reaches a sauce-like consistency.

  7. Slice the steaks against the grain, transfer to plate, and pour the sauce over.

  8. Pretend you are a snotty French chef and serve with a side of pommes frites and a martini.