- Hey, I'm John Kanell,
and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making easy, delicious steak au poivre.
So let's get started.
First off, you'll wanna grab
four six-ounce tenderloin steaks,
and let them sit out on the counter for about 45 minutes.
You do not wanna cook ice-cold steak.
That is not gonna be delicious.
So just set them aside and let them warm up.
Once they're warm, we're gonna get to assembly.
But I have a sad story to tell you.
I broke my mortar and pestle.
(groans) It's so upsetting.
But you don't need a mortar and pestle
for your coarsely cracked black pepper.
We're gonna do this by hand with a hammer.
Grab your peppercorns.
I need about two tablespoons.
I'm placing them into some folded parchment paper.
(peppercorns clinking)
Now it's time to channel all of your frustration
with anything that might have happened
throughout the course of the week into these peppercorns.
Give 'em a good smash.
(hammer pounding)
You want them cracked and broken into pieces,
not finely ground.
So just don't go crazy on them.
You're just a little annoyed.
Or don't break your mortar and pestle.
Grind, grind, grind.
(hammer pounding)
Open your paper up.
That's what you wanna see.
It's a coarsely cracked black pepper.
We're gonna treat these steaks right.
We wanna grab about 1/2 teaspoon of salt for the first side.
Just sprinkle it on top.
Be nice and even.
This is a dish that, one, tests my ability
to pronounce anything in French.
It's a little rusty.
And two, it is so delicious and easy.
All you're gonna do is cook these steaks up really fast
and make a very delicious, creamy peppercorn sauce
flavored with cognac.
It's so rich and indulgent,
but the meal comes together in just a few minutes.
And you can serve it with any of your favorite sides.
I love this with green beans
and some like a creamy potato situation,
but a gratin might be even more traditional.
Salted appropriately.
Now we're gonna grab about half of the pepper
and really press it on.
These peppercorns, one, give you a lot of flavor,
a little bit of crunch.
And I was reading about the history of this
'cause I always love food history,
it seems that this dish, steak au poivre,
(laughs) originated in Normandy
and there was something about
the aphrodisiac qualities of peppercorn.
Leaving it there.
All right, flip 'em over
and continue pressing all the pepper on.
Get that nice and covered.
Just press it in.
That looks so nice already.
Set your steaks aside.
And now you're gonna wanna grab a large pan.
I'm using a cast iron today
but really any heavy pan will work.
Get it onto your burner.
I'm gonna place this onto medium-high heat.
I'm adding two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
You could use any high-heat oil you like.
You can't just cook this in butter
because the butter will burn.
But the butter is so delicious,
so we will be adding two tablespoons as well.
It's a combination
and the high heat oil will help take you there.
We're gonna heat this up until everything is melted
and the butter is just beginning to brown.
Oh, that's gonna get so delicious.
While that happens, grab a shallot,
and we're gonna finally chop one up.
Dare I say, a mince. (chuckles)
If you haven't used shallots before,
you are missing out.
They're like onion's sophisticated sibling
who's a little bit more subtle.
Don't know if that translates,
but they're like onions,
a little bit gentler
and a somewhat finer flavor.
Give that a nice thin slice,
and then we'll chop it up.
Keep an eye on that butter.
You don't want it to burn.
(knife chopping) (pan sizzling)
And by the way, these tenderloins are
a slightly smaller cut.
If you wanted to use a much larger one
or a bigger, thicker cut of beef,
you can do it,
but you'll be finishing this off in the oven.
So set your oven to broil in that case.
You're gonna get each side nice and brown,
everything gets caramelized.
Then pop it into the oven for a few minutes to finish off
to get to where you want it to be.
Medium rare
or rare.
My shallot's minced,
and this butter is just starting to brown.
Give it a swirl.
And now we're gonna pop our steaks on.
This is gonna be so good.
(bright upbeat music)
(steaks sizzling) Ah.
This can get a bit smoky
so either set your extractor on
or take it under your mega hood.
I'm moving this over.
(steaks sizzling)
Cook each side for three to four minutes over medium-high.
And you want it to look brown and crusty,
like caramelized and delicious.
And you can let me know in the comments
how you like your steak cooked.
For me, it's medium rare.
Flip your steaks over,
and then keep cooking them
'cause you want them to be nice and golden, crusty amazing
on both sides, not gray at all.
If you want, you can use the thermometer
to check the internal temp.
It should be one 130 to 140 before they're done.
And that's why you wanna let the steak sit out
for 45 minutes.
If they're ice cold inside,
they're gonna be ice cold even if the outside is burnt.
Hmm, these guys, however, look great.
Look at that.
I'm taking them off heat.
We're gonna let them sit on a platter covered,
and then make our amazing cream sauce.
(air whooshes)
And back onto this side.
One word of caution.
If your flame is extra hot
and your pan gets super-heated,
it'll scorch your delicate little shallots.
So feel free to take the pan off heat
and just wait a couple minutes.
It's fine. This is gonna stay nice and warm in here.
It'll even cook just a little bit more.
And here, you just want it to be nice and hot,
not ah, (laughs) like too hot.
Give it a couple minutes.
I'm putting it back on heat.
It's just hard to explain
because everyone has a different cooktop,
and if you're using propane, for example,
it just runs really hot.
That's what I'm on.
Natural gas, nice and mellow.
Electric, induction, everything's different.
Gonna add my minced shallot right into the pan.
There we go.
That's the gentle sizzle that I wanna hear.
We're gonna cook this for about two minutes
until it's nice and softened.
It might go a little bit faster for you.
This looks great.
Now, I want 1/3 cup of Cognac.
Take it off heat so no accidents happen.
Add the Cognac in.
(pan sizzles)
And just for fun, we're gonna ignite it.
Yes, success.
That's gonna cook off.
You can always extinguish the flame if it's a bit much.
Hmm, so doing that gives you all the flavor of the Cognac.
It helps caramelize things,
and you're not gonna get any of the alcohol.
It all burnt off.
So happy I had this giant pizza cutter to help me.
They're actually lids.
It's one of my most frequently asked questions.
We're gonna return the pan to medium heat now.
I think a little bit afraid of a (imitates explosion),
a flare up again.
And I'm gonna whisk in 1/2 cup
or 120 mils of nice heavy cream.
Just add that in there.
And this makes a rich, amazing sauce.
And it's so easy. It's so easy.
We're gonna bring this to a boil,
and then just whisk until it's thickened.
It'll coat the back of a spoon,
and you'll see what it looks like.
But honestly, just whisk and you'll see it come together.
I was looking at some of the food photography for this,
and I tell you, some of it was totally fake.
Totally fake.
It was basically like just thickened cream poured
on top of steak.
And it shouldn't look like that.
It should have a beautiful, dark color
from all the caramelized bits it picked up from the steak
as well as the pepper and that browned butter.
So it's actually much more of a darker sauce.
This is the lightest it would ever look.
And trust me, it'll darken up as we cook it.
I forgot to say this earlier,
but if you wanted to be as traditional as possible,
you would use salted butter for this.
All the people I've met from Normandy are very proud
of using salted butter only.
If you wanna be more traditional, you can do that,
and maybe add in a sprinkle less of salt
on the steak itself.
Part of the reason I'm saying this is
we'll be tasting the sauce at the end
and adding a little bit more salt as needed.
I think it's probably gonna be fine though.
My whisk is starting to leave a trail in here.
So let's take a wooden spoon and just see what's up.
That's perfect.
I tasted the sauce and it is just perfect.
No extra salt needed.
As soon as your cream is thickened,
pour right over your steaks,
and serve immediately.
Perfect.
(light upbeat music)
Mm, that is so good.
That caramelized, crunchy exterior
with all the peppercorns bursting with piquant flavor
really gives you a wonderful finish.
And that cream sauce is amazing.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you like this video,
check out my Easy Dinner Playlist.