Who doesn’t love a great pepper steak in a fancy steakhouse? This recipe creates a great peppercorn sauce to top a high end cut of meat, such as a NY Strip or Filet Mignon. This goes great with traditional steakhouse sides such as mashed or au gratin potatoes and a green vegetable.
TIPS: The timing of the steak in the oven is dependent on the thickness of your steaks, so be sure to use a meat thermometer. You can use as much black pepper as you like, but do not decrease it too much or it is no longer “pepper steak”. This recipe is SO much better if you use homemade beef stock, or even a demi-glaze, versus the thin store bought broths. You can try our recipe here : https://pamelacooks.com/homemade-beef-stock-from-store-bought-stock/ . If you like a lot of sauce you can double the Pan Sauce part of the recipe, or keep the recipe for cooking just 2 large steaks.
Steak Au Poivre (Pepper Steak)
Ingredients
- 4 thick steaks (NY Strip or Filet Mignon)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp coarsely ground cracked black pepper
- 1/4 C good quality cognac
- 1 C rich beef stock (preferably homemade)
- 1/4 C heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp green peppercorns without brine, or mixed color peppercorns
- 2 Tbsp cold salted butter
- kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Lightly salt the steaks then cover them generously with the cracked pepper. In an overproof saute pan, or cast iron pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil or clarified butter. Place steaks in sauté pan and brown them, without moving, for 3-4 minutes. Once very brown, flip the steak over and place in preheated oven. (This will brown the other side). Bake for a few minutes until internal temperature is about 125-130 degrees. Remove from oven, place steaks on a separate plate, and let them rest while you make the pan sauce.
Pan Sauce:
- In the same saute pan that has not been cleaned out, dump all but 1 Tbsp of fat. Carefully add the cognac to the hot pan to deglaze the pan. Over low heat stir to scrape the bits off bottom of pan. Increase to medium heat and add the beef stock, cream and peppercorns. Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer, allowing the sauce to reduce and thicken, 3-4 minutes. If at this point you prefer a thicker sauce, you can add a thickening agent (such as cornstarch and water mixture (slurry)) just be sure to bring it to a boil again to activate the thickener fully. Once desired thickness of the sauce is achieved, remove from heat and taste for salt. Off heat whisk in the cold butter until sauce is glossy and butter is melted. Serve immediately on top of the steaks.
- Enjoy!