- A quintessential French bistro dish, but it's actually quite simple to make. Today in the Test
Kitchen, Steak Au Poivre. (upbeat music) We'll take a luxurious
steak like the filet mignon, pack it with tons of pepper flavor, the richness of heavy cream, the luxurious flavor of some cognac, and then baste it with tons of butter. I'll show you a simple way to make it. Here we have four beautiful
six ounce filet mignon and these have got some great
marbling going on in them. Filets are already super tender, but all that marbling
will really help them to melt in your mouth. Start by mincing one shallot, section it as you would an onion and
mince it fairly small. Shallots bring a light onion flavor without overpowering the sauce. This is a classic ingredient
to many pan sauces. Reserve the minced shallot for
building our pan sauce later. Next we'll crush our peppercorns. I like to put them in a small zip top bag and strike with a meat mallet, but you could also crush them
with a flat bottom skillet. They should be roughly cracked. You don't want them finely ground, because then the pepper would burn when you saute it in a pan. I'm using a mélange peppercorn, but using all black would work just fine. It's helpful to pat the steaks dry, so that the peppercorns
adhere well to the meat season the steaks with
plenty of kosher salt on the first side, then
apply the peppercorn crust by pressing firmly into
the cracked peppercorns. Having a dry exterior and pressing firmly into the peppercorns
helps to keep the crust from falling off during cooking. Gently flip the filets, making sure not to knock off any of that peppercorn crust. Season the second side with salt only. You will get plenty of
pepper flavor from the crust. So there's no need to
pepper the second side. I'm gonna cook this over a gas burner in order to flambe the sauce later. You can cook this on an electric
or an induction range top, if that's what you have. Heat your skillet to medium
high and add some canola oil. The key to this recipe
is to sear on the side without the peppercorns first. This will allow for a
good crust development on the steak itself and help
to build a fond in the pan and make sure you hear that sizzle when your steak hits the pan you want it good and
hot to develop a crust on that unpeppered side. Check to make sure that
you have built a good crust before flipping them over. This is your only opportunity
to get a good sear on the un-peppered side. Once you flip the steaks,
add some butter to the pan. This will help the pan cool slightly, which will prevent the
peppercorns from burning. The butter provides a flavorful fat in which to baste the steaks. Basting helps to enhance the crust as we cook the second side. Make sure to get a good sear
on the sides of the steaks, but remember to be
gentle so that the crust doesn't fall off the top. Try only to touch the sides of
the steaks when handling them to keep the pepper crust intact. We'll get these into the oven
to finish cooking through while we build our sauce. I like to use a sheet pan with a wire rack so that the stakes aren't
resting directly on the pan in order to evenly cook them through and keep that good sear on the bottom. To start building our sauce,
we'll put the shallots into the pan, season
them with a little salt and let them saute for just a minute. Here we use brined green peppercorns. Green peppercorns are fresh peppercorns that have been brined rather than dried. Take the pan off the heat
before adding the cognac. This will help prevent
an unexpected flare up. Turn the heat back up
and let the flame touch the simmering cognac to flambe. This step isn't necessary, but
it does give you a visual cue as to when the alcohol
is completely cooked off. And it's a pretty cool party trick. If you no longer smell
the alcohol evaporating, then it's time to add the beef broth and bring it to a simmer. Add the heavy cream to the
broth, let it come to a boil and then reduce that to
a rapid simmer to reduce. We're gonna allow this
to simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes or
until it has reduced by half. As this sauce reduces, the
flavor from the shallot, cognac, peppercorns, and broth
combine with the rich cream and make such a delectable sauce. Make sure to use brined
peppercorns, not dries because the latter would
overwhelm everything with spicy pepper flavor. If you can't find green peppercorns, a couple pinches of ground
black pepper would be fine, but it's really worth
searching out the brined ones. Occasionally stir so that
nothing's scorches to the pan. You'll be able to tell that it's ready once the sauce begins to
coat the back of the spoon. The filets are out of the
oven and lookin' beautiful. They have an awesome pepper crust on top where the peppercorns are
nicely toasted, but not burnt. My favorite way to serve
this is along side some fries seasoned with some salt and fresh herbs. Steak frite is one of
those classic French dishes that I always crave. The crunchy pepper
crust on a tender steak, the creamy peppery sauce and crispy fries work together so beautifully. Now we'll get this plated up. Pile up a big mound of
the fries on the side, and then we'll spoon a beautiful
bed of the Au Poivre sauce. Now just take a second to
admire that beautiful sauce. Place the steak on top of the sauce, because you don't wanna cover up that beautiful pepper crust. There you have one of the classic, French Bistro dishes and with these tips, you will have success doing
this in your home kitchen. Be sure to like and subscribe
and we'll see you next time here in the Test Kitchen
at Certified Angus beef. (pleasant music)
