Steak au poivre, Cape brandy serves 2, takes 25 minutes, is cooked in a M’200 B Frying Pan.
The copper table
The sauce is the dish. Everything before it exists to leave something on the bottom of the pan.
Why this pan
A frying pan for two steaks has to do two contradictory things: get hot enough to crust the meat, then drop fast enough to reduce a sauce without splitting it. Thin steel does the first and fails the second — you turn the heat down and the pan carries on boiling the cream.
Two millimetres of copper answers the hob almost immediately. That is why this recipe is written for copper and why it is difficult in anything else.
The panM’200 B Frying PanR7 530.00 – R11 860.00Price range: R7 530.00 through R11 860.00 Inc VAT
Ingredients
- 2 sirloin steaks, 250 g each, 3 cm thick, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp black peppercorns, cracked coarsely
- 30 g butter, 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 60 ml brandy
- 150 ml cream
- Salt
Method
- Take the steaks out an hour ahead. A cold steak steams.
- Crack the peppercorns coarsely — under a pan, not in a grinder. Press into both sides. Salt just before cooking.
- Heat the pan over a high flame until a drop of water skitters. Add oil, then the steaks. Do not move them for 3 minutes.
- Turn, add the butter, and baste for 2 to 3 minutes for medium rare. Rest on a warm plate.
- Drop the heat to low. Soften the shallots in the fat for 2 minutes.
- Off the heat, add the brandy. Return to the flame and let it reduce to almost nothing.
- Add the cream, scrape the fond up, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes until it coats a spoon. Add any resting juices. Salt.
The step most people rush
The three minutes without touching the steak. Every time you lift it to look, you break the contact that is building the crust and drop the surface temperature of the pan. Set it down and leave it.
Cooked in M’200 B Frying Pan. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.