Steak au Poivre

Steak Encrusted with Cracked Black Peppercorns

The classic steak encrusted with peppercorns, with the addition of ginger powder added to the flour mixture to bring a slight sweetness as a contrast to the sharpness of the pepper.

Oh, and it helps to have all your guests in the kitchen when you're beating the hell out of the peppercorns with a hammer.

For 4

Ingredients

4 New York Sirlions (2 #)
4 T Whole Black Peppercorns
1 Hammer
3 T Dry Ginger
Approximately ½ Cup Flour
Salt (sea salt if you have it)
Red Pepper Flakes
Black Truffle Oil
1+ T Olive Oil
1+ T Butter
¼ to ࡩ Cup Cognac (or Brandy)

Directions

Put your whole black peppercorn into a Ziploc bag (or a plastic grocery bag), and put that bag into another bag. If you have a butcher's block, you can do the next step on that - if you don't, and have counters that are either super nice or not likely to withstand a hammer hitting it, find a floor (or outside patio, or the sidewalk). Take your hammer and start hammering the bag so as to break up the peppercorns. You don't want to wind up with a fine powder, you just want to crack a majority of them open.

Now that that fun is done, put the ginger and flour onto a plate, and mix it up with your fingers. This is to dredge the steak in.

Take your steaks and lay them on a plate. Drizzle a little truffle oil on both sides of each, and rub in with your fingers. Now season these with a little salt. Next, take your hammered black pepper corns, and sprinkle a very liberal amount on each, and press into the steaks with your fingers. Flip the steaks, and do the same to the other side.

If your guests aren't quite ready to eat, this is a fine place to drop into a holding pattern. If it's only for a few minutes, you can leave the steaks out - if it's more like a half hour, you'll want to pop them back into the fridge until you're ready to cook.

Next, set a large-ish cast iron (or sauté) pan on the stove, and put in your butter, olive oil, and red pepper flakes in. Turn the heat to medium-high, and start to dredge your steaks in the ginger and flour mixture, being sure to completely cover the steaks with the mixture. Tap the steaks off to make sure you don't have too much excess flour on them, and as the pan is getting good and hot (but before you start burning your butter and oil) lay your steaks into the pan.

After about 4 - 5 minutes, using a pair of tongs, flip your steaks. Pour ½ of the cognac into the pan and flame it off, shaking the pan to incorporate the cognac in with the oils and. Reduce your heat to medium, and continue cooking.

After about another 4 minutes, poke the steak with your finger to get a sense as to how "done" it is. Flip the steaks again, and pour the remainder of the cognac into the pan, flaming it off again. Once the flames die down, kill the heat and take the steaks out of the pan, setting them on a plate. Let these sit for a few minutes to allow the meat to relax.

To serve. take and slice each steak on an angle in the center, and lay over a mound of garlic mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!