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A juicy filet with a creamy, savory peppercorn sauce is such a staple in a great steak house. I use to flambé 🔥 these table side at the restaurant all the time. While a peppercorn steak with sauce is such a classic recipe, I am here to show you my way, and trust me, you’ll never go back!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Steak with Peppercorn Sauce
A beautifully cooked steak that has been salt brined for maximum juiciness and coated in delicious crushed pink and black peppercorns and soaked in an amazing creamy peppercorn sauce. Full disclaimer I do not make my sauce the traditional way, I make it the Nadia way and that’s better 😉
How To Prepare Steak with Peppercorn Sauce
🧂 Sprinkle kosher salt all over the filets. Season from above so it’s evenly coated. Place on a wire rack and brine in the fridge for 1 hour. Remove from the fridge and let them come to room temp.
🥔 Peel the potatoes and cut to desired thickness for the fries. Soak them in ice water for 2 hours or overnight. Preheat a pan with oil to 275°F. Pat dry your potatoes and fry in batches for 5-6 minutes. You want them super soft and thoroughly cooked, but not crispy. Place the fries on a sheet pan over paper towels and put in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.
🥩 Grind your pink and black peppercorns to desired coarseness. Crust your steak well on one side only with the ground peppercorns.
🔥Preheat a pan on medium low for 2 minutes. Raise to medium-high and let sit for one minute. Add olive oil. Sear your steak, peppercorn side down, for about 3 minutes, flip and cook another 4-5 minutes depending on thickness. You can finish in the oven if you want it more done. Cool over a wire rack.
🧅 In the same pan, add the shallots and green peppercorns on medium heat. Mix together for 1 minute. Add your tomato paste and cook for 1½ minutes. Deglaze with cognac and flambé, carefully.
🎛️ When the alcohol has burned off, add in the demi-glace and let it reduce by ⅓ or until visibly thicker. If you don’t have demi-glace, you can use beef bone broth and add 2 tsp soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Kill the heat and whisk in the créme fraîche.
🍟 Turn your fry oil up. Fry in batches until golden brown. Add salt, chives and parsley.
♥️ And that is it, subscribe for more!
Substitutions for Steak with Peppercorn Sauce
- If you don’t want French fries, you can always make a delicious Potato Puree to go on the side.
- I make my fries from scratch, but if you don’t want to go through the process you can use frozen ones.
- You can always use a different cut of steak than the filet, like ribeye or NY strip!
Variations for Steak with Peppercorn Sauce
- Air Fried Fry Variation: The double fry method for the French fries is the best way to ensure crispy fries in my book! You can also use this method by air frying them at 300°F until soft, then freeze and fry again at 400°F until crispy!
- Bearnaise Variation: If you would like a bearnaise sauce instead of the Peppercorn Sauce, head over to my Steak Frites recipe!
🔥Chef Nadia’s Tip🔥
If you are nervous about flambéing, just use a long reach lighter. You will have more control over the lighting and you won’t have to be close to the action. The fire will burn out on its own when the alcohol is all burnt up.
Recipes that Pair with Steak with Peppercorn Sauce
Common Questions
This is a 10 inch AllClad D3! All my pans are all clad lol.
That way you have the peppercorn seasoning but also get a really good sear on the other side of the filet.
Freezing your cooked potatoes before frying draws some of the moisture out which leads to crispier potatoes!
Steak with a Peppercorn Sauce
Equipment
- 1 pan I used my All-Clad D3 10 inch
- 1 pot
- 1 strainer with handle
Ingredients
- 8 oz tenderloin filets, 4 of them
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1 shallot, brunoise
- 2½ tbsp black peppercorns, + more for the sauce
- 2½ tbsp pink peppercorns
- 2-3 tbsp green peppercorns, drained
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1½ cup demi-glace, or beef bone broth + 2 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ cup creme fraiche or heavy cream, + 1 tbsp
- parsley and chives for the fries
- 2 oz cognac
- Kosher salt
- Neutral oil for frying
- Olive oil for the filets
Instructions
- Sprinkle kosher salt all over the filets. We season from above so it's evenly coated. Place them over a wire rack and brine in the fridge for 1 hour. Remove from the fridge and let them come to room temp.
- Peel the potatoes and cut to desired thickness for the fries. Soak them in ice water for 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat a pan with oil to 275°F. Pat dry your potatoes and fry in batches for 5-6 minutes. You want them super soft and thoroughly cooked, but not crispy yet (trust the process)
- Place the fries on a sheet pan over paper towels and place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.
- Grind your pink and black peppercorns to desired coarseness.
- Crust your filets really really well on one side only.
- Preheat a pan on medium low for 2 minutes. Raise to medium-high and let sit for one minute. Add olive oil. Sear your filets, peppercorn side down, for about 3 minutes, flip and cook another 4-5 minutes depending on thickness. I like mine closer to rare so that's enough to get me to 125°F. You can always finish them in the oven too.
- Let the filets cool over a wire rack so they don't sit in their own juices.
- In the pan you used for the filets, add the shallots and green peppercorns on medium heat. Mix together for 1 minute. Add your tomato paste and cook for 1½ minutes.
- Deglaze with cognac and flambé, carefully.
- When the alcohol has burned off, add in the demi-glace and let it reduce by ⅓ or until visibly thicker. Season with salt and pepper to taste here. Kill the heat and whisk in the créme fraîche.
- Turn fry oil up. Fry them in batches until golden brown. Add salt, chives and parsley.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
