Published September 1, 2001.
Our steak au poivre recipe had to be comparable to the best bistro examples—seared and encrusted with peppercorns and adorned with a silky, fragrant sauce— without ruining a pan and without our having to make veal stock to get a decent pan sauce. For our steak au poivre recipe, we peppered only one side of the steak to prevent scorched peppercorns and to create a nice sear and made a reduction of canned chicken and beef broths to create a quick, flavorful pan sauce.
To save time, crush the peppercorns and trim the steaks while the broth mixture simmers. Many pepper mills do not have a sufficiently coarse setting. In that case, crush peppercorns with a sauté pan or rolling pin, (see below).
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