Steak au Poivre

[TheNoodleIncident]

plan on making it tonight, but no cognac in the house....really dont want to buy any just for this, since i wont drink it

what i DO have is rum (cheap) and single malt scotch (15 year)....i know they arent the same, but would either of these work? i dont mind using the more expensive scotch since i really dont drink it anyway, but would use the cheaper rum if it doesnt make much of a difference

also, anyone good a TNT recipe? im not a big recipe guy, and like to make things up myself, but i wouldnt mind seeing how other people do it....i was basically going to deglaze with the booze (flambe style, cuz its fun), add cream, cook down slighlty, season with fresh pepper and salt, done

 

[GrillingFool]

I'd go with the scotch. Its flavor is more subtle.
Of course, I would have to do a fair bit of sampling of it before
cooking, just to make sure I had the flavor in my mind....
LOLOL

Oh... you can probably just buy the little 1 oz "airline" bottles. THose
are perfect for cooks who don't drink the stuff too.

 

[GB]

I was actually thinking the rum might not be a horrible choice because of the sweetness.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Between the two...I would go with the Rum. I would also consider just a teeny tiny bit of Honey with it......

Have Fun!!

 

[GrillingFool]

Sweet, but that strong rum flavor would be a turn-off for me.
To each their own!

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

Steak au Poivre - back to the drawing board....

WHOA BOY, i need some serious practice with THAT recipe!! i consider myself to be a pretty good cook, relying on my instincts, and most things come out pretty good....now, the end result wasnt bad (not great either, if im being honest), but the process was a bit disastrous!

first of all, ive cooked with alcohol and ignited it before and had no issues, but this created a figgen fireball that hit the ceiling!! i like to play with fire, but this even scared me a bit - i reached for "fire control system 1" (a lid for the pan), and was even thinking about going for "fire control system 2" (fire extinguisher), but fortunately the flames died almost as quickly as they exploded....no damage done...makes me glad that i had my disaster plan in place

second, as i seared the meat, the pepper crust created a pepper gas that filled the apartment and choked both my wife and i....i couldnt stop coughing, and our eyes began to water....im not even sure what i did wrong there, since the food was not burned at all and i was supposed to create a relatively thick layer of pepper on the steak....i suppose a better hood would have helped, but still

as for the final product - the steak (strip) was well cooked, but the pepper was a bit overwhelming ....ive seen this dish prepared before, and felt that i followed the suggestions of others (like i said, its alot of pepper, but its supposed to be that way)....it certainly wasn't inedible - i still enjoyed it....it was just too much pepper
if i make that one again, i def need to do some adjusting....cant win them all, i guess....just glad to have my eyebrows still hahah.....

btw - since people were torn between the rum and scotch, i went with the cheaper rum....not sure if it made a difference because any subtle flavors were outdone by the pepper

 

[Andy M.]

Cognac (brandy) is a grape based beverage. You'd be better of with a wine that any hard liquor. Otherwise, I'd consider making it without alcohol.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

andy, since im familiar with cognac, i had actually considered using wine, too...but i didnt have any bottles that i thought would be appropriate

turns out that your suggestion about making a non-alcoholic versions would have been a VERY good idea hahah

 

[Andy M.]

The pepper will be the overpowering taste in this dish. Can't be avoided.

Grilling Fool's suggestion to buy the little 'airline bottles' (I grew up calling them 'nips') is a good one. I have a bunch on hand for liquors that I don't drink but would use in cooking.

 

[GB]

second, as i seared the meat, the pepper crust created a pepper gas that filled the apartment and choked both my wife and i....i couldnt stop coughing, and our eyes began to water....im not even sure what i did wrong there, since the food was not burned at all and i was supposed to create a relatively thick layer of pepper on the steak....i suppose a better hood would have helped, but still

I do not think you did anything wrong. I think without excellent ventilation that would be the expected result.

As for the strength of the pepper the first thing that came to my mind was to ask how coarse or fine the pepper was. I am not even sure if that would matter, but it was what I thought of. In this dish the pepper should be very course. It should just be cracked, not even really ground. I am wondering if you would get a stronger hit of pepper if it were more finely ground.

The solution would be to use less pepper next time. When I have had this dish there was a ton of pepper. The entire outer surface was completely covered. You could not see the meat through the pepper. However if you did that and it was too much then cut back. The dish will still work.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Completely agree with AndyM. Moving from Cognac to rum or scotch was a BIG mistake, as you discovered (luckily without injuring yourself or burning your apartment house down).

Next time bite the bullet & buy the Cognac. You can get very small bottles (about a pint) of decent quality for a pittance & it literally lasts forever in the pantry. You don't have to drink it. Can't believe you wouldn't be able to find more cooking uses for it - even if it was just to make this particular dish again. It's not going to go bad in your pantry. I nearly always have a pint or quart bottle in the pantry to use in French Onion Soup, Clafouti puddings, holiday fruit cake bar cookies, etc., etc.

This is definitely a case of penny-wise & pound foolish.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

as for the pepper, i had started using my grinder on the coarsest setting....about halfway through, i realized it wasnt nearly as course as i would have liked....so i took some whole pepper and cracked them myself using a pan....so in the end, i had about half and half....its def possibly that the more finely ground stuff contributed to the strong flavor

breezy, are you saying that cognac wouldn't have flamed up quite the same way? im pretty sure that the alcohol percentage in rum and cognac are similar, with rum tending to be even being slightly less at 35% and cognac more around 40%....i think my main issue with the fireball was how hot i left my pan get - the high heat caused all the alcohol to vaporize at once, where a lower heat may have kept the alcohol in the pan a bit longer, creating less of a flammable cloud

you guys may be right about buying a small bottle of cognac for cooking....but at the same time, it is very rare that i need it, i didnt taste any ill effect from the rum, and im feeling very poor because i will be closing on my first house this week....every penny saved helps

 

[GB]

and im feeling very poor because i will be closing on my first house this week....every penny saved helps

What are you doing eating steak then? You should be eating raman noodles and mayo sandwiches (j/k). Congrats on the house!

The flame did not ignite all of the alcohol and I would think you would have had a similar fireball from the cognac as you did from the rum. Heat causes the alcohol to vaporize and it is the vapors that light up. Quite a lot of alcohol (percentage wise) is left in the finished dish though.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

What are you doing eating steak then? You should be eating raman noodles and mayo sandwiches (j/k). Congrats on the house!

true, but it was our one year wedding anniversary, so we had to do something a bit fancy (does burning down the apartment count as fancy?)...cheaper than going out, at least

dessert was the top of our wedding cake, which had been taking up way too much room in the freezer for the last year

and thanks!

 

[GB]

Better to burn down the apartment then to burn down the house!

 

[BreezyCooking]

breezy, are you saying that cognac wouldn't have flamed up quite the same way? im pretty sure that the alcohol percentage in rum and cognac are similar, with rum tending to be even being slightly less at 35% and cognac more around 40%....i think my main issue with the fireball was how hot i left my pan get - the high heat caused all the alcohol to vaporize at once, where a lower heat may have kept the alcohol in the pan a bit longer, creating less of a flammable cloud

No - with a hot pan the Cognac would most likely have flamed the same. NEVER ADD SPIRITS TO A HOT PAN; & ALWAYS STAND WELL BACK WHEN ADDING ALCOHOL TO ANY DISH ON THE STOVE. As I'm sure you are now aware.

I just can't imagine the flavor of rum (which I love) or scotch (which I hate) in a Steak au Poivre. And for a wedding anniversary at that. I would have sprung for the $10 pint of Cognac rather than take the chance of ruining a nice piece of meat.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

how would using rum "ruin" it? yes the flavors are different, but it's a subtle difference (esp. with all the pepper), and the flavor can still work....its not like i used root beer instead....plus, it came out nice....experimentation can create some very nice results

i knew there would be flame, and wanted it to flare up....ive done it before....i just got a little over aggressive this time and got a bigger boom than planned