Classic Peppercorn Sauce

This is the sauce that turns a decent steak into a proper night in. The peppercorns want crushing rather than grinding, so you get pops of heat rather than a flat burn all the way through. Get the stock reduced properly before the cream goes anywhere near the pan and it will be thick and glossy without a grain of flour.

Ingredients

Makes about 300ml, enough for four steaks

• 2 tbsp green peppercorns in brine drained, from a jar or tin
• 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns about 8g, roughly crushed
• 25g (1oz) butter
• 1 banana shallot very finely chopped
• 3 tbsp brandy
• 300ml (10fl oz) beef stock fresh or a good quality pot
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 150ml (5fl oz) double cream double only, single will split
• salt to taste, right at the end

Kit

• Heavy frying pan or the steak pan
• Pestle and mortar
• Small ladle
• Wooden spoon

Method

1. Tip the black peppercorns into a pestle and mortar and crush them in short pushes until they are cracked into halves and quarters, not powder. If you have no mortar, put them in a freezer bag and lean on them with the base of a heavy pan. Drain the green peppercorns and press about half of them with the back of a fork so they burst.

2. Melt the butter in the pan over a medium heat. If you have just cooked steaks in it, pour off the burnt fat but leave the brown bits stuck to the base. Add the shallot and cook for three or four minutes until soft and translucent, stirring so it does not colour past pale gold.

3. Add all the peppercorns and stir them round in the butter for a minute. The heat wakes the pepper up and takes the raw edge off the black ones. You should be able to smell it clearly from arm's length.

4. Take the pan off the heat before you add the brandy, then pour it in and put it straight back on. Scrape the base hard with the wooden spoon while it bubbles and let it reduce until there is almost no liquid left, about a minute.

5. Pour in the beef stock and turn the heat up to a brisk simmer. Reduce it by half, which takes six to eight minutes and gets you to roughly 150ml. This is the step people skip and it is the step that gives the sauce its body, so let it happen.

6. Turn the heat down to low. Stir in the mustard, then pour in the double cream and swirl the pan. Let it tick over at a bare simmer for three to four minutes, where a bubble breaks the surface every second or so, until it coats the back of a spoon and holds a line when you drag a finger through it.

7. Taste it now and only now. Stock reduces salty, so it may need nothing at all. If it wants brightening, a few drops of the green peppercorn brine does more good than salt. Pour it over rested steak and any juices from the resting plate.

Tips worth knowing

• Double cream is the only cream that will sit at a simmer without breaking. It carries around 48 per cent fat, and that fat protects the proteins from the heat. Single cream and creme fraiche will curdle if you boil them hard, so if that is all you have, keep the pan barely warm and stir them in off the heat.
• Crushed peppercorns and ground pepper are not interchangeable. Ground pepper goes dusty and bitter in a cream sauce, while cracked pieces stay sweet and give you the bursts of heat that make the sauce worth eating.
• If you are cooking steaks, make the sauce in the same pan while the meat rests. The rest takes five to eight minutes, which is almost exactly how long the reduction needs.
• Should it ever split, pull it off the heat and whisk in a tablespoon of cold double cream. The cold fat brings it back together far more reliably than more heat ever will.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps for three days in a covered tub in the fridge. It sets firm when cold, which is normal. Reheat it slowly in a small pan with a splash of stock or water, stirring, and never let it boil. It does not freeze well because the cream separates on thawing.

Questions people ask