Advanced Sauces for Fancy People
Are you a fancy person who does fancy things? Are you unsure if you are fancy but you love good food? Either way, here are three rich and creamy sauces.
Are you a fancy person who does fancy things? Are you unsure if you are fancy but you know you love really good food? Then you’re going to want to learn about these three rich and creamy sauces.
Peppercorn Sauce
Sometimes called “au poivre,” this creamy peppercorn sauce is dynamite on pan-seared, dry-aged steaks for when you’re feeling a little French and fancy.
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1 tsp kosher salt
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¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
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3 tbsp shallots, minced
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2 tsp fresh thyme
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1/4 cup peppercorns*
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2 tbsp sherry
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1/4 cup brandy (or bourbon)
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1 cup stock
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½ cup cream
*You can use black peppercorns for a deeper flavor, green peppercorns in brine for a brighter, milder flavor, or pink peppercorns for a fruitier flavor. White peppercorns are too strong for this dish.
Pan sear and oven finish the steak of your choice, then put it on a plate to rest. While it’s resting, you can build a quick peppercorn pan sauce.
Return pan to medium-high heat. Add the shallots, thyme, and peppercorns, and then season with salt and pepper.
Cook for about one minute, then add the sherry and brandy (or bourbon if you want to give it a kick from the USA). Stir, and make sure you’re scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the liquids for a couple minutes and let the pungent alcohol cook out.
Add the beef stock and reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and simmer until it’s reduced to sauce consistency, maybe 1-2 minutes.
By now, your steaks have rested beautifully. Pour your creamy dreamy peppercorn sauce over the steaks and serve!
Blue Cheese Sauce
Pick your favorite soft blue cheese—pungent stilton, sharp gorgonzola, mild cambozola, or salty roquefort (our favorite)—and get saucy. And don’t use the stuff in the little plastic container. It’s time to visit the cheese counter.
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1 tbsp butter, or buttery pan you finished a steak in
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¼ cup heavy cream (at room temperature)
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3.5 oz crumbled blue cheese (at room temperature)
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1 tbsp fresh chives
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1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
We love making this recipe in a pan that you just finished a steak in. You’ve built a lot of flavor, so let’s use it! There should be some butter left in the pan. Take out any herbs and garlic chunks before you get started.
Bring the heavy cream to a heavy simmer, but not a rolling boil. Milk scalds easily! Reduce the heat to low and then stir in half of the cheese. Keep stirring until it’s smooth.
Remove from the heat. Crumble in the rest of the cheese, add the chopped chives, and grind in some fresh pepper. Gently fold in the cheese (you just...fold it in) and stir until the chives are evenly distributed. It should still be a little ~chunky~.
By now, your steaks have rested beautifully. Pour your deliciously funky blue cheese sauce over your steak and enjoy!
Béarnaise Sauce - Challenging!
Béar(naise) with us as we head back to France. You’ll need an immersion blender (also called a stick blender) to nail this the easy way. Hand-whisking is a pain in the a** and easy to mess up—do not recommend.
First, you make infused vinegar and clarified butter. Then, you make the sauce.
Pro Tip: Prep your infused vinegar and clarified butter before making your steaks. Then, while the steaks are resting, you can finish the sauce and drizzle it warm over your steak. Reheating béarnaise is tricky, and it can split easily!
Infused Vinegar
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1 ½ tbsp dry white wine
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1 ½ tbsp white wine vinegar
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¼ tsp black pepper
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1 small shallot, finely sliced
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2 sprigs tarragon
Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for five minutes. Strain until you have 1 tbsp of infused vinegar and cool for at least five minutes.
Clarified Butter
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2 sticks salted butter
You can buy clarified butter or ghee in most grocery stores, or you can make it yourself. Melt the butter and let the milk fats settle out. Pour out the clear, yellow liquid on top and leave the cloudy liquid behind. (You can brown the milk fat in a pan later and make the brownest brown butter ever.) If you do this in advance, you’ll need to reheat it before blending!
The Final Boss (Béarnaise) Sauce
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3 egg yolks, room temperature
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1 tbsp infused vinegar
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¼ tsp kosher salt
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¾ cup clarified butter
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½ tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
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½ tbsp chervil (or flatleaf parsley), chopped
Put the egg yolks, salt, and vinegar in a tall, narrow container that’s great for immersion blending. Blitz it all together.
Maybe grab a friend or steady your hands before this next part. Slooooooooowly pour the hot butter into the container while blending on high. Count to 60 while you’re doing it to make sure you’re emulsifying everything slowly.
When all the butter is in, blitz again and move the blender up and down to evenly blend all the ingredients, about 10 seconds.
Add a tablespoon of water at a time and blend until you reach a consistency that silkily drapes over the top of the steak.
Enjoy! And probably only have it like twice a year for health reasons.