Vietnamese Steak Au Poivre
The following recipe is an excerpt from Cook Like a Local
Serves 4
A few years back, I had the great fortune of visiting the island of Phú Quốc in Vietnam, famous for its fish sauce production. The island’s other famous export, I learned, is green peppercorns. Immediately I thought of steak au poivre as the perfect dish to showcase these two special ingredients together. Sadly, fresh green peppercorns are hard to find in the States, but this dish is still delicious with black peppercorns. If possible, toast whole peppercorns in a dry skillet and grind them for this dish. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but the pepper is one of the anchor ingredients here, and it will be so much more fragrant and flavorful if you take the time to do it this way.
Ingredients
For the Sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cinnamon s:ck
2 star anise pods
½ cup fish sauce (ideally Red Boat Fish Sauce)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 quarts beef stock
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon crushed black pepper
For the Steak
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 (6-ounce) beef tenderloin fillets or your favorite steak
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves 4
A few years back, I had the great fortune of visiting the island of Phú Quốc in Vietnam, famous for its fish sauce production. The island’s other famous export, I learned, is green peppercorns. Immediately I thought of steak au poivre as the perfect dish to showcase these two special ingredients together. Sadly, fresh green peppercorns are hard to find in the States, but this dish is still delicious with black peppercorns. If possible, toast whole peppercorns in a dry skillet and grind them for this dish. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but the pepper is one of the anchor ingredients here, and it will be so much more fragrant and flavorful if you take the time to do it this way.
Step 1
Make the sauce: in a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon and star anise and stir until fragrant. Add the fish sauce and brown sugar and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer—the mixture will resemble caramel—and let cook for about 2 minutes to reduce slightly. Add the beef stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer until the liquid has reduced to one-quarter of the volume, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add the heavy cream and let reduce by half, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the crushed black pepper. (You’ll have more sauce than you need for the steaks; use the leftovers as you would gravy. It’ll be delicious over any cut of meat or poured over sauteed mushrooms.)
Step 2
Prepare the steaks: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Place a heavy-bottomed, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Season each steak generously with salt and pepper. When the oil begins to smoke, add the steaks to the pan in an even layer and sear until browned on the bottom. (Do this in batches If necessary to prevent crowding.). Turn the steaks over and transfer the pan to the oven. Cook until the steaks reach your desired temperature (8 to 10 minutes for medium-rare).
Step 3
Remove the steaks from the pan and let rest on a plate for 5 to 10 minutes (10 is better, but impatience is real in my house). Serve the steaks with a ladle of the sauce over the top.
