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I planned this blog as an outdoor cooking blog, but every once in a while, I’m going to break the rules and post indoor cooking items, too. Last night’s Valentine’s Day meal is one of those times.
Before I get into it, though, I promised a mention to Todd for guessing the chicken’s name in the last post as Mike the Headless Chicken… I was hoping to get more response, as I’m getting more readers… If you’re reading, feel free to comment or just send me an email if you have any questions; I may well not know, but I might be able to direct you to someplace where you can find the answer.
The Valentine’s Day meal I fixed for my lovely wife was Steak au Poivre, accompanied with simple sides 
of sauteed portobello mushrooms and steamed asparagus. In my opinion, sauced entrees do well with simpler side items that compliment rather than compete. We also had a very nice wine, a Cotes du Rhone, Valreas Cuvee Prestige. It was 25% syrah, 75% grenache, and very drinkable. I am considering a case of this for an everyday wine.
The steak au poivre was actually quite easy to make, but also impressive. Ingredients are very simple: butter and olive oil for pan frying the filet mignon, prime grade filet mignon, grey salt, peppercorns, cream and cognac.
When I smoke food, I like to put it on the smoker right from the refrigerator, as the length of time the meat is exposed to smoke
while it’s below 140 degrees, the better the smoke ring. With indoor cooking or grilling, I like to let the meat get to room
temperature before cooking. So I let the steaks site for about 45 minutes, then added grey salt liberally and pressed the salt into the meat.
I took about 2 tablespoons of tellicherry peppercorns and pounded them in a plastic bag until they were in pieces, but not too finely ground. 
Then I pressed each steak into the peppercorns on the top and bottom.
When panfrying, nonstick skillets are no good; you get no fond in a nonstick pan (fond is the stuff left stuck to the pan after cooking). I put about a quarter stick of non-salted butter and some olive oil into a medium-high heat pan. The steaks took about 4 1/2 minutes per side to j
ust over rare doneness, and I set them aside once done, tented with foil to keep them warm.
After the steaks were done, I drained the liquid from the pan, being careful not to disturb the fond. Then the fun part began…
I added about 1/3 cup of cognac (inexpensive cognac is best for this… no reason to use Napoleon!). Oh, wait… Before putting in the cognac, I turned off any open flame! Very Important Step!!! Once the cognac was in the pan, I lit it with a long lighter, and got the 
results in the picture up on top. Very Cool Effect!!! Moving the pan around a bit, the fire went out when the alcohol was mostly gone, and I added a cup of cream, brought it to a boil, then simmered and whisked the fond into the cream/cognac. After about 5 minutes of whisking, I added a touch more cognac, then put the steaks back in to coat them top and bottom.
That was it… the steaks were ready to serve!
This was
really a great meal!
The best part was that my wife was happy with what we had, and we had a great evening.
This is only one version of steak au poivre; some use wine instead of cognac, but I think cognac 
adds a touch of luxury to the dish. Sometimes all it takes is an upgrade of an ingredient or two to change a meal from a good meal to a great meal.
February 15th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Curt,
Thanks for the mention. The steaks look great. I can see why your wife was happy with the meal.
Todd
February 15th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
A note from wifey:
I just wanted to say what a spoiled wife I am. I have my own personal chef who actually likes to cook for me on a daily basis. Curt, you are honing your culinary skills so much that I would rather eat at home than eat out, and not to mention. “I would actually pay for that meal”. Dinner was fabulous as usual, and very romantic, thank you.
February 16th, 2006 at 8:51 am
Curt,
Now that was a great compliment your wife paid you. She may be a lucky wife but you must be a pretty lucky husband to have a wife that understands your obsession. I wish marital bliss to you both for many years to come. If you keep cooking like this there is no doubt you will have it.
Todd
February 16th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Todd, another great thing is that we have a great arrangement… I cook, and she cleans! She also does great turn in boxes, especially considering we’ve only started doing comps.
And I have to admit, I’m by far the luckier of the two of us!
February 16th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
What a great looking meal! You’re wife is very lucky. Now do you think she could talk to my wife about doing turn in boxes? My wife understands my obsession but she doesn’t share it.
She does eat it though…
February 16th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
I’m trying to get my wife to post an entry on how she has approached learning how to do turn in boxes. She’s learning more each time, but already doing a great job, with lots of 8’s and quite a few 9’s so far.
We have a deal, though… She goes to the comps with me, and she enjoys the Friday night meal and socialization, but when she’s ready, she leaves and goes to her hotel room where she sleeps soundly and gets ready when she wants in the morning. The good thing there is that I can run by and take a shower in the morning if they’re not provided at the site. Her sole responsibility comes in having the garnish ready in time for turn ins and putting together the boxes, and maybe taking them to the turn in location. She helps with cleanup and everything, too, but the only thing she has to do is the turn ins. If she doesn’t get a hotel room, she doesn’t go. That’s more than a fair deal, and it’s great having her there, especially since she has to put up with along with Mark, my teammate, when turn ins start… I get a bit stressed if things are going right.