It takes some moxie to admit one’s own shortcomings. Imagine being the editor of a preeminent food magazine and publishing a cookbook of confessions about where you’ve gone wrong in the kitchen. That’s what Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief at Food & Wine magazine, did in her Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen.
“I am going to be honest: I am not a great cook,” begins Cowins in the introduction. “As the longtime editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine, I’ve learned a lot about food by eating in extraordinary restaurants, tasting recipes in our test kitchen daily and talking to chefs. Yet, despite all that, there’s one culinary area in which I am not an expert: actual hands-on cooking.” But, with help from 65 estimable chefs worldwide, Cowin learns the tricks for tackling everything from soufflé to pan-roasted lobster.
As I paged through 100 recipes and learned of Cowin’s snafus with eggs, soups, seafood and more, I thought about the single-most area of cooking in which I need to improve. Without a doubt, it is meat. I’m great at making stock, which is why I hoard ham bones and chicken carcasses like a dog. But the actual meat – that scares me. I don’t want to ruin a prime cut. I’ll gladly whip up a salad, casserole, fritatta or curry while someone else tends to the meat.
As much as I would have delighted to cook Quickest Cucumber Kimchi following tips from David Chang or Pan-roasted Lobster with Red Miso and Citrus Sauce with advice from Eric Ripert, I knew I needed to face my fear. So I opened the cookbook to the meat chapter and put myself to the test with steak au poivre.
I knew that my chances for a better-tasting end result would improve drastically if I began with high-quality beef. At Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions, owner Chris Bolyard cut me 1-inch New York strip steaks from Shire Gate Farm in Owensville. He asked if I wanted bone-in or bone-out. Bone-in would give more flavor, he said. I opted out, though, because I wanted my steak au poivre to look like the photo in Cowin’s book. This column is called By the Book, after all.
While at Bolyard’s shop, I sought as much advice as possible. How long would the steaks need to come to room temperature? Let them sit out 30 minutes, 45 tops, Bolyard said, but far more important is to let the steaks rest five to 10 minutes once cooked.
The raw meat gets salted, then rolled in a pan of cracked peppercorns. Once the oil in the saucepan is smoking hot, it’s time to add the steak. Steaks cook fast, and I didn’t want to overcook and burn them. Cowin’s instructions to “let the steaks cook until the underside is nicely browned and they don’t resist when you try to flip them” was a helpful pointer.
While the meat rested, I focused on making the steak sauce, which was fun since it involves igniting cognac. I had my mise en place in order – shallots grated to a paste, Dijon, creme fraiche, lemon juice and water – so after the fire show, the sauce came together quickly. To serve, the steak is garnished with parsley and lemon zest. You can drizzle this divine sauce on the meat, but I served it on the side. Me and my meat had nowhere to hide. I tensed as I awaited the meat critique from my dinner companions. Cut. Chew. Moan. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Winner, winner, steak dinner!
Dana Cowin’s Steak au Poivre 2 servings
1½ Tbsp. black peppercorns
2 1-inch New York strip steaks (about ½-pound each), excess fat trimmed, at room temperature
Kosher salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
¼ cup cognac
2 small shallots, grated to a paste (preferably on a microplane)
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
¼ cup creme fraiche
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup water
2 Tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
• Put the peppercorns on a small rimmed baking sheet and crush them with a small heavy skillet; be sure not to bash them. Season each side of the steaks generously with salt, then mop up the crushed peppercorns with both sides of the steaks.
• Heat a large heavy stainless steel skilled over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the skillet. When the oil is smoking hot, carefully place the steaks in the skillet, laying them down away from you (so that if any hot fat splatters, it splatters away from you). Let the steaks cook until the underside is nicely browned and they don’t resist when you try to flip them, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook on the second side until well browned, another 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the steaks onto their fat edges and brown them until the fat is nice and crisp, about 2 minutes. Transfer the steaks to a serving dish or dinner plates and let them rest while you make the sauce.
• Pour off and discard all but a very thin layer of fat from the skillet. Take the skillet off the heat and add the cognac. Carefully return the skillet to the heat – the alcohol should immediately burst into flames (not a bad thing!); if it doesn’t, ignite the cognac with a long match or lighter. Once the flames have subsided, lower the heat to medium, add the shallots and a pinch of salt and cooking, stirring, until the raw shallot aroma disappears, about a minute. Whisk in the mustard, creme fraiche, lemon juice and water. Season the sauce to taste with salt, and add more water if you prefer a looser consistency. Remove from the heat.
• Whisk half the parsley into the sauce and sprinkle the steaks with the remaining parsley. Season each steak with a pinch more salt and scatter the lemon zest evenly on top. Spoon the sauce over the steaks and serve immediately.
Reprinted with permission Harper Collins Publishing What’s your cooking resolution? Tell us in the comments below for a chance to win a copy of Dana Cowin’s Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen.
This article appears in January 2015.