Peppercorn Sauce Recipe

 This peppercorn sauce is my all-time favorite. Peppercorn sauce is a culinary cream sauce prepared with peppercorn, which is prepared as a reduction of the cream in the cooking process. 

Ingredients

2 to 3 tablespoons mixed peppercorns

1/4 cup butter

1 shallot minced

1/3 cup orange juice

3/4 cup beef stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

Gather all ingredients. Crush peppercorns slightly using a mortar and pestle or a rolling pin. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. 

Add crushed peppercorns and orange juice; bring to a boil and simmer rapidly until orange juice is almost completely reduced, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add beef stock; bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in cream and simmer until sauce coats the back of a spoon, or to desired consistency, without letting sauce boil too rapidly, 3 to 4 minutes. Season to taste and serve hot with your favorite steak. 

If your sauce breaks, add a splash of stock and whisk vigorously.

If you pan-fry your steak, you can remove the steak from the pan, let it rest, and then make the peppercorn sauce in the same pan.  Just add shallots and butter after removing your steaks, stirring frequently to prevent burning. After adding orange juice, stir frequently, scraping up the bits from cooking the steaks. This will add a lot of rich flavor to the peppercorn sauce. 

If you need to reheat your sauce, add a splash of cream and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. If kept overnight in the fridge, the sauce may separate and not come back together.