Beef Tournedos in Pepper Sauce with Fried Potatoes and Salad

Sauce

1/2 ounce black Sarawak pepper

2 ounces shallots (60 g)

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup fine cognac (8 cl)

1/3 ounce butter (10 g)

1/2 cup crème fraîche (10 cl)

1 1/4 cups clear beef jus (30 cl)

4 teaspoons cooking olive oil (10 cl)

Fried Potatoes

2 1/4 pounds large, floury potatoes (1 kg)

2 1/4 pounds duck fat (1 kg)

2 cloves garlic

2 sprigs thyme

Salad

2 heads butter lettuce

1 organic lemon

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (3 cl)

1/2 cup white vinegar (10 cl)

Step 1: Steak Tournedos

Remove the chain muscle from the tenderloin, and remove any nervous membranes from the outside. Slice 4 tournedos, 6 1/2 - 6 3/4 ounces (180 – 190 g) each. Lay out over a sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and store in a cool place.

Set all of the trimmings aside to make the sauce.

Step 2: Sauce

Dice the trimmings into even cubes.

Pound the Sarawak pepper, and sieve through a tamis to keep only the most flavorful parts.

Peel and cut the scallions on the bias.

Heat a little olive oil in a sauté pan, and sear the beef trimmings. Season with a few grain of fleur de sel, and brown evenly.

Add the crushed, unpeeled garlic cloves, the scallion segments, the butter, and the coarse ground pepper. Sweat, making sure the pepper doesn’t burn. Deglaze with 3 1/3 tablespoons (5 cl) of fine cognac and reduce until all of the liquid is evaporated.

Moisten with the clear beef jus, and let the sauce stew gently on the edge of the range, skimming as often as possible to obtain a smooth, glossy sauce.

Remove the sauté pan from the heat after 30 minutes, infuse for 15 minutes, and filter the sauce into a clean container through a fine-meshed chinois, without pressing. Cool immediately. This will serve as the base for the final pepper sauce.