Steak NOT Au Poivre

Not long ago, I set out to make some simple steak that would pair well with those amazing crispy parmesan potatoes and a side of green beans.

I clicked my way over to Sunday Suppers and found their recipe for Steak au Poivre. I've never actually ordered steak au poivre, a French dish made with cognac and peppercorns. So you'll have to excuse my naivete, when I say I made the Sunday Suppers recipe and thought, "Ta-Da! I'm a French cook."

The Sunday Suppers recipe is simple: Take a skirt steak and rub with olive oil, then coat in freshly ground pepper and sea salt.

Then cook.

See? Cook.

What it didn't call for was cognac or peppercorns. And me, being ignorant of such things, just went along with it, thinking, "Geez, what was Julia Child moaning about? This is crazy simple."

And this is where I'd like to address the humor in teaching oneself how to cook through Google searches. When you're as ignorant as I am, you just go along with what you read. How am I supposed to know if what I've made is REALLY an authentic mole sauce for enchiladas? I'll take your word for it that this cookie is a French macaron!

So I dimly broadcast on the Facebook that I had made steak au poivre, prompting my good friend Bret to note how he would try it if he weren't scared of cooking with cognac. Er...what?

I was pretty embarrassed when I read the recipes for steak au poivre. But I will say this: the simple pepper-and-salt steak was pretty damn good and flavorful. So how about we call it easy steak au poivre?