Bourbon Pepper Pan Sauce

Name: Bourbon Pepper Pan Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 steaks
Ingredients: 2 (6 ounce) New York strip steaks; kosher salt to taste; freshly ground black pepper to taste; 2 teaspoons duck fat, or as needed; 1 clove garlic, minced; 3 teaspoons butter, divided; 1 fluid ounce bourbon; ½ cup chicken broth; ⅓ cup heavy cream; salt to taste; 1 pinch cayenne pepper

24 Ratings
17 Reviews
8 Photos

Mastering pan sauces is one of the most important but easiest steps towards producing legit restaurant-quality dishes at home. Assemble all the sauce ingredients before cooking the steak so you can make the sauce during the 5-minute resting time for steak. The rich, sweet, peppery flavor profile also works wonderfully with pork chops and grilled chicken. You can also switch up the bourbon for another liquor, since this really is just a technique recipe.

Gallery

Read the full recipe after the video.

Recipe Summary

cook:

15 mins

total:

25 mins

prep:

10 mins

Servings:

Yield:

2 steaks

Nutrition Info

Directions

Step 1
Season both sides of the steaks generously with salt and pepper. Be especially generous with the pepper.

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Step 2
Melt duck fat in a steel pan over medium-high heat. Add steaks; cook until firm and reddish-pink in the center for medium-rare, about 5 minutes per side. Sear the edges until browned, about 30 seconds each. Transfer steaks to a plate; let rest while you make the sauce. Turn off the heat.
Step 3
Stir garlic into the same pan using a spoon. Add 1 teaspoon butter; let melt. Pour in bourbon. Heat until reduced to a sticky glaze, about 15 seconds. Add chicken stock. Bring to a boil over high heat while scraping up the browned bits at the bottom to deglaze. Cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add heavy cream; season with salt and cayenne pepper. Boil until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
Step 4
Turn off heat and add remaining 2 teaspoons butter; swirl until melted, about 30 seconds more. Spoon sauce warm onto serving plates. Place steaks on top.

Chef's Notes:

If you're making this for meat that's coming off a grill, you can still do the sauce separately, and just keep it warm until the main course is ready. Start with the sauteeing garlic in butter step, and finish as shown. Of course, you'll have to add some coarsely ground black pepper to the sauce, but that's about the only adjustment.

Cook the steak in any kind of fat you prefer.

Feel free to substitute veal stock for the chicken stock.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving:

537 calories; protein 27g; carbohydrates 2.3g; fat 42.4g; cholesterol 153mg; sodium 697.3mg. Full Nutrition

Kevin Gorham

08/08/2018

Delicious, simple and keto-friendly. Do follow his instruction to lay out ALL the ingredients, first. The sauce cooks quickly and I found myself scrambling to fetch the few things that I stubbornly left in the cabinet. If you like bourbon, stir in a capful of it right at the end. I borrowed that technique from a different Martha Stewart recipe and it worked perfectly, here.

24 Ratings

5 star values: 22
4 star values: 2
3 star values: 0
2 star values: 0
1 star values: 0

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Kevin Gorham

08/08/2018

Bonnielee McDonald

01/07/2019

Tonight was leftover night and we had a large grilled Rib Eye, I was gonna chop it up and make tocos but came across this sauce. Well as most of you know, if you reheat a steak it can be dry like leather. I made the sauce, then kinda boiled the steak in it to heat it up. OMG! That steak was better then when it came off the grill. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it on a fresh grilled steak.

Scott Shelton

04/04/2019

Great flavor, chef John never disappoints.

Apatata

01/01/2020

This was GREAT and SOOO simple. Loved it - will definitely make again. I used two filet mignonettes and had to use olive oil and butter as I didn’t have duck fat, also used half n half instead of heavy cream, that was all I had.

5280

07/30/2018

Delicious!

busygal

09/12/2020

We will definitely make this again! I got a little anxious and didn't let my bourbon reduce quite enough, resulting in my sauce being just a bit on the pale side, but still quite tasty! I'll do better next time. One reason I love learning sauces is because basic sauce skills are so adaptable to other dishes. After learning this one, I used a variation to make a mushroom cream sauce to be served over penne. De-lish! Thank you for the recipe!

Ingrid Chilberg

06/06/2020

YaWOWza! Even made minute steaks taste gourmet! Rich, flavorFull and easy - my favorite combination. Thank you Chef John. You are the guru of my kitchen wooHOO!

ToddH

05/03/2022

I used half and half and the fam raved at how good it was, so......

Charles Pascual

09/04/2020

Served the sauce with re-heated, left-over strip steak. Very tasty. Easy to prepare and clean up. And while left-over steak can be a bit dry and lose some of its just-cooked flavor; this sauce goes a long way to overcoming that. Next time, it goes with just-cooked steak as in the recipe. This is a keeper.

Hapygrl

04/04/2020

Followed this to the letter except for "duck fat" which I substituted for butter, delicious. I used a maple bourbon that I had been given and was very pleased. Thank you! Company reviews were terrific .

traykraft

08/19/2020

Amazing! That's the word my husband used to describe this sauce! He's a bourbon guy so this was right up his alley. I make this on a regular basis. I also use it with pork loin or chops as well, with fresh shiitake mushrooms. You wont regret trying this!!

Mitch

01/30/2019

Loved it. Added a ton of flavor to the grass-fed ribeyes we had. Another Chef John winner.

jerbru39

06/15/2019

Yummy, and I'm not a bourbon fan. It reduced enough to just give the sauce an extra nuance that was incredible.

Grantmarx

03/17/2020

My family loved it and want me to make it again and I just used round steak so I could afford to feed the bunch of them.

Caleb Putnam

01/03/2019

I absolutely loved this Bourbon pepper pan sauce! Wonderful recipe, Chef John. Thank you for sharing it.