The real revelation was the au poivre sauce, which was made not from a roue or even from a deglazed pan, but from—check it—PARSNIPS. I peeled and softened a bunch of parsnips, put them into a food processor until they were thoroughly whipped, then sautéed them in a pan with butter and fat I’d rendered from the steaks. When they had taken some color I added chopped garlic, and then ground up five types of peppercorn (black, white, timut, dak song, and sichuan) in a pestle and mortar, and added that to the mix. Lastly, I tied up a couple of tonka beans in cheesecloth, and added those to the mix. I stirred all of these around until it had the consistency of lumpy mashed potato, then added the better part of a bottle of (non-alcoholic) wine, and most of a thing of beef stock. I stirred around the mixture until it had reduced heavily—an hour or so—then passed the result through a tamis, seasoned once again, and laid on the bottom of the plates, just like a steak au poivre sauce. Truly exceptional plate of food.
