Recipe of the week: Duck steak au poivre: A flavorful tribute to Old Montreal

Those of us who adore Montreal’s food culture do everything we can to preserve its best traditions, said Frédéric Morin, David McMillan, and Meredith Erickson in The Art of Living According to Joe Beef (Ten Speed Press). At Joe Beef, we’re not “food preservationists” on the level of our friends at Au Pied de Cochon, but we’re proud to be part of a wave of young Montreal restaurateurs who are celebrating the culinary inheritance of a town that has been “eating well for the last three centuries.”

Despite our efforts, many traditional Quebecois dishes are slowly disappearing—“things like jambon à l’érable (ham in maple syrup) and chiard de porc (pork hash).” Duck steak au poivre is “the kind of dish that was once prepared tableside in Montreal chophouses,” creating a type of casual dinnertime theater that’s also rare today. A few places still prepare crêpes suzette, steak tartare, and specialty coffees in front of diners, and we’re probably not the only people who love the show. In fact, we’re hoping that the practice “comes back in a big way.”

Recipe of the week

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Duck steak au poivre

(Serves two)

1 large duck breast half, about 15 ounces

Salt

1 tbsp black peppercorns, roughly crushed

2 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp chopped French shallot

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp brined green peppercorns, drained and patted dry

2 tbsp cognac

½ cup beef stock

¼ cup whipping cream

Remove silver skin from the duck breast by running a sharp knife between skin and meat, lifting skin away from the meat with your fingers. (“This is a detailed, annoying task, similar to unwrapping a new dishwasher.”) When you’ve separated the two, you can set the skin aside to use for a confit.

Cover the meat with plastic wrap and pound it with a rolling pin or the side of a giant cleaver until flattened by about 20 percent. Lightly score the meat to prevent retracting. Rub one side with black peppercorns, and salt other side.

Heat a nice pan—(“You’re serving tableside, remember?”)—over medium-high heat. Let it get quite hot, add oil, and when oil is hot, add steak. Cook, turning once, for 1½ minutes on each side. Move steak to a plate and set aside. Pour off any fat from pan, and wipe it clean.

Warm pan over medium heat. Add butter, and sweat shallots for 4 or 5 minutes, until translucent. Add mustard, green peppercorns, and cognac, and mix for 30 seconds. Add stock and reduce until almost syrupy, about 2 minutes. Add cream and mix well, taste and adjust seasoning, then reduce for 2 minutes. If you reduce sauce too much, add stock or water, not cream.

Return steak to pan and toss it in the sauce for a few seconds on each side. Serve on a silver tray with the sauce, and with French fries on the side.