Gordon Ramsay’s peppercorn sauce is creamy, punchy and sharp, made with green peppercorns, cognac, Dijon mustard, beef stock and double cream, ready in about 10 minutes in the same pan you cooked the steak in. The cognac flambé burns off the alcohol and leaves behind a warm, boozy depth that cream alone can’t give you.
In Quick and Delicious, Ramsay pairs this with rib-eye steaks and writes that “cooking a steak is incredibly easy, no prep, a few minutes basting with butter in a hot pan, and a few minutes to rest afterwards, job done. And the sauce takes only a few minutes more to rustle up.” He makes variations in two more books: Great British Pub Food uses English mustard instead of Dijon, and Make It Easy skips the cream entirely for a lighter version on calf’s liver.
The detail every other recipe online gets wrong: Ramsay uses green peppercorns, not black. All three cookbook versions use green peppercorns in brine. In Great British Pub Food he does use black peppercorns too, but only crushed and pressed into the steak itself. The green ones go in the sauce. Two peppers doing two different jobs.
Gordon Ramsay Peppercorn Sauce Recipe
Course: SaucesCuisine: British, FrenchDifficulty: Medium2
servings5
minutes10
minutes340
kcal15
minutesGordon Ramsay’s peppercorn sauce from Quick and Delicious, served with rib-eye steaks. Green peppercorns, cognac flambé, Dijon mustard and cream, made in the same pan you cooked the steak in.
Ingredients
30g butter
1 banana shallot, peeled and finely diced
2 tbsp green peppercorns in brine, rinsed and drained
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
50ml cognac
1 tsp Dijon mustard
200ml beef stock
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
150ml double cream
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Soften the shallot: After removing your cooked steaks to rest, return the pan to a medium heat. Add the butter and shallot and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened.
- Add peppercorns and garlic: Stir in the green peppercorns and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Flambé with cognac: Pour in the cognac and carefully flambé by tilting the pan towards the flame, or ignite with a long match. Let the flames die down naturally.
- Build the sauce: Add the Dijon mustard, beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. Stir well and increase the heat. Let the stock reduce by half.
- Finish with cream: Pour in the double cream and let it cook for another few minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour in any resting juices from the steaks, stir well and season to taste.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay use green peppercorns instead of black?
This surprised me when I checked all three cookbooks. Every single version uses green peppercorns in brine, not cracked black pepper. Green peppercorns are milder, slightly fruity, and softer in texture. They give the sauce a warm heat without the aggressive bite of black pepper.
In Great British Pub Food he does use black peppercorns as well, but only crushed and pressed directly into the steak before searing. The green ones go into the sauce. Two different peppers doing two different jobs on the same plate.
Why does Ramsay flambé the cognac?
The flambé isn’t for show. Lighting the cognac burns off the raw alcohol instantly, which would otherwise make the sauce taste harsh and boozy. What’s left behind is a warm, sweet depth that you can’t get from just simmering the alcohol off slowly.
In Great British Pub Food he gives the option of cognac or dry sherry instead, which is a gentler alternative if you’re not comfortable with the flambé. The sherry doesn’t need igniting, you just let it bubble and reduce.
Why does Ramsay use Dijon in one book and English mustard in another?
In Quick and Delicious he uses Dijon mustard with rib-eye. In Great British Pub Food he uses English mustard with sirloin. Dijon is milder and slightly sweet, which suits the fattier rib-eye. English mustard is sharper and hotter, which cuts through the leaner sirloin.
He matches the supporting ingredient to the protein, not to a fixed recipe. Same principle across all his sauces.
Can you make peppercorn sauce without cream?
Yes. In Make It Easy, Ramsay makes a green peppercorn sauce for calf’s liver using caramelised shallots with demerara sugar, thyme and sherry vinegar. No cream, no stock. It’s a completely different approach: lighter, sharper, with sweetness from the sugar balancing the peppercorns.
If you want something between the two, the red wine jus is a cream-free sauce with the same savoury depth but built on wine reduction instead.
Does peppercorn sauce keep well?
Reasonably well. The cream means it won’t last as long as a jus, but it keeps in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat gently over a low flame, stirring constantly, and add a splash of stock if it’s too thick.
Don’t freeze it. The cream splits when thawed and the texture goes grainy. Make it fresh each time. The good news is it takes 10 minutes, so there’s no need to batch-cook it.
What does Ramsay serve peppercorn sauce with beyond steak?
In Make It Easy he serves it on calf’s liver. In his sea bass episodes he pairs a pepper-based sauce with white fish. It works on anything that can handle a rich, creamy, punchy sauce.
Try it on roast pork loin where the cream and green pepper cut through the fat, spooned over a filet mignon for a classic bistro dinner, or as a second sauce alongside a sliced beef wellington next to the red wine jus.
