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Steak Diane and peppercorn pan sauces

Steak Diane · Diane sauce · Peppercorn cream sauce · green peppercorn sauce

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Steak Diane is a restaurant pan sauce of seasoned butter, Worcestershire and parsley, often flamed; the related peppercorn cream sauce is reduced from cream and crushed peppercorns for steak.

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Photograph of Steak Diane and peppercorn pan sauces.

Pan sauces of the restaurant table

Steak Diane is a steak dish finished in its own seasoned pan sauce, traditionally made at the table. The peppercorn cream sauce is a related restaurant pan sauce, served with beef, lamb, chicken and fish. Both belong to the twentieth-century restaurant repertoire rather than to the French classics.

Steak Diane does not appear in the classics of French cuisine, and sources call London the most likely place of invention.

Sources for this section

Who invented Steak Diane

The earliest attestation is a 1936 Daily Express listing at Jermyn Street, London, which describes a flattened fillet steak cooked at the table and seasoned with Worcestershire sauce. Several chefs later claimed the dish. Bartolomeo Calderoni of Quaglino's was reported in 1955 to have popularised it. Tony Clerici, of Romano's in Sydney, said he invented it at Tony's Grill in Mayfair in 1938 and named it for Lady Diana Cooper.

A 1968 account credits Beniamino Schiavon and Luigi Quaglino at the Plage Restaurant in Ostend, Belgium. The dish appeared in Australia and the United States by 1940 and was standard continental cuisine from the 1940s through the 1960s.

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Making the steak and its sauce

Older recipes use sirloin and newer ones often use tenderloin, cut or pounded thin. The steak is sautéed in butter seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt and chopped parsley. Early versions were not flamed. The sauce is made from the seasoned pan juices.

1953 New York recipes add some or all of brandy, sherry, chives, dry mustard and lemon juice, and one flames the sauce with brandy, dry sherry or Madeira before pouring it over the steak. Modern recipes add cream, mushrooms or both, while others stay closer to the early versions.

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Peppercorn cream sauce

A green-peppercorn sauce emerged in the late 1960s, according to Lovegren (1995), when preservation advances made it possible to export the berry from Madagascar. The sauce is cream reduced with crushed peppercorns, and black, green and pink peppercorns can each be used. Some recipes use sansho, which is similar in flavour but not a peppercorn.

Brandy or cognac, butter, wine, shallots, garlic and seasonings such as bay leaf, star anise, tarragon and salt are common additions. Whiskey can replace brandy. Pink peppercorns caused allergic reactions in some diners, so the type of peppercorn should be known to the cook and named on the plate.

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Serving and holding

The sauces are served hot. Peppercorn cream sauce is used with filet mignon and other beef tenderloin cuts, lamb, chicken, tuna and salmon, and it is used in some versions of steak au poivre.

Neither article gives storage, holding or reheating advice. Because both are cream and meat-juice sauces, a batch that is kept or cooled needs a tested method that these sources do not supply.

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History

Several inventors are claimed for Steak Diane, including Bartolomeo Calderoni at Quaglino's, Tony Clerici at Tony's Grill in Mayfair (1938, said to be named for Lady Diana Cooper), and Beniamino Schiavon and Luigi Quaglino at the Plage in Ostend (1968 claim). Sources call London the most likely place of invention and says the dish is not in the French classics.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

Beef steak (sirloin or tenderloin)Cut or pounded thin.
Amount not stated
Quantity not given in the sources read.
ButterSeasoned and used to sauté the steak.
Amount not stated
Quantity not given in the sources read.
Worcestershire sauceAdded to the butter.
Amount not stated
ParsleyChopped, as a garnish.
Amount not stated
Black peppercorns (or green or pink)Crushed, for the peppercorn cream sauce.
Amount not stated
Quantity not given in the sources read.
Heavy creamReduced with the peppercorns.
Amount not stated
Quantity not given in the sources read.
Brandy or cognac (optional)Optional flame or addition.
Optional.
Shallot (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional, in some cream-sauce recipes.

Method

Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Pink peppercorn allergy

Peppercorn sauce sources report that pink peppercorns, from a different species, caused allergic reactions in some diners.

Hazard source
Cream and meat sauce held warm

A cream sauce served over cooked meat supports bacterial growth if it is held warm or cooled slowly; the sources give no holding advice.

Hazard source

Name the peppercorn type on the plate for diners with allergies

Control source

The sources give no storage or holding advice for these sauces. Serve them fresh and use a tested method for any batch kept.

  1. Cut the steak thin or pound it, then season it with pepper and salt.
  2. Sauté the steak in butter seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, then garnish with chopped parsley. Early versions were not flamed.
  3. Some versions flame the sauce with brandy, dry sherry or Madeira, and some add cream, mushrooms or both.
  4. For a peppercorn cream sauce, reduce heavy cream with crushed peppercorns, and add brandy or cognac, butter, wine and shallot or garlic if the recipe calls for them, until the sauce thickens.

Places

London

Documented preparation · Locality evidence

The 1936 Daily Express listing places it at Jermyn Street; sources call London the most likely place of invention.

See Londonon the mapLocation source 1 →

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