Al Roker Tries to Keep Up with a Professional Chef

I need cognac, just bring the whole bottle damn it!

Add your cognac and light your flame.

Hey, guys, it's Carla.

I'm here in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen today

with Al Roker from the Today Show.

Thanks for coming.

Well, thanks for having me!

So today we've got 20 minutes to make steak au poivre!

Oh, steak au poivre!

And we're gonna see Au poivre.

if Al can follow along with me-

Poivre.

through verbal instructions only.

But you're a cook.

Yes, sort of. You've written cookbooks.

I have, well...

So this probably feels...

It feels frightening.

Oh, good. [laughs]

So on the count of three, we're just gonna start cooking.

Right. Right?

Okay. Three, two, one.

Cook! Cook!

What you've got in front of you,

first things first is a steak.

Yes.

And right next to it is a cooktop

with a cast iron skillet.

Yes.

So I just want to get that skillet preheated.

Get that all the way up to 425.

Okay.

There's a large container of kosher salt

and I just want to get this

pretty nicely seasoned on both sides.

This is a grass-fed steak.

I heard that you were keto.

I am keto.

From what we gather, grass-fed is keto kosher.

Yes.

Cool, so-

It's the big KK.

The big KK. Keto kosher.

Keto kosher.

[laughs]

Keto kasher kosher, cool.

It's fun to say. That's komedy with a K.

There you go.

There is a measuring cup

that has about four tablespoons of ghee.

[Al] Okay.

Half of that is gonna go in your cast iron.

While that's getting really hot,

we can start finely chopping the shallot.

That's gonna be for the cream sauce.

[Al] Okay.

Do you do the shallot where you go long cuts,

top to bottom?

Is that your shallot technique?

I don't have a shallot technique.

[Carla] Great!

It makes no sense.

They're not... [Carla laughs]

These are just big hunky chunks, but...

You should have a pair of tongs

in the little equipment bucket over there.

Yes, I do.

Tongs for the memories.

[laughs] Right into the pan with the steak.

And we should get a really good sizzle

right from the beginning.

[Al] Okay.

And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna turn the steak

back and forth a few times.

[Al] Okay.

We got your second little induction.

We gotta get that guy on,

because that's for our shallots.

And then let's turn our steak over already.

You're gonna have light browning.

[Al] Yes.

Now in front of the second burner,

there's a little cup that has three tablespoons.

It's a mixture of ghee and olive oil.

Okay. Go ahead and add that

to our warm pan.

All of it? All of it.

All of it.

The whole... Go for it.

The whole meshugga.

Shallots are gonna go into that warm pan.

Okay, into the warm pan.

Give those a little stir

with your wooden spoon, back in the equipment.

And these we're going for softened and golden brown,

but I- Much like myself.

Oh! [laughs] You can give them a little bit of salt.

Little bit of salt.

Awesome, all right, let's turn our steak again.

Now-- ♪ To everything ♪

♪ Turn, turn, turn ♪

♪ There is a season ♪

[laughs] Oh, I'm sorry.

Find your little green peppercorns.

Yes.

Carefully get those on the cutting board.

They want to escape.

Quite annoying.

Run, run like the wind, Bullseye!

This is a little bit like chopping marbles.

Oh, you're chopping these?

You're chopping these.

Oh, wow!

And then those can go back in the little bowl.

We're gonna add those to the sauce towards the end.

Now what's the difference between

green peppercorns and black peppercorns?

I think the black peppercorns get dried.

And the green peppercorns also get pickled

in a little brine.

Al, tell me how your steak is doing.

My steak? I just flipped it.

You did? Okay, I'm gonna flip mine.

So it's a little browner now.

And how are your shallots?

Let's give those a stir.

My shallots are getting stirred.

Are they lightly browning?

They're starting to brown.

Fantastic! Okay, so then

you've got a few cloves of garlic.

I want you to take the broad side of your knife.

Yes.

I wanna give them a good whack.

So place it, [knife whacking garlic cloves]

Yep, I hear that. That's perfect.

And then you can just toss those onto the

Silsal plate with the rosemary.

If you give your steak, just pressing onto the surface,

how squishy does that feel?

Not that squishy.

Not that squishy, starting to firm up.

Mine, too.

I feel like this is going quite quickly.

Come back over to shallot land

and grab that little measuring cup of cognac.

Woo, definitely cognac.

Add the cognac to the shallot mixture.

It's gonna sizzle, but it's not gonna ignite.

It's not going to ignite.

Not yet.

Okay.

There will be fire, but not now.

There will be fire. There will.

There will be blood.

All right, I feel that my steak is firm.

Oh, so firm!

So firm, right?

So let's get it out of the pan.

Okay.

You can set it onto the plate

just with your garlic and your rosemary.

Okay.

And then we're gonna drain this steak fat

into the pyrex.

I'm gonna use a balled up papertowel, carefully,

because that oil's really hot.

Right.

To just kinda get the rest of the salt

and the fat out of the pan.

Got it. I feel like it's coming along well,

although I feel a certain amount of pressure.

All right, we gotta back to shallot land.

Back to shallot land. Back to shallot land.

All right, so the cognac should be

about halfway reduced.

Yes, and everything's very brown.

I want you to add that cup of cream

which, amazingly, is also on the keto diet.

Yes, it is.

And this is-

In fact, one of my desserts is

to just have a bowl of whipped cream.

Fantastic!

What we're gonna look for here is

we want this slightly thickened.

And so we gotta get our peppercorns in there,

the ones we chopped.

Put those in?

Put those in.

Peppercorns going in.

Peppercorns. And then grab

this black peppermill.

Okay.

Crack about a teaspoon of fresh pepper

right into the sauce.

That's the poivre part of the poivre.

So it's like a two-poivre poivre.

That's correct. All of the poivres.

All right, so then--- Do I stir that or...

Stirring that-- It's bubbling.

It's bubbling and we want it stirred

and we want it reducing, but not--

But not burning.

Not burning and not going down so far

that it's like super thick.

You don't want sludge.

No, we don't want sludge.

All right, so now we can come back to steak.

Okay.

We're gonna add the rest of that ghee.

So this is like a two cooking stage thingy.

Correct.

Wow!

Add the rosemary.

Okay.

Add the garlic.

My cream sauce is bubbling.

Great, so is mine.

Okay. It should be.

And now put your steak back in that pan.

Steak back in the pan.

On top of it or on the stuff or--

Next to it. Next to it.

So the idea here is we're--

Ooh, I like the smell of the rosemary

and the garlic.

It smells really good.

Yes.

So you can just turn the steak over a couple times.

You can put the rosemary on top.

Is this a bone-in?

No, we took the bones out.

Could you do a bone-in?

Totally!

Okay, I like the bone-in.

Okay, you heard it here first, folks.

Let's stir the cream before we make fire.

Okay.

All right, mine is thickening.

Yes, mine is, too, I think.

We might need to season that.

Let's do that really quick,

so you have-- Salt? With what?

Yeah, you should have a tasting spoon

somewhere on your station.

Maybe in that equipment bin.

Yes.

And let's just...

I know, he's very amazing.

Al, do you know their phrase? What was your name again?

Rusty, shut the f--

[laughs]

I'm doing fine, Rusty!

All right, Rusty?

Al, do you know the term nappe?

No, I don't.

The French term nappe?

So that's the consistency we're looking for

in the cream sauce where it coats the spoon.

Kind of if you drag your finger through it,

it'll leave a blank spot that doesn't quite fill in.

Ha! Look at that!

And I think it needs salt.

And then I'm gonna turn mine off.

All right, we gotta set the steak on fire.

You ready? Okay.

Okay, so you have a little clicky burner thing.

Oh, yeah, a lighter.

I use this to light my barbecue.

Yeah, okay, I got mine lit.

Whoo, amazing!

Yep.

Okay, add this last couple tablespoons

of cognac. Oh, okay.

Little cup, pour that right in the pan.

[liquid sizzles]

And then...

And then do it?

And then, whoo! Whoa!

[laughs] Leaning away from the pan.

Just lost a little bit of my shirt.

I'm not on fire.

You didn't go fire?

Maybe my cognac burned off.

It could've happened.

More cognac! I need cognac!

Just bring the whole bottle, damn it!

Add your cognac and light your flame.

Lean away from it as you touch the flame to the pan.

Okay.

[food sizzles]

Whoo!

Hey! On fire, so I just let it burn?

Yeah, just let it burn out.

And then the steak'll be infused

with the garlic and the rosemary and the cognac.

As soon as you feel like the cognac has burned off,

take the steak out back onto that metal plate.

And then we're just gonna get ready to plate this thing.

So let's just clear a space.

Is your steak in that metal pan?

My steak is in the pan.

Okay, great, so then just get any dirty utensils

off to the side.

Because Carla's not a pain in the ass, that's why.

Oh, on the record. Oh, I'm sorry,

you could hear me?

I thought that was in my head.

I'm sorry. All right, are you happy,

Al, with how your sauce tastes?

Hold on, let me find another spoon.

Because mine got a little bit of a skin on it.

I wanna just bring it back to life before we--

It's got a skin on it?

Well, it sat a little bit.

Oh, so heat it up just a bit?

Yeah, the top layer was brown--

Yeah, I wanna put it back.

I don't want it to simmer.

No.

But I don't want cold cream sauce.

No, who wants cold cream sauce?

Nobody wants that.

Uh-uh.

I mean, a bowl of whipped cream.

Now that would be good.

That's something else.

Yeah.

Have you ever--

How long have you worked with Rusty?

Oh, Rusty? I just met him.

I'm just gonna say this.

[laughs] He's holding you back.

[laughs]

I'm only kidding. I love Rusty.

[laughs] Here and there.

I see him in the hallway sometimes and

then he says we have to do a video.

When you see him in the hallway, do you avert your eyes?

I do, yeah, yeah. Good idea.

I do, all right--

Do you have a restraining order against him?

Not yet.

Okay, but I think you should think about it.

No, they said that I don't have enough information.

Okay.

Yeah, all right, cream sauce.

Okay.

Creamy? Yes.

Peppery? Yes.

Delicious? Mm-hm.

Okay, let's bring it over.

Let's get our plate nearby.

Okay.

When you slice the steak, Al--

I wanna slice the steak first, okay.

We're gonna slice the steak and put it on this plate.

So you wanna find the grain

and then go against it.

Ooh, I have a nice, rare steak.

What's happening for you?

I have, I think, a medium.

Medium. Medium rare.

Yeah, this is very French,

but possibly slightly black and blue over here.

Oh, now as I get into it, it's a little black and blue.

Cool!

Which is nice.

Kind of fan those slices out

onto your dinner plate.

'Cause a little fanning never hurt anybody.

Al, do you feel like the steak itself

needs any additional seasoning?

'Cause now would be the time. I do not.

Okay, great, so then just take your sauce spoon

and we're just gonna drizzle that poivre--

On top?

Really however you wanna do it.

I like to get some of the sauce right onto the steak

without covering all of it so you can still

see what a beautiful job you did.

And then some of the sauce right onto the plate.

Ready to rock?

Sure!

It's time for the big reveal.

So we're just like, at the beginning,

we're gonna turn around and-- Okay.

Is that okay with you, Rusty?

[Rusty] It's okay with me, Al.

Okay.

[laughs] All right, ready? Yep.

Three, two, one, ta-da!

[gasps] Oh, poivre! Oh, poivre.

It's beautiful!

I love the presentation of the rosemary.

Thank you.

Ready to trade?

Oh, okay.

I get to have yours and-- I get to have yours.

And I apologize if mine is a little rare in the middle.

That's okay.

Wow, they gave us butter knives.

[laughs]

Seriously! [laughs]

This is freaking Bon Appétit Magazine.

We're cooking steak and they brought butter knives.

Literally what happened.

Anyway. Anyway.

[laughs] I did manage to get a bite.

Yes. Yes.

Cheers! Ching!

Mmm. Mmm, that's good.

Beautifully done.

Didn't even need a real knife.

I'd love to invite you back and maybe when you come back

I'll make sure that all of those things--

Proper cutlery? Are fixed. [laughs]

[laughs] Ya know?

[Al] And guess what else? There are no napkins.

[Carla] [laughs] Bon appétit!