Steak Diane is the retro-cool steak you need in your life right now. This was the best steak Iโve had in a long while. I make and eat a lot of steaks, but for some reason I never thought to make Steak Diane. It blew me away with how good it was. Itโs going to be in our weekly rotation for a long time.
If you love steak with mushroom sauce or peppercorn sauce, youโll love Steak Diane. Itโs hampered with a stodgy old name but itโs out of this world delicious and always impressive. Itโs the perfect steak for a special occasion or a date night when you want to impress someone. There are no subtle flavors here. Itโs smoky, mushroom-y, and deeply meaty. Itโs just over the top everything, in a good way.
The perfect special occasion steak
While many people adhere to the adage that steak only needs salt and pepper, thereโs no denying that just salt and pepper can be expensive to pull off, especially for a special occasion. It shows off your cooking talent to cook the steak just right, but itโs also a large part just buying the most expensive steak you can afford.
For me personally, itโs also a little boring: I go to steak houses and bistros to experience what they can do with peppercorn, roquefort, compound butters, or stuff like that mystery sauce they serve at le Relais de LโEntrecรดte, and Iโd like to do the same when doing special occasion meals at home.
Steak Diane still lets you demonstrate your steak skills โ the salting, peppering, deep crusty sear, getting that steak done just right โ while also showing off a little with a super fast, super rich, super tasty sauce thatโs way more than the sum of its parts, all in the 6-8 minutes it takes to get a steak up to rare.
What is Steak Diane
Steak Diane is a rich cream-based steak sauce made in the pan with mushrooms, cognac, cream, beef stock, and shallots. It was a popular fine dining tableside preparation back in the 1940s to 1960s era, when fine dining meant โFrench/continentalโ and captains and lots of snootiness. The waiter would roll out a cart with all the components needed and prepare the dish right in front of you, as a show, with a final flourishing flambรฉ that always got the attention of the room. It was like the OG Chiliโs sizzling fajita.
How to make Steak Diane
- Temper your steak and prep your aromatics and sauces.
- Sear your steak on each side for 2 minutes, then transfer to a pre-heated 425ยบF oven.
- Make the pan sauce:ย add mushrooms and shallots, then butter, thyme, and garlic.
- Add cognac. Flambรฉ, if you want to (more on that below).
- Add cream, Worcestershire, Dijon, and beef stock.
- Top the steak with the sauce and enjoy!
The best cut of steak for Steak Diane
Steak Diane is a pretty rich sauce, so thereโs no need to waste money on a high dollar thick-cut steak or perfect A5 wagyu. But you also canโt go bargain basement because the tough chew isnโt going to go well with that sauce. It meshes best with a tender and slightly thicker cut of meat. My best bet is a middle of the road average priced ribeye or NY strip, or a nicer sirloin.
To flatten or not to flatten
Steak Diane was originally prepared tableside, so the traditional preparation required tenderizing the steak to flatten it. Flattening the steak allowed the waiter or chef to cook the steak to the desired doneness (which was almost always medium or higher back then) quickly and without an oven.
Just for fun, I tried flattening the steak, though with a rolling pin, since we donโt own a meat hammer. The end result was a steak that wasnโt all that much more tender and way less satisfying to eat. I think our modern palate is too used to thicker steaks to appreciate 1/4โณ thick cuts of beef these days. I donโt think flattening is a good idea.
Do you need to flambรฉ?
Along with the tableside presentation, the piรจce de rรฉsistance was the flambรฉ. Did it do anything functional? Not really. A flambรฉ doesnโt cook off the alcohol completely. It looks fantastic though, and itโs your choice if you want to add a little bit of flair. Personally, I never do it: the smoke and sizzle of a hot cast iron is more than enough drama for me.
Whatever you choose, you should not throw a lit match in, and never pour alcohol over an open flame.
What cognac to buy and substitutions
Cognac is a pretty awesome and these days underrated liquor thatโs nice for sipping for those times you donโt feel like the burn or challenging smokiness of trendy whiskies and tequilas. If you arenโt much into cognac and just want it for cooking, go for Courvoisier. If you prefer not to buy cognac at all, you can substitute with brandy, rum, or bourbon as well, but cognac is best for this and you can use it for a bunch of other classic steak sauces.
Steak diane without alcohol
Can you make Steak Diane without alcohol? Yes, but ideally you wouldnโt. Alcohol is a flavor enhancer and the majority of the alcohol cooks off in this dish since it goes in pretty early and gets reduced. If you prefer to have zero alcohol in your food, you can subsitute with peach, pear or apricot juice at 1:1 โ though it definitely wonโt taste the same.
More sauce than you need
The photos you see here use about half the amount of sauce that the recipe makes, and thatโs what the estimated nutrition is for too. I have a little container of the other half of the sauce in my fridge ready for tomorrowโs steak.
I wrote this recipe with a double sauce because I love my sauce and itโs an avoidable tragedy to run out of sauce. Itโs also much easier and more forgiving when making sauce to double up if you are a less confident cook. If you prefer to have just the right amount, scale the recipe for 1, but make 2 steaks (or leave the recipe as-is and make 4 steaks).
Steak Diane is the epitome of fast, easy, and delicious
But it also means that you have to be diligent about prep, because the dish goes so fast that if you stop to cut something or look for Worcestershire in the depths of your pantry, you might find your sauce evaporated into basically nothingness (true story). Itโs best to have all of your aromatics pre-cut in advance and all your sauces and mustards at hand. You donโt need to have everything pre-measured like a 1990s TV chef, but you donโt want to be running around like a headless chicken, especially if this is for a date or dinner party, especially if you are trying to exude confidence in the kitchen.
How to dice shallots
If you are already a knife-expert, you can skip this section, but if you are a newer cook: the easiest way to mince shallots that Iโve found that works for cooks of just about any skill level is to use a very small and thin knife, cut it once or twice horizontally, then every 1/8โณ vertically, then slice every 1/8โณ or so.
This is a home cooking kinda thing though, so without a head chef around to yell at you I donโt think itโs very important to be ultra exact. I certainly feel free to slice the shallots however which way I like, and you should too.
Cast iron: the best pan for steaks
Make this in a large cast iron skillet if you have one. Not only will the crust on your steak be unbeatable, but the sheer weight and heat retention of the pan make for a better sauce when youโre adding cold cream or beef stock. If you donโt have a cast iron pan (theyโre pretty cheap) any pan will do, but try to avoid non-stick if you can. The high heat isnโt good for your non stick coating, and you wonโt get much of a sear.
The importance of a meat thermometer
A meat thermometer is essential. That old adage about the feel of your ear or touching your thumbs to fingers? Not for important cuts of meat, in my opinion. I recommend an oven probe for steak; one that beeps when the target temp is hit. They can be really cheap,ย extremely expensive wireless app driven, orย something in between. When given that option, I always go with really cheap. If you have an instant read or thermocouple style, be sure to check often that the steak doesnโt get overcooked.
Steak cooking temp
For a quick and easy reference, steaks are roughly done at:
Rare: 125ยบF
Medium-rare: 135ยบF
Medium: 145ยบF
Medium-well: 155ยบF
Well done: ?โโ๏ธ
What to serve with Steak Diane
Mostly potatoes:
- Roasted Potatoes: Crisp, Fluffy, and Potato-y
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Potato Snack: 64ยฐ Eggs, 72ยฐ Potatoes, Toast
- Crispy Duck Fat Oven Roasted Potatoes
- Easy Roasted Air Fryer Asparagus
- Crispy Air Fryer Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Crispy Air Fryer Roasted Broccoli
Other retro-cool recipes with Worcestershire sauce
In case youโre now stuck with a bottle of Worcestershire you donโt know what to do with:
Other steak recipes with cognac
Same, but for cognac:
- The Best Cajun Butter Steak Recipe
- The 5ย Best Steak Sauce Recipes to Serve with Your Weeknight Steak Frites Right Now
Steak for dinner is never a mis-steak.
โMike
Ingredients
- 2-4 tbsp oil high heat, such as grapeseed
- 2 steaks ribeye preferred, 8oz each
- 1 shallot finely minced
- 5 oz mushrooms cleaned and sliced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 1/2 cup cognac
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup beef stock
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme plus more for garnish
Special Equipment
- cast iron skillet
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425ยบF and set aside a baking sheet with a rack. Season steak on both sides and allow it to temper on your countertop while you prep the other ingredients.
- Once you have everything prepared, add 2 tbsp oil to a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Once your pan is smoking hot, sear steaks 2 minutes on each side.
- Take the skillet off the heat and transfer the steaks to your prepared baking sheet and warm in oven - about 5 mins for rare, 8 min medium rare - then remove and rest.
- Immediately after the skillet stops smoking, sautรฉ shallots and mushrooms for about 1 minute using the residual heat (see note) of the pan, keeping the shallots moving to prevent burning. Add butter, garlic, and thyme, continuing to keep everything moving until the butter is completely melted, about 1 minute.
- Bump the heat up to medium, add cognac and reduce, about 1 minute. Flambรฉ if you like.
- Add Worcestershire, Dijon, beef stock, and cream. Reduce to your preference, roughly 2 minutes.
- Taste and season, then serve with rested steak, topping with extra thyme. Enjoy!
