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Madagascan Green Peppercorn Sauce

Name: Madagascan Green Peppercorn Sauce
Yield: Approximately 2.5 litres
Ingredients: 500 g Shallots, finely sliced; 50 g Garlic, sliced; 100 g Butter; 20 g Rosemary; 2 each Bay leaves; 120 g Madagascan green peppercorns, drained if in brine; 250 ml Brandy; 500 ml Dry white wine; 3 L Rich beef stock; 500 ml Cream; 25 g Dijon mustard; 40 ml White grape vinegar; 30 g Cold butter

Shallots, brandy and green peppercorns on a long beef stock reduction.

Creamy Madagascan green peppercorn sauce with whole green peppercorns in a copper pan.

A peppercorn sauce built properly: the shallots are sweated slowly, the peppercorns are bloomed in butter, the brandy and wine are reduced hard, and the stock does the rest.

Approximately 2.5 litres

Cook this

The white grape vinegar is the secret. It lifts the sauce without making it taste acidic, and it goes in with the cream rather than at the end.
Chef Paul Dukai

Ingredients

The base

Shallots, finely sliced500 g
Garlic, sliced50 g
Butter100 g
Rosemary20 g
Bay leaves2 each
Madagascan green peppercorns, drained if in brine120 g

Deglazing and stock

Brandy250 ml
Dry white wine500 ml
Rich beef stock3 L

To finish

Cream500 ml
Dijon mustard25 g
White grape vinegar40 ml
Cold butter30 g

Method

Melt the butter in a heavy pot, add the shallots and cook slowly until translucent. Add the garlic, then the rosemary and bay. Do not colour them.
Add the green peppercorns and cook gently for 2 minutes to bloom the oils.
Add the brandy and reduce by 75 percent.
Add the white wine and reduce until almost dry.
Add the beef stock, simmer gently, and reduce to approximately 1.5 litres.
For a refined sauce, pass through a chinois, pressing gently. Reserve a small handful of peppercorns to return later.
Return the sauce to the stove, add the cream, Dijon and white grape vinegar, and reduce gently.
Before service, whisk in the cold butter and return the reserved peppercorns. Check the seasoning.

Chef’s notes

At service, 60 ml a portion, with 8 to 10 whole green peppercorns visible, spooned beneath and lightly over sliced beef.
For a more aromatic version, infuse the stock during its reduction with a strip of orange peel and a sprig of rosemary, removing both before straining. The orange is not identifiable in the finished sauce.

Keeping

DUKAI storage guidance

Cool it quickly rather than leaving it out: to below 21°C within about two hours, and to 5°C or below within a further four. At 5°C or below, use within 3 days, or freeze it before the cream goes in. Store it unmounted: the cold butter is whisked in at service, and a mounted sauce splits on reheating.

Allergens and diet

Milk, from the butter and cream. Mustard. Sulphites, from the wine and the vinegar.

Last refined · September 2026