I think it was 1995 and, as a middle school teacher in Raleigh, I made the unusual trek for someone of my station to New York City for the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. My friend and colleague Everett had invited me, and he made sure that I got to take in some of the city while I was there. That included having dinner one night at Chez Napoleon, and at the table next to me was Denzel Washington, whose order, it turns out, matched mine: steak au poivre. When I wrapped up my PhD program at the University of Virginia and moved to Winston to join the Wake Forest University faculty, I was happy to once more have a kitchen in my faculty apartment on campus. My dear friends John and Pat had partnered in my culinary excitement, encouraging me to subscribe to Cook's Illustrated, from America's Test Kitchen. The second issue to arrive had one of my earliest kitchen exploits that gave me a boost of confidence along with a sense that cooking could actually be kind of special and not merely for the necessity of it, and you guessed it: steak au poivre. Not so hard to make, but downright fancy as a feast of the gustatory senses, I made it last Monday night for the first time since 2015. And it was amazing. With excellent homemade mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus cuts (boosted with yet another healthy dose of a great herb mix from my friend Donna!), this was quite the plate of glory for a humble weeknight. And on a perfect May evening, it was also pretty awesome to then have a sit with the last of my wine in the early evening under the Bradford pear tree.
"Steak au Poivre," by Dawn Yanagihara. In Cook's Illustrated, September & October 2001, p. 8-9.
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