Shadowing Practice: How to make Peppercorn Sauce Recipe - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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If you like steak, if you like any sort of roasted meat,
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If you like steak, if you like any sort of roasted meat,
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there's always a condiment that you've got to have with it.
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Peppercorn sauce is one of my favourites and we're going to make it today.
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The heat from the pepper,
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the roundness from the shallot,
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and that stunning back note of cognac.
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Proper peppercorn sauce.
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Let's get it.
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Now peppercorn sauce is an easy sauce to make in my opinion.
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There's a couple of base flavours that you need to get right at the start of cooking and that builds those layers,
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builds the complexity and builds the stunning back notes that a good peppercorn sauce should have.
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It starts with shallots.
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I'm using banana shallot, for me they're the easiest to work with.
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You take the top off,
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the bottom off, in half and we skin it.
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Now you might find when you're skinning your shallots,
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there's this like almost leathery half skin,
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half shallot piece just on the outside layer.
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Take that off completely.
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People like to keep the skins and the roots for the stock.
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In my personal opinion, if you put rubbish in your stock,
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it's going to taste like garbage.
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Always put premium peeled vegetables into your stock for a premium product.
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Skins and roots, compost all the bin.
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If you're an avid watcher of this channel,
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you will know that at this stage,
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we're doing the mise en place.
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The preparation before cooking.
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So when the heat is turned on we haven't got to mess around chopping
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and taking our attention away from the main event.
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If you're not an avid watcher of this channel then like, subscribe.
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We're a growing community and we're trying to share the knowledge as far as it can go.
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My shallots are peeled.
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Down onto the board with the root away from the knife we're just going to create little strips.
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And those little strips are all made keeping the root intact.
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So you end up the slice shallot that doesn't fall apart
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when you dice it and then you engage your knife
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and start to dice just rocking through turning those batons into a lovely fine dice.
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Now onions and garlic go together like brother
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and sister they're two peas in a pod
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if you have one in most recipes you've got to have the other it deepens the flavor creates
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that sweetness and gives an amazing aromat to the dish.
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Grate some garlic straight on top.
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If you're doing a big batch of this you can work
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into a bowl I don't want to get my bowl dirty I just want to use one board,
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one pan to make this sauce.
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Once your shallots are chopped and your garlic is ready to rock then we can start looking at the peppercorns.
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I've got black peppercorns and pink peppercorns for mine.
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You can get the brined green peppercorns and add those in as well.
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Now they've got a great appearance and they do have a good flavour but they're not my favourite.
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I'm going to go black peppercorns and pink peppercorns straight into a mortar and pestle.
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Now like all great cooking this is a labour of love so get your arm in there,
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a little bit of elbow grease and crush those peppercorns down.
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Once you're all crushed down the smell will be filling the room.
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Beautiful flecks of pink and black.
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It's good.
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It's done.
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Ready to cook.
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A medium pan straight into the heat.
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We've got two knobs of butter inside the pan.
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On a medium heat that'll come up to a foaming stage.
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When it's foaming it's starting to brown slightly you go in with your shallot.
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Now at this stage you instantly smell why you put onions and garlic together.
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It's just an amazing round flavour.
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So on a medium high heat,
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you're sautéing and caramelising, building the base flavour.
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This stage you want a little pinch of salt.
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Now once I've taken some rawness off of the garlic and the onion,
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what I want to do is add the peppercorns early into the cooking,
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so the heat can wake up those corns,
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release the oils, release the aromas and really build a depth of pepper.
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And some people don't even think of pepper as a flavour,
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they think of as a seasoning,
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but black pepper has a wonderful fruitiness.
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It's got an amazing aroma and it can hold its own in a sauce like this.
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You may see it in some fancy restaurants,
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or if you've watched a couple of episodes of Hell's Kitchen you know what's next, the flambe.
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This is where we burn off high percentage alcohol with flame to add smoke,
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to add richness and to add a certain je ne sais quoi to the sauce.
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So with the pan turned up slightly your cognac goes straight in and then we ignite.
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While the flames are still flickering,
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in with your time and those flames will just toast
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and roast and crack all those thyme leaves just to release some of those oils
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and with a quick flame
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and a puff of smoke it's all over the cognac has done its job
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and now we're ready for reduction good beef stock goes straight into the pan alongside
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that goes a good hit double cream now the viscosity of
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the beef stock the gelatin the gelatinous properties it's taken from the bones
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that it was cooked in it's going to help the thickness
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of this sauce we also add double cream as a layer
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of fat it brings a lovely sheen a lovely velvety feel
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to this sauce now at this stage don't be alarmed it
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looks soupy it looks watery it looks a bit wrong
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but that's okay reduction is our friend
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and reduction is going to turn this pepper soup into a
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beautiful thick pepper sauce this has been reducing now for about probably 10 minutes to be honest it takes a
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while make sure you don't do it too fast,
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the bottom might scorch and it might overflow.
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You want a happy rolling reduce and you end up with this thick,
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homogenous, beautifully golden peppercorn sauce.
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You can smell it fill in the room,
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it looks good, it's shiny,
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it's got great viscosity from the cream and from the reduction of the stock.
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At this point you do want to give it a little bit of a stir,
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make sure the bits around the outside that are evaporating a little bit fast
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and mix back into the sauce and you create stunning finished product.
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Now this can go with steak,
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this can go with chicken,
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this can even go with meaty fish, roasted monkfish, roasted turba.
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A peppercorn sauce will accompany any hearty bolstered food.
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But personally I enjoy mine with the ribeye steak.
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And what you'll see as you're reducing it is there are little streaks coming at the top of the sauce.
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This is indicating that the moisture level inside that emulsification is reducing
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and that is what we call in the chef in game a dry emulsion.
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It needs moisture.
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Now if you get it to the stage where it's just starting to show the streaks on top,
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turn it off, give it a good stir
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and you know by the time that's cooled slightly you'll end up with a beautifully rich,
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beautifully thick peppercorn sauce.
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Now when we're at this stage it's important to taste.
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I've got the warmth of pepper,
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I've got the reduction of beef stock and cream,
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that underlying smoky hit of cognac,
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perfect seasoning from the salt,
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sweetness from the onion and sweetness from the garlic.
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This is a good peppercorn sauce.
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Now, what do we do to take this to the next level?
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There's two things, a little squeeze of lemon juice, or raw alcohol.
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In many of the good restaurants across the world,
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sauces are made, perfected, and then finished with raw alcohol.
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Not a lot, just a touch,
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to lift the sauce, to bring it into that next dimension,
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and to bolster that flavor of cognac.
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And that little trickle of cognac is all you need to transform an already well-made sauce into a powerhouse pan of flavour.
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It's lifting me up.
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That hit of alcohol, that intensity from the stock,
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the garlic and the shallot,
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and the round warmth of pepper.
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Perfect for a steak and a solid recipe for you to learn at home.
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Peppercorn sauce, just the way I like it.
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Avangil!
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About This Lesson

In this lesson, learners will practice their English listening skills through a culinary theme, focusing on a popular preparation: peppercorn sauce. As the presenter shares the recipe, learners will not only improve their vocabulary related to cooking but will also enhance their comprehension of instructions and descriptive language. By engaging with the content, you will learn how to articulate your thoughts effectively, especially in the context of cooking and preparing favorite dishes. This lesson is ideal for anyone looking to combine their love of food with English speaking practice, and it's perfect for using techniques like the shadowing technique, where you imitate the speaker for better pronunciation and fluency.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Peppercorn sauce - A rich sauce often served with meat, characterized by its peppery flavor.
  • Shallots - A type of onion that is sweeter and milder in taste, commonly used in sauces.
  • Mise en place - A French culinary phrase meaning "everything in its place," referring to the preparation before cooking.
  • Garlic - A flavorful bulb used to add depth to many dishes.
  • Brined green peppercorns - Tender, pickled peppercorns that add a unique flavor and texture.
  • Dice - A cutting technique used to create small uniform pieces of food.
  • Aromat - The fragrance or smell of food, often enhanced by fresh ingredients.

Practice Tips

To maximize your learning from this video, consider using the shadowing technique. Start by listening to a short section of the video and pause it after a sentence. Try to repeat what the presenter has said immediately; this will help you grasp the rhythm and intonation of English speech. Pay particular attention to the way the presenter emphasizes certain words, such as "premium" when discussing ingredients or "easy" when describing the sauce-making process.

If you're using a shadowing app, find a segment of the video that resonates with you, ideally choosing sections where the chef's tone is clear and confident. Since this video is cooking-focused, the vocabulary you're hearing is not only relevant to English learning but will also enrich your culinary lexicon. This dual benefit enhances your English speaking practice and allows you to immerse yourself in a cultural activity. Make sure to incorporate pauses at natural points in the speech to give yourself time to think and respond. By doing so, you will build both your confidence and your skill in speaking English fluently.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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