Shadowing Practice: Why France Has The Best Steak - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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This is the only steak dish that you purposefully set on fire.
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Woo!
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And that's not even the best part.
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Steak au poivre means steak with pepper, which means that we have two important choices.
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A great steak and great pepper.
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In front of me are the two most popular choices, the most classic being the filet mignon.
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The French like to use this because it's a mild and tender cut that acts for a blank canvas for that pepper, which is really the star of the show in this dish.
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Modern chefs, however, like the New York strip.
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It's got a beefier flavor, a more tender chew, and all that fat there helps to really balance everything out.
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Some people even use a ribeye, although I don't think that's the right choice because it's too heavy of a steak.
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It wants to be the main character, and it doesn't work well with the pepper.
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So that leaves us with our very own choice to make, and for a dish where pepper should be the star, I'm going to go with the classic filet mignon.
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While our steak comes to temp, let's talk about the peppercorns.
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We're using four different types.
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Classic black for the heat, white for the earthiness, pink for their floral and fruity flavor.
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Fun fact, these aren't even real peppercorns.
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They're actually from the cashew family.
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And green for their briny, spicy bursts of flavor.
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The first step is to wake up the peppercorns by adding them to a pan over medium heat, but only the black, white, and pink for now.
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These green peppercorns are baby black peppercorns.
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They're picked off the tree when they're really young and then brined almost like an olive, so you can just eat them like a caper.
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But we don't toast them because they're used at the end for a finishing peppercorn.
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We're toasting these peppercorns to really unlock their flavor.
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You'll start to smell them across the whole room.
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And once you begin to hear a really light crackling and popping sound, pour them immediately off into a mortar.
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And I'm not going to pour them all just yet.
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You'll see why in just a moment.
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While I realize not all of you might have a mortar and pestle at home, it's great here because it gives you control over the grind size of those peppercorns.
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Whereas if you use a blender, you risk blending it all up into one fine powder.
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Remember, we already got different flavors using that balance of the three different peppercorns, so now we want different shapes and sizes of them to make the dish more exciting when we eat it.
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You can see we're already getting some differences in textures here, but now I'm going to add back the rest of my peppercorns.
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We can keep grinding a bit more, leaving us with a variety of different shapes and sizes of these peppercorns.
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This gives me a whole new appreciation for pepper, knowing what pepper can actually smell like when you take it seriously.
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To prepare our steak, we'll pour most of our crushed peppercorns onto a tray, leaving just a few behind for later, then add a few generous sprinkles of salt,
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and then we'll press down our steak to get a nice even crust on either side.
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Remember, we're not seasoning this steak with pepper.
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The pepper is the dish.
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This is a rare situation where the steak is really just the sidekick.
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Now, into a pan, we're going to add some high smoke point oil.
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I tend to use more oil than most people.
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I love a good thick crust.
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Then we'll crank up the heat.
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Once our oil begins to shimmer, we'll add in our steak.
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I'll press it down to make sure it gets full even contact with the pan, then turn the heat down just a bit so we don't burn those peppercorns.
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We've got to strike this perfect balance between making sure we get
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that beautiful golden brown crust while also not burning the peppercorns.
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And I'm keeping a mental timer right now to know how long I've cooked on this side.
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I want to get the exact amount of time on the other side as well.
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Once we've got a nice crust on the first side, we'll go for a flip.
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Love seeing the different textures of peppercorn on top.
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And once we've got a nice crust on both sides, we'll pick it up and begin rolling it around in that oil to make sure we get all the edges as well.
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To finish, since your steak probably won't be cooked fully through just yet, shift it off to the side, then add some butter and give our steak a good old classic butter bath.
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Butter basting is one of my favorite things to do in all of cooking.
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In addition to looking really cool, it actually has a very important purpose, which is to give the steak flavor while cooking it the rest of the way through.
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Once that steak is done, set it off to the side to rest and don't forget to give it one last drizzle of that butter, but save some because we need this for the sauce.
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To make the sauce, we'll add in a pinch of our crushed peppercorns, then some of our green peppercorns.
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Stand back when you add those in because they have water in them, so they might pop a little bit.
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Then in go our shallots and garlic.
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I'm over about medium heat right now.
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And once those are softened and start to smell fragrant, I'll add in a splash of brandy and flambe.
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Now immediately we want to add in our stock.
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We don't want anything to burn here.
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I'll turn the heat up all the way just to speed things along.
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Now that we have liquid in, we don't run the risk of burning anything.
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And let this go for a few minutes until it reduces down to something like this.
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Next in goes our cream.
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Let this reduce down until it becomes thick and glossy.
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Watch your heat carefully here to make sure it doesn't boil over onto your stove.
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I'm making this sauce as fast as I possibly can so it's ready once our steak is rested.
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Once it creates a bubbly webbed pattern on the edges of your pan as you stir it, turn off the heat immediately.
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Another simple test to know it's done is when it coats the back of a spoon.
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If you taste it now, it's unbelievable, but we need something to balance out all that richness, all that fat.
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So adding just a touch of sherry vinegar will cut through that fat, giving you just enough sharpness to perfectly balance that sauce.
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Wow, now that's a sauce.
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I can't forget the resting juices, the finishing touch, all that juice that your steak let go.
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Add that back in.
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Now we have a sauce.
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For plating, we'll take our peppercorn sauce and spread it onto the bottom.
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Then on goes our steak.
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And finally, some shoestring fries.
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The perfect partner to steak au poivre.
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With how easy that was, I can't believe it looks this good.
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Quick temp check.
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We nailed it.
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Got to make sure we get a bite with a little bit of everything.
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You get all this heat in the crust from the steak, but then that whole fire gets put out right away by that cream.
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And I can't believe that the steak really does act as a blank canvas.
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It's all about that peppercorn sauce, no question.
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I'm just left a little confused with this dish
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because normally you have to cook a lot longer to get something that tastes that good.
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It's a restaurant quality dish in only 20 minutes.
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I'm sorry, Pepper.
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I never appreciated you until making this dish, but now I love you.
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Speaking Goals for This Clip
This video is perfect for practicing shadow speech—a technique where you repeat phrases aloud right after the speaker—to build fluency in descriptive, step-by-step language. You’ll focus on pacing, pausing, and emphasizing key details, like explaining cooking techniques or comparing ingredients. By shadowing, you’ll learn to sound natural when talking about processes, a common real-life speaking skill.
Phrase Bank
- "acts as a blank canvas for"
- "balance everything out"
- "unlock their flavor"
- "strike this perfect balance between"
- "get a nice even crust"
- "a rare situation where"
These phrases are reusable in everyday conversations—whether describing food, hobbies, or even work projects. Try using them in your next english speaking practice session!
Fix Your Weak Spots
The video’s rhythm helps with improve english pronunciation of multisyllabic words like "peppercorns," "briny," and "floral." Notice how the speaker stresses certain syllables (e.g., "PEP-per-corns" vs. "pep-PER-corns") and pauses after important points. Practice shadow speak by mimicking these pauses and stresses—they make your speech clearer and more engaging. Also, pay attention to how "however" and "although" are used to contrast ideas; mastering these transitions will make your conversations flow better.
Remember, the key is to repeat the dialogue out loud, matching the speaker’s tone and pace. With time, you’ll feel more confident using these phrases and sounds in your own English!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | won't be cooked · is done · are softened |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | pepper, which means · pepper, which is · purpose, which is |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might have · might pop |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the best · the most classic |
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.