A tablespoon of cocoa turns a standard pan sauce into something much darker and more interesting. This is a classic French tournedos plate with two Bordier butters doing different jobs: the Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter sears the beef and finishes the sauce, while the Madagascar Vanilla Butter goes into a celery root puree underneath. Cognac, veal stock and a spoonful of unsweetened cocoa make the sauce. Plan on about 40 minutes.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Serves: 4
- Active time: 40 minutes
- Cook: The source gives no separate cooking time. The oven holds the seared beef at 100°C (210°F) while you build the sauce.
- Key ingredient: 40 g (1.4 oz) Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter
Why this works
Cocoa in a red meat sauce is not a novelty. It behaves like a tannin: it adds bitterness and grip, which is exactly what a reduced veal stock needs to stop tasting flat. What makes this version easier than most is that half of the cocoa arrives through the butter. Bordier's 2024 seasonal Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter is built on 68% Ghanaian cocoa with roasted nibs folded in, so it browns like butter, not like chocolate, and it will not seize when it hits a hot pan.
The second butter matters just as much. Madagascar Bourbon vanilla with brown sugar, in unsalted butter, is the 2010 Bordier flavor, and blending it into celery root puree gives you a sweet, floral base that reads as a vegetable rather than a dessert. Celery root is faintly bitter on its own, and vanilla rounds that off. Between the two butters you get sweet underneath, bitter on top, and beef in the middle. Everything is churned by hand in Brittany on a traditional wooden malaxeur, which is why the texture stays soft enough to mount into a sauce off the heat without splitting.
Ingredients
Four servings. Bordier's ingredient list does not state a quantity for the celery root, so buy enough for four portions of puree.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Beef tournedos | 4 | 4 filet mignon steaks |
| Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter | 40 g | 1.4 oz (about 3 tbsp) |
| Madagascar wild pepper | 2 tablespoons | 2 tbsp |
| Cognac | 3 cl (30 ml) | 2 tbsp |
| Veal stock | 15 cl (150 ml) | About 2/3 cup |
| Unsweetened cocoa powder | 1 tablespoon | 1 tbsp |
| Full-fat cream | 10 cl (100 ml) | A scant 1/2 cup |
| Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter | 15 g | 0.5 oz (about 1 tbsp) |
| Chervil leaves | A few | A few |
Method
Step 1: Make the vanilla celery root puree
Peel the celery root and cut it into large cubes. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, then blend with the cream and the Madagascar Vanilla Butter until smooth.
Step 2: Heat the oven and season the beef
Preheat the oven to 100°C (210°F). Crush the Madagascar wild pepper in a mortar. Season the tournedos with salt and the crushed pepper on both sides.
Step 3: Sear the tournedos
Heat half the chocolate butter in a large frying pan. As soon as it has melted, sear the steaks on both sides. Transfer them to a baking dish and hold them in the low oven.
Step 4: Build the cocoa sauce
Deglaze the pan with the cognac, then add the veal stock and the cocoa powder. Reduce the sauce slightly.
Step 5: Finish and plate
Stir in the remaining chocolate butter and mix well. Take the beef out of the oven, coat it with the sauce, and serve immediately with a quenelle of the celery root puree and the chervil leaves.
Tips from our kitchen
- Crush the pepper coarsely, not to dust. Madagascar wild pepper is aromatic and floral, and a mortar leaves you cracked pieces that cling to the meat. A grinder pulverizes it, and 2 tablespoons of pepper dust on four steaks is genuinely too much.
- Get the pan hot before the butter goes in. This butter contains sugar from the cocoa, so it will color faster than plain butter. Sear quickly and move on. If the pan fond turns black rather than deep brown, wipe it out and start the sauce fresh, because burnt cocoa is bitter in a way you cannot fix.
- The 100°C oven is a holding oven. It is there to rest the steaks and let them coast to temperature, not to cook them. All the actual cooking happens in the sear, so judge doneness in the pan.
- Mount the butter off the heat. Pull the pan off the burner before you swirl in the last of the chocolate butter. Boiling it will break the emulsion and leave you with a greasy, separated sauce instead of a glossy one.
- Dry the celery root before blending. Celery root holds water and a wet puree will not hold a quenelle shape. Drain it thoroughly and let it steam off in the pan for a minute before the cream and vanilla butter go in.
- Taste before you salt the sauce. Veal stock reduces fast and concentrates its salt. Season at the very end, after the butter is in.
How to serve it
Plate it the French way: a quenelle of celery root puree, the tournedos alongside, the sauce spooned over the meat rather than flooded across the plate, and chervil on top. It is a rich plate, so keep the rest of the meal short. If the vanilla butter is new to you and you want a second use for the block, our recipe for Madagascar Vanilla Butter Brioche is the sweet side of the same product.
Where to buy Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Seasonal Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): 68% Ghanaian cocoa with roasted cacao nibs, churned into fresh Breton butter in seasonal batches.
- Churned Madagascar Vanilla Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): unsalted butter with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, for the celery root puree.
The chocolate butter is seasonal, so if it is not showing, browse the Maison Bordier collection for what is churning now.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?
You need 40 g of the chocolate butter and 15 g of the vanilla butter. Bordier blocks are 125 g, or 4.4 oz, so one block of each covers the recipe with plenty left over. If you are cooking for eight, one block of each still does it.
Can I substitute a different Bordier butter?
For the sear and the sauce, the Bordier Salted Butter works: keep the tablespoon of cocoa powder in the sauce and you still get the bitterness, just without the nibs. For the puree, plain unsalted butter is fine if you do not have the vanilla, though the puree will taste more like straight celery root.
What cut is a tournedos?
A tournedos is a thick round steak cut from the center of the beef tenderloin, so a US butcher will sell it as filet mignon. Ask for even thickness across the four steaks, otherwise they will not finish at the same time.
What if I cannot find Madagascar wild pepper or veal stock?
Both are specialty items. Coarsely cracked black peppercorns are the practical stand-in for the pepper. For the stock, a good reduced brown veal or beef stock does the same job, but avoid anything heavily salted, because it will concentrate as the sauce reduces.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it wrapped and refrigerated, and use it within the date on the pack. Bordier butter also freezes well: wrap the block tightly, freeze it whole, and thaw it overnight in the fridge.
Does Bordier butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as you unpack it, and take out only what the recipe calls for.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Isigny Sainte-Mère: Normandy's AOP Butter & Crème Guide
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.