Kangaroo with pepper sauce

Kangaroo deserves to be more widely consumed. It's accessible--most supermarkets I've seen stock it--and it's lean and it's delicious. It's relatively affordable, too. Sure, it's gone up in price lately, but is it as cheap as steak? Well, no. Not really. Not for steak that's actually good. Rubbish two-star supermarket steak doesn't count. Kangaroo is another meat that people can be a little worried about preparing. It has a bad reputation. Overcook it and it'll dry out due to its leanness. The solution? Don't overcook it. Kangaroo has a very strong flavour--stronger than venison, even--and that's swell, really, as it means it stands up nicely to strong-flavoured sauces and rubs like this one, which combines three varieties of peppercorn. Speaking of which, you're not aiming to grind the peppercorns into a powder. For this, simply cracking them is enough. When fried, the steaks will have a crunchy, peppery crust.

Ingredients:
4 kangaroo steaks
1/2 cup beef or veal stock (either home made or good quality store-bought stuff)
1 tbs freshly crushed black peppercorns
1 tbs freshly crushed green peppercorns
1 tbs freshly crushed white peppercorns
1 tbs sea salt
a shot of brandy (or cognac or cheap whisky)
olive oil
5 tiny knobs of butter, softened

Rub a little olive oil into the surface of each steak, along with the salt and the cracked peppercorns. Retain any excess peppercorns--you can add them to the sauce at the end.

Pre-heat the pan to medium high. Place the steaks in the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes a side, depending on their thickness and how long they've been out of the fridge. When you turn them, spoon a knob of butter over each one. Once the steaks are cooked, place them on a plate and leave in a warm place. Immediately add the excess peppercorns and the shot of brandy to the pan. Careful, here. If the pan's hot enough, the alcohol could flame up, setting your curtains and/or you on fire. Stir with a wooden spoon while the alcohol reduces. Once it has reduced, add the stock. Once that's reduced by at least half, add the final knob of butter and cut the heat. Stir the butter in and spoon the sauce over the steaks.