Looking for a sauce recipe

Chuck, morning.... You piqued my interests with your question... I love a good peppercorn steak, and peppers in general...

So I had to look up stuff on pepper sauces....  This recipe from Alton looks like it might fit the color description and it sounds awesome to me... I'm filing it for my recipe collection....

This might be a choice if you can't find exactly what you are looking for...   Dave

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/strip-steak-with-pepper-cream-sauce-recipe/index.html

That would have been my guess as well. Googling "Steak au poivre" should get you quite a few others from which to choose. Good luck!

My son use to work for Applebee's in the kitchen so I asked him. He said alot of there sauces came in packages and were just heated. He does not recall this dish so it must have been before he worked there. 

Maybe this one?

http://www.worldcook.net/Cooking/Sauce/SAUCE-CreamyTomatoDip.htm

There's two sauces there, the other one is a copy cat honey pepper sauce from Applebees.

What are the sauces lacking?

I only ask because, without knowing what they lack it's hard to reverse engineer the flavors you are looking for

Tangy? ...Try some red wine, or marmalade

Savory?...try some Saki, ginger etc...

Lacking robust-ness...Try small amounts of Cumin,Oregano,basil

Just a few suggestions

I really enjoy reverse engineering foods

No problem

If it was a lighter colored gravy it may have been a RUE based gravy over a cream/milk base

Rue is simple to make but easy to mess up   Classic Rue is 50/50 mix of flour and butter ( I love gravies)..

.So in a soup / sauce pan I start with 1/4 cup of butter in a pan  melt it mix in the flour slowly over medium heat until smooth and bubbly... about 5 minutes If undercooked it will taste Floury...If you burn it you'll know...It will darken considerably...  Do this while your meat is resting

De glaze your meat pan...I like a Gravy with kick...So I add fresh cracked pepper/garlic/onion, a pinch of oregano/Basil/parsley... (coarse ground)  to the meat pan...crank up the the heat... When the goodies in the pan are sizzling...almost  smoking Add your choice of wine, brandy , water, My favorite is 2/3 SAKI 1/3 water

mix about a cup MINIMUM...Stirring and getting ALL the crunchy's off the bottom of the pan..When you got all the Crunchy's loose turn down the heat  and transfer to your Rue pan slowly while stirring constantly with the pan on low to medium Bring to a light boil...I tend to put the coal to it... It needs to come to a light boil to thicken Then simmer a couple of minutes...If it's not thick enough  you have 2 choices... make more rue in a separate pan large enough to hold the gravy mix or to add a cornstarch mixture...I cheat and do the latter Just follow the instructions on the box...It won't take much just a table spoon or so

I didn't give you any specific measurements, Cuz I'm not sure what your tastes are... I only meant this as a guide to get you in the right direction

Hope it helped..It's old school