Enhance Your Meat Sauces with a Classic Demi-Glace

Throughout history chef’s have been perfecting sauces that are now considered classics. At the end of the nineteenth century Auguste Escoffier wrote Le Guide Culinaire which standardized the cooking of the nineteenth century and for many modern chef’s still remains the authority on classical French cuisine. He identified demi-glace as one of the "mother" sauces as being one of four primary sauce foundations in French cuisine. "Mother" sauces all fulfill the following basic criteria: The sauce can be prepared in large batches to be flavored, finished and garnished in many different ways, producing hundreds or even thousands of "derivative" sauces.

Demi-glace or half-glace is basically a brown stock that has been thickened with a roux. Traditionally, chef’s used a coulis which was created by poaching meat in a stock, then using the resulting broth to remoisten more meat. The process was repeated until a natural, syrupy liquid resulted. Preparing a traditional coulis can be very expensive since it requires about four batches of meat to result in the desired sauce. In an effort to reduce the expense of creating such a rich and flavorful sauce, chef’s discovered that they could produce similar results much quicker and with less expense by introducing a roux to the stock, otherwise known as a demi-glace.

A demi-glace starts with a good brown beef or veal stock. To prepare a brown stock follow the recipe below.

Brown Stock

(Yields 4 quarts)

• 6 lbs. Beef shanks, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 4-1/2 quarts cold water
• 1 large bouquet garni (1 stalk celery, 3 parsley stems, 1 thyme sprig, 1 bay leaf, 2 leek leaves wrapped and tied in cheesecloth)

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy pot. Gently brown the beef on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan and drain of excess oil. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the bottom of the pot. Gently brown the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Add 1 cup of water to the pan to deglaze, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Return the meat to the pot. Over high heat, completely reduce the stock until it caramelizes on the bottom of the pan. When no liquid remains, add the remaining water (it should cover the meat and vegetables) along with the bouquet garni. Slowly simmer the stock for 5-6 hours, skimming every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour. Gently strain the stock. (This stock can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or frozen. If you choose to freeze it, after you thaw it, bring it to a simmer for 10 minutes and skim.)

Demi-Glace

(Yields about 2 quarts)

• 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup gf flour
• 1 quarts brown beef stock
• 2 slices of thickly sliced bacon, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 carrot, coarsely chopped
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 fresh tomato (optional)

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Cook the roux for about 5 minutes until it has a pleasant toasty smell. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the roux cool briefly. Meanwhile, bring 1 quart of the brown stock to a simmer. Whisk in the roux. Simmer gently.

In a separate sauté pan, sweat the bacon over medium-low heat until it starts to render the fat. Increase the heat to medium and add the vegetables, thyme and bay leaf. Gently cook until the vegetables are soft. Pour off the excess fat. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by half. Add the vegetable and bacon mixture to the simmering stock and simmer, skimming occasionally, for about 1 hour. Strain the stock into a new pan and add 2 quarts of brown beef stock. Simmer for 2 more hours, skimming occasionally. Add the final quart of brown stock and chopped tomatoes to the sauce. Simmer for 1 more hour, carefully skimming occasionally. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve. Your demi-glace is now ready to use or frozen for future use.

You will notice that tomatoes are listed as an optional ingredient. Tomatoes give a wonderful, deep color to the sauce however, you may want to omit them if they are not desirable for your finished sauce.

Derivative Sauces

Your demi-glace is a base for many other derivative sauces. Although it may seem like an extraordinary effort to produce just a base for further sauces, the demi-glace is truly the key to an outstanding finished sauce. After tasting the final results you will undoubtedly appreciate this complex sauce.

Mushroom Sauce for Chicken (Sauce Chasseur)

(Makes about 1 cup)

• 2 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 4-1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 Tablespoon shallots, chopped
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2 Tablespoons Cognac
• 3/4 cup demi-glace
• 1 teaspoon chervil, chopped
• 1 teaspoon tarragon, chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Sauté mushrooms in 1-1/2 tablespoons butter until they start to brown. Add the chopped shallots and continue to sauté until no liquid remains in the bottom of the pan. Deglaze the pan with the wine and Cognac, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine mixture by half. Add the demi-glace and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming any fat the rises to the surface. Just before serving, whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons unsalted butter along with chervil and tarragon. Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Marsala Sauce for Roast Beef Tenderloin

• 1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup Marsala wine
• 3/4 cup demi-glace
• 1 Tablespoons red currant jelly
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preferably you want to use the pan that the roast cooked in to garnish all the flavor that accumulated on the bottom of the pan during the roasting time. Heat the pan over medium high heat. Sauté the shallots until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the red wine and Marsala wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce by about 1/3. Add the demi-glace and red currant jelly and simmer, whisking until the jelly is incorporated into the sauce. Add the butter, whisking until thoroughly incorporated. Remove the pan from the heat and adjust seasonings to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

There are many other derivative sauces using demi-glace as a base sauce. Try variations with prosciutto and mushrooms, fresh herbs, mustard and white wine, port wine, or madiera just to name a few.

– Glutenfreeda