Classic Madeira sauce for roasts and steaks
The original demi-glace was actually made with Madeira wine in very complex recipes. Nowadays, these thick, syrupy sauces are half brown stock and half Espagnole sauce, reduced by half, and widely used to flavor other preparations with their concentrated and rich flavor. What we think of today as a Madeira sauce is simply a basic demi-glace that's been enriched with Madeira wine; so the main part of the cooking process of this wonderful sauce is making the demi-glace.
In this recipe, we assume the demi-glace is ready. Although making a true demi-glace is a long process of roasting bones, simmering, and straining, you could opt for a demi-glace shortcut that would cut your cooking time by half. The shortcut recipe uses store-bought broth or stock, but the rest of the process is the same as in the traditional recipe. If you go this route, then making this Madeira sauce is easy enough, as you'd simply stir Madeira wine and butter into your demi-glace. A perfect choice for red meats, roasts, and steaks, it's also bold enough to accompany venison.
Ingredients
2 cups demi-glace1/4 cup Madeira wine1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the demi-glace to a simmer and let it reduce for about 5 minutes. Stir in the Madeira wine and swirl in the butter. Serve right away.
How Madeira Wine Came to Be?Madeira wine came to be when, many centuries ago, the sailors in Portuguese ships realized that their wine kept going bad on their long voyages. Someone, quite sensibly, suggested adding more alcohol to the wine in the form of brandy, and in this way, a so-called "fortified wine" was born. Fortified wines such as port, Spanish sherry, Italian Marsala, and Madeira are the surviving legacy of this ingenious innovation.
Here are a few options for making the most of your cooking time when using shortcuts for making the demi-glace.
Making the stock is the most time-consuming part of making a demi-glace. Using store-bought stock means your stock will have less body and intense flavor than homemade stock, but it also won't gel when chilled. When using pre-made stock, go for the organic types, without preservatives or additives, and check the sodium content, as many have too much salt and can alter the final flavor of your sauce. Another option is to use a sauce base. Appropriately referred to as "convenience products," these preparations are even used in restaurants to make their demi-glace. If baking, simmering, and straining bones and vegetables for hours to make a rich stock isn't in your time budget, use these products. Simply add water to these sauce bases and you have instant demi-glace. It's actually a reasonable compromise for cooks who don't have the skills or time to go the classic route.
The original demi-glace was actually made with Madeira wine in very complex recipes. Nowadays, these thick, syrupy sauces are half brown stock and half Espagnole sauce, reduced by half, and widely used to flavor other preparations with their concentrated and rich flavor. What we think of today as a Madeira sauce is simply a basic demi-glace that's been enriched with Madeira wine; so the main part of the cooking process of this wonderful sauce is making the demi-glace.
In this recipe, we assume the demi-glace is ready. Although making a true demi-glace is a long process of roasting bones, simmering, and straining, you could opt for a demi-glace shortcut that would cut your cooking time by half. The shortcut recipe uses store-bought broth or stock, but the rest of the process is the same as in the traditional recipe. If you go this route, then making this Madeira sauce is easy enough, as you'd simply stir Madeira wine and butter into your demi-glace. A perfect choice for red meats, roasts, and steaks, it's also bold enough to accompany venison.
Ingredients
2 cups demi-glace
1/4 cup Madeira wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the demi-glace to a simmer and let it reduce for about 5 minutes. Stir in the Madeira wine and swirl in the butter. Serve right away.
How Madeira Wine Came to Be?
Madeira wine came to be when, many centuries ago, the sailors in Portuguese ships realized that their wine kept going bad on their long voyages. Someone, quite sensibly, suggested adding more alcohol to the wine in the form of brandy, and in this way, a so-called "fortified wine" was born. Fortified wines such as port, Spanish sherry, Italian Marsala, and Madeira are the surviving legacy of this ingenious innovation.
Here are a few options for making the most of your cooking time when using shortcuts for making the demi-glace.
Making the stock is the most time-consuming part of making a demi-glace. Using store-bought stock means your stock will have less body and intense flavor than homemade stock, but it also won't gel when chilled. When using pre-made stock, go for the organic types, without preservatives or additives, and check the sodium content, as many have too much salt and can alter the final flavor of your sauce. Another option is to use a sauce base. Appropriately referred to as "convenience products," these preparations are even used in restaurants to make their demi-glace. If baking, simmering, and straining bones and vegetables for hours to make a rich stock isn't in your time budget, use these products. Simply add water to these sauce bases and you have instant demi-glace. It's actually a reasonable compromise for cooks who don't have the skills or time to go the classic route.
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