Demi-Glace is referred to as a “mother” sauce in French cooking. You don’t often use it as is, but it spawns many other tasty sauces.Traditional demi-glace is made with two ingredients: brown stock (usually veal-based) and brown sauce (Sauce Espagnole). I needed demi-glace for the Tarragon Tomato Sauce I’ll be making to accompany my Chicken Apple Meatloaf for this week’s SundaySupper, but I didn’t have any veal knuckles handy.
Fortunately, I found a lower-maintenance recipe for demi-glace in the Tupelo Honey Cafe’s cookbook (which is where the meatloaf recipe comes from anyway). No veal bones required.
Make this sauce and then freeze it for later. I use it as a replacement for beef stock when I want a dish to have richer flavor with more body.
Recipe Card
Demi-Glace
Use instead of beef stock for richer flavor
Servings:5 servings
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup dry red wine drinking quality
- 4 cups unsalted or low-sodium beef stock
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
Instructions
- Heat oil in heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, then add celery, onion and carrots. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are just beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
- Add wine and cook until reduced by half, 5 minutes or so.
- Add stock and tomato paste. Blend well, decrease heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce decreases in volume by one-quarter, about 25 minutes.
- Cool, strain and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes
I’ve provided nutritional information for a serving size of 1/2 cup. When you use the demi-glace in another sauce, 1/2 cup will probably serve 4 people, so don’t be too thrown by the amount of sodium in this recipe.
Nutrition Info Per Serving
Nutrition Facts
Demi-Glace
Amount Per Serving (1 half cup)
Calories 112 Calories from Fat 18
% Daily Value*
Fat 2g3%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 423mg18%
Potassium 0mg0%
Carbohydrates 11g4%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 0IU0%
Vitamin C 0mg0%
Calcium 0mg0%
Iron 0mg0%
Net carbs 9g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Outstanding
really…you don’t keep veal knuckles on hand?? 🙂
My chef and I were just talking about this! How we use demi so much in the restaurant, but home cooks don’t really. And that there aren’t any great demi retail brands! Thanks for the recipe! It’s amazing on EVERYTHING!
Never made this before ! Interesting. Beats regular gravy for sure ! Must be bursting with flavor !