The big difference between this shorter version of the Green Peppercorn Sauce recipe and the longer version is the use of Demi-Glace.  Demi glace is a brown sauce reduction made from beef and veal stock that has been reduced for hours and hours down to a glaze. There are some other ingredients in a classic demi glace and if interested you can read about making your own demi glace at home here.

I have made classic demi glace a couple of times from scratch because it is essential for preparing classic sauces like the ones you get in gourmet restaurants but it is a lot of work. Once I found a commercial brand that is as close to homemade as you can find, I now make a lot more classic and everyday sauces when cooking beef, chicken, lamb and even fish.

The commercial brand I like to use is called Demi Glace Gold and is available at some gourmet markets but I found the best price for it on line. To learn more about this product, how to use it, what’s in it, where to buy it, along with dozens of recipes using it, go to GatewayGourmet.com.  This is a great site if you want to learn more about making sauces at home.

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My wife handed me this recipe cut out from our local newspaper the other day and said let’s try this. It was for Meatballs with a Green-Peppercorn Sauce. The meatballs looked pretty standard and I will talk about them some other time but I was really interested in the Green Peppercorn Sauce.

The total preparation time is about 50 minutes for both the meatballs and the sauce. While the sauce is reducing, you are supposed to be working on the meatballs. Now you may be thinking that 50 minutes is just a little more time than you want to spend on making a sauce for dinner in the middle of the week and I agree.

We made this sauce over the weekend when we had plenty of time and didn’t mind spending it on making a sauce this good. And believe me, this sauce is awesome!!!  Putting it on meatballs was great, but I would use it on a prime cut of beef which I did a couple of nights later.

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