Merlot Sauce for Veal, Beef or Venison
With the holidays fast approaching, some of you may be thinking about what you’ll be serving for Christmas dinner. Some of you may choose goose or turkey or ham but then there are the fans of crown roast or filet Mignon and that’s where this sauce pairs well with.
Merlot is one of the world’s premier wine grapes. Although planted worldwide, it is the Bordeaux region of France, particularly St.-Emilion and Pomerol where Merlot is brought to unparalleled heights.
A supple, yet still rich wine, at its best Merlot is sublimely exquisite and refined.
Such Merlots can be exorbitantly expensive however. But there are plenty of reasonably priced in Merlots in the New World, Italy and even France that are more than suitable for sauce making.
I say this recipe serves 4 to 6 people because if you are serving it with mashed potatoes, there’s only going to be enough for 4 people.
Merlot Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup Merlot wine
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup demi glace
- 2 ounces heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up a sauce pan and when hot, add the butter.
- Sauté the shallot in the butter on medium high heat for 3 - 4 minutes.
- Add the Merlot and thyme, and reduce by three quarters.
- Add the demi glace and simmer for a few minutes.
- Whisk in the heavy cream.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
My Top Choices for Demi Glace
Online Sources: Demi Glace
For those of you who do not want to make demi glace at home.
Demi glace is the most important ingredient for making classic "restaurant quality" brown sauces. All the great French brown sauces use demi glace. But it can also be used in soups, stews and braises. It's something you can make at home but it takes a long, long time to do it right and if you make one mistake, it can easily be ruined. Lucky for us, there are now some great sources for commercial grade demi glace and I want to share a few with you now. Everyone has their preferences so I suggest you give each a try to find out which product you like best. The links below are affiliate links.Savory Choice's Demi Glace
More Than Gourmet's Demi Glace Gold
One of my first commercial demi glace products and still one of my favorites. For almost 25 years, More Than Gourmet has been the gold standard for flavor and quality when it comes to sauces, stock, and soup. This product comes in 1 pound tubs and 1.5 ounce pucks and even bigger sizes if you are a commercial establishment. I like buying 6 of the pucks at a time unless I'm doing a big party and need the pounder.
What MTG says, "Our Classic French Demi-Glace made in the old world tradition of Escoffier from brown stock and Sauce Espagnole. Demi-Glace Gold is reduced four times from the classic and allows you to make elegant finished French sauces quickly and easily. Our low-heat cooking techniques and 30-hour reduction process give the demi-glace a beautiful shine, flavor, and texture, which make finished sauces that are glossy to the eye and decided in taste."
Buy Demi-Glace Gold at Amazon
Leave a Reply