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How to Make Reduction Sauces

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Sauces
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter or oil or some combination. If there is leftover fat from what you just cooked, use that.
  • 1 shallot minced
  • ¼ cup wine red, white or port depending on what you are cooking
  • 1 cup chicken stock beef stock or vegetable stock (again depending on what you are cooking)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh herbs again depending on what you are cooking

Instructions

  • Remove the meat from the sauté pan; pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat (add fat if you need to).
  • Remove the pan from the heat; add wine to deglaze the pan while scraping any bits stuck to the pan when cooking the meat.
  • Place the pan back on the heat and immediately add the shallots letting them cook while the wine reduces to an essence. Be sure to keep stirring so the shallots don’t burn and the bottom of the pan is clean.
  • Once the wine is almost completely cooked off, add the stock. Reduce the stock by at least half and more if you want the sauce thicker.
  • Taste and season with salt and pepper.
  • Many professional chefs will add pats of butter at this point to give the sauce more flavor and that velvety shine and smooth texture. This is great but it sort of defeats the purpose of making a reduction to reduce fat and calories.
  • Add the finely chopped herbs and serve. Serve with your favorite protein.

Notes

That simple and delicious.