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Demi-glace Sauce

A reduced sauce made from roast veal gravy, Espagnole sauce, and Madeira or sherry wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,890 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Demi-glace Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Combine the roast veal gravy, Espagnole sauce, and Madeira or sherry wine in a stew-pan.

  2. Reduce the mixture to your desired consistency.

  3. Skim off any fat, then strain the sauce.

  4. If using other gravy or stock, add meat glaze and season to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve as needed.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Veal + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Sauce + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,167 recipes
  3. Sherry + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together505 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Sauce + sherrytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Veal + sherrytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together572 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Roast veal gravy
Forms the savoury meat base that gives the sauce its body and flavour.
Espagnole sauce
Adds thickness and body, since its starch and gelatin help the sauce cling.
Madeira or sherry wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balance the rich meat flavour.

The step that matters

Reduce the mixture to your desired consistency. Simmering evaporates water and concentrates flavour and body. Reducing too little leaves the sauce thin and bland, while reducing too far makes it salty and overly thick.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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