Mother Sauce, ( The Demi-glace)

   

     There is one family of French classic sauces that all chefs are faithful to as ever:  The meat stock-based brown sauces. 

    A spoonful of Demi-glace combined with other ingredients, enables a cook to build countless other sauces to pair with meats, vegetables, fish, or pork. After using a Demi-glaze once, You'll understand the importance of this mix.

    But what defines a fine brown sauce is a deeply flavorful stock.  For me I generally do a demi-glaze about once every 6 weeks.  And this usually gives me enough glaze to add to what ever I'm working on. Since this sauce takes such along time to do,  I always pick a day that I have nothing else going on.  And I'll have from early in the morning to late at night to get everything roasted, simmered, strained and reduced.  This is not for the faint at heart.  But it's worth every second of time you put into it........

     When I need a brown sauce, I simply prep the main ingredients and swirl  in some demi-glace to give it depth.  You can use this to fortify pan sauces, gravies, stews, braises, even risottos.

     INGREDIENTS

10 lbs  veal bones3 carrots, roughly chopped2 onions, roughly chopped1 white part of a leak, roughly chopped (this is opional)1 bouquet garni  (see notes below)1  6oz can of tomato paste    PROCEEDURE

          Roasting the bones,  Place the bones in a roasting pan and put in a preheated oven for approx. One to one and half hours.  What this does is give the bones a depth of flavor.  The oven should be at least 450 to 500 degrees F.

          After the bones have lightly browned add your carrots,  onions, leeks to the roasting pan with the bones.  Spread out the vegs evenly over the bones.  and roast everything for another 45 minutes or so. What you want is the vegs. to be lightly browned.

          Transfer the bones and vegs to at least a 20 qt stock pot.  Place the roasting pan over two burners of the cooktop and deglace the roasting pan with some water.  Scraping down the pan as you would deglace a skillet.  The fonds that are collected are then added to the stock pot.  Add your bouquet garni and tomato paste to the pot.  Then add 6-8 qts of water to the pot.  ( Enough to cover the bones with cold water).  The last batch I made I used about 12 qts of water,  and added more later, when everything started to reduce down.

          Set the pot over medium-high heat. Starting with cold water will encourage the proteins and fats in the bones to rise to the surface, where they can be skimmed and discarded.  I skimmed the top of the pot about every 15 to 20 minutes.  I was determined to have the clearest stock possible.

          When the first bubbles begin to appear on the surface reduce the heat to medium-low and maintain a very gentle simmer.  Simmering on low prevents the fats and impurities from being churned up back into the stock which will make your stock cloudy.

          The longer your stock simmers the more intense the flavors of your stock.  The minimum amount of time for simmering is 6-8 hours.  Better if you can do it is for 10-12 hours.  Check every few hours and make sure that the bones are covered with water.  If not add more water to the pot.

          During the first hour of simmering skim the stock every 15 minutes or so, then after that you can skim the stock every half hour.

          When the stock is ready.  Set a chinois ( or a fine mesh sieve over a clean 8 qt pot.  And strain the stock through the sieve into the 8qt.  I had so much stock to work with,  I had to sieve my stock over a 16 qt. pot.  Tap the chinois so as to get all the stock to drain through.  However, do not force the vegs or bones down.  Discard the bones, vegs, and bouquet garni.    This stock should yield about 5 to 10 qts  If storing stock for another use, you can cool it quickly by placing the pot into a sink half full of of ice water.  The last time I did the stock, I used quart Mason jars and cooled them in wash tubs, with water and ice blocks.  Once that is cooled skim the top of that stock to remove anyway fats.  Any stock that you are not going to use right away, Refrigerate.  I will be canning mine in quart mason jars for storage.  (You have to use a pressure canner for this.)  After the stock has chilled or set in the frig,  any fats will go to the top and turn hard.  And then you can break them lose and strain the stock again either before reducing or using as a stock.

         In the past chefs have used a roux to thicken the stock.  But now chefs have shunned thickeners in favor of reducing the stock to a pure more syrupy state.  Simmer the stock over medium-high heat, skimming occasionally, for 4-5 hours or until reduced to about 2 to 6  cups. 

          (NOTE) Making a Bouquet Garni