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Brown sauce

Julia Child in Mastering the Art of French Cooking

The one [brown sauce] most nearly approaching the traditional demi-glace.

  • 45 g Bacon, diced
  • 80 g Unsalted Butter, clarified
  • 80 g Carrot, minced
  • 80 g Celery, minced
  • 80 g Onion, minced
  • 30 g Wheat Flour
  • 1500 g Beef Stock, boiling
  • 30 g Tomato Paste
  • 1 T Herbs de Provence

Yields about 1000 g.

  1. Panfry bacon. Heat stockpan over medium-high heat. Add bacon. Panfry 10 minutes until browned, but not crispy. Leaving rendered fat in saucepan, remove bacon. Set aside as bacon bits.
  2. Fry vegetables. Reduce heat to medium. Melt butter in stockpan. Add vegetables. Stir to coat evenly. Fry 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
  3. Brown roux. Dividing as necessary: add flour to stockpan, stirring evenly. Cook 10 minutes until flour turns a golden, nut brown.
  4. Reduce sauce. Remove from heat. Add tomato paste. Stir to combine. Add brown stock and herbs. Stir. Cover partially. Simmer 2 hours or more over low heat.
  5. Strain, degrease, and season. Strain sauce through colander. Degrease thoroughly. Season as desired, if necessary.

  1. Child, Julia, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck. Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume 1. New York, NY: Knopf, 2001. ↩