With its intense, rich flavor, Sauce Bordelaise is a classic in French cuisine! Even a few drops of this red wine sauce offer a whole new taste experience to the simplest cut of beef.
Recipe for sauce bordelaise
With its intense, rich flavor, Sauce Bordelaise is a classic in French cuisine! Even a few drops of this red wine sauce provide an entirely new taste experience to the simplest beef cut—and it magically complements a good rösti or fried potatoes.
The name, Bordelaise, refers to garnishes or sauces whose main element is wine. The quality of your sauce Bordelaise depends precisely on the red wine you use, and a good rule of thumb is never to use a wine you wouldn’t drink.
A traditional Sauce Bordelaise contains—not only red wine—but also butter, shallots, stock, herbs, and marrow. Here, I give you the recipe without marrow, as marrow is not something most people readily have on hand.
Servings: people
Sauce Bordelaise
With its intense, rich flavor, Sauce Bordelaise is a classic in French cuisine! Even a few drops of this red wine sauce offer a whole new taste experience to the simplest cut of beef.
Equipment
- Deciliter Measure
- Pot
- Sieve
Ingredients
- 2-3 pcs. Shallots depending on the size
- 200 gram Red Wine Or port wine
- 100 gram Port
- 25 gram Butter Cold
- 3 sprigs Fresh thyme
- 5 pcs. Peppercorns 5 pcs.
- 300 gram Beef Stock I used an Oscar veal stock
- 1 pcs. Bay Leaf
- 300 gram Water
- 1 clove Garlic Optional
- 1 pcs. Salt and Pepper To taste
- 28.4 gram Butter Unsalted. For sautéing
- 1 pcs. Red Wine Vinegar To taste
Instructions
- Peel the shallots, chop them finely, and crush the peppercorns coarsely.
- Place shallots, pepper, bay leaves, rinsed thyme stems - and optionally chopped garlic - in a pot and sauté in the butter over medium-high heat.
- Add red wine and port wine and bring to a brief boil.
- Turn down the heat and let it simmer until it’s reduced by half.
- Slowly add the beef stock while stirring.
- Continue boiling the sauce, but not too long - a Sauce Bordelaise should be thin but intense and flavorful.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and optionally a bit of honey.
- Strain the sauce into a new pot and turn up the heat to high.
- Take the cold butter out of the fridge and cut it into small cubes.
- Add a little butter at a time while whisking vigorously and continue until the sauce has the desired thickness.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
I used unsalted butter for this recipe. If you use salted butter, it’s important to wait with salting until after the sauce has been thickened.