Mother Sauce - Espagnole

Our cooking friend, 'Houseboat Don', wants to learn sauces, so this weekend we’re going to work on one of the mother sauces, Espagnole and its smaller sauces. I’m making the basic brown stock and then the Espagnole sauce and wait for him to be here to work on to the small sauces.

I’m thinking I’ll have some steaks and chicken thawed out and we can just have a taste testing of the sauces – here’s what we'll choose probably 6-8 from:

Bordelaise

Marchand de Vin

Robert

Charcutiere

Chasseur

Diable

Madeira

Perigueux (this one calls for truffles, but if we make it maybe we can play with truffle salt and/or truffle oil - unless Don wants to pop for truffles.... )

Port Wine

Italian

Mushroom

Bercy

Piquante

Lyonnaise

I’m using my text book from Culinary school for reference and help in making these sauces – Wayne Gisslen’s Professional Cooking. But there are a lot of sources anyone can use, especially having access to the internet to search.

Started out with a huge problem – I forgot to tell Roy to make sure the beef bones were cut in 3 – 4” lengths. He brought home some real hummers. Meat saw, hack saw, cleaver – nothing was working, so had to resort to an impeccably cleaned table saw. But, even that was precarious, think about holding those slippery little devils safely away from the blade. Finally, between the table saw and a wedge, we managed to get usable sizes.

They are in the oven roasting, then the mirepoix will be roasted and the brown stock will begin. And the adventure goes on. This should be a lot of fun.

Tuesday, 2/12/08
I had approximately 17 lbs. of beef bones
10-12 qts. cold water
Mirepoix:
1 lb. onions, chopped
8 oz. carrots, chopped
8 oz. celery, chopped
1 lb. tomatoes or tomato puree (I used puree)
Sachet:
1 Bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme
8 peppercorns
4-6 parsley stems
1 whole cloves

Roast the bones in a 375 – 400 F. oven until well browned – the browner, the more flavor for your stock. Remove bones from pan and place in a stock pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a simmer. Skim and let stock continue to simmer.

Drain and reserve the fat in the roasting pan. Deglaze the pan with water, scraping up all the goodies on the bottom of the pan and add to stock pot.

Toss the vegetables with some of the reserved fat from bones in the roasting pan and brown well in the oven – again, the browner, the more flavor.

Add the browned mirepoix, the tomato produce, and the sachet to the stock pot. Continue to simmer for a total cooking time of 6 to 8 hours, skimming the surface as needed. Add water to keep the bones covered. I made this stock over two days, 3 hours on Tuesday and brought it back up to a simmer and continued for 5 more hours.

Strain through a china cap lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Cool the stock, vented, in a cold-water bath and refrigerate.

Wednesday, 2/13/08
Wednesday, I continued the stock for 5 more hours. Then on to making the Espagnole Sauce. Now, this is where I took a slight shortcut. My amount of stock ended up being 8 quarts and the below ingredient amounts are based on 6 qts., so I added 1/3 more of everything.

Mirepoix:
1 lb. onions, medium dice
8 oz. carrots, medium dice
8 oz. celery, medium dice
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8 oz. butter
8 oz. bread flour
6 qts. brown stock
8 oz. tomato puree
Sachet:
1 small bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme
3-4 parsley stems

Sauté the mirepoix in the butter until well browned. Add the flour and stir to make the roux. Continue to cook, until the roux is browned.

Gradually stir in the brown stock and tomato puree, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and skim the surface. Add the sachet and let simmer for about 2 hours, until the sauce is reduced to 1 gal. Skim as often as necessary.

Strain through a china cap lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Press on the mirepoix gently to extract their juices.
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Now, this is where my shortcut comes in – because I goofed! I forgot I needed equal amounts of the Espagnole Sauce and the brown stock to make my Demiglaze! But, I had a little container of wonderful ‘gold’ that I used. I always have on hand a product called “Glace de Gibier Gold” from More Than Gourmet (you can buy on line). I made up the amount I needed and continued with the demi –

1 gallon brown sauce (Espagnole)
1 gallon brown stock

Combine the sauce and stock in a stock pot and simmer until reduced by half. Strain through a chinois (fine china cap) or a regular china cap lined with cheesecloth. Cover to prevent a skin from forming. Keep hot in a bain marie, or cool in a cold-water bath for later use.

Here's my demiglaze and it tastes absolutely wonderful! Luscious looking also! :)

I am now ready for Houseboat Don to arrive and continue with our small sauces.

Next blog with cover the small sauce we make from the Demiglaze, how we use them and more importanly how we all like them! I'm getting so anxious!