Demi-glace is an incredibly rich, thick sauce that’s made from reducing brown (veal or beef, traditionally) stock and red wine or Espagnole sauce down to an almost syrup consistency. It’s commonly used as a stand-alone sauce in classic dishes or as a base for other sauces.
Cooking Tips: Use demi-glace as a base for meat sauces, stocks, soups, and braises. For a delicious pan sauce in minutes, sweat some chopped shallots in pan-drippings, add fresh herbs and deglaze with demi-glace. Add a small knob of black truffle butter to finish. Mix one container of demi-glace in 2 cups of water and use in place of beef, lamb, or veal stock in your favorite recipes.
From the History (Cook) Books
Demi-glace is one of the rich brown sauces from classic French cuisine, made by simmering bones, aromatics and wine for days, which extracts the gelatin from the bones, concentrates the flavors and thickens the sauce. Traditionally it is made of equal parts veal stock and sauce espagnole, which is one of the five mother sauces of French cooking. The basic recipe for demi-glace comes from the father of French cooking Auguste Escoffier, but then, so do most recipes, as he’s the chef who codified the standard French recipes in the early 1900s. The term “demi-glace” comes from the French word glace, which means icing or glaze, and “demi” because a 1:1 ratio is reduced in half.
Demi-Glace Recipe: Part 1 – Veal Stock and the Reduction
FAQ
What is the difference between veal jus and demi-glace?
What is Demi used for in cooking?
What is a substitute for veal demi-glace?
Are beef bones better than veal bones for demi-glace?
Veal bones have more collagen than beef bones, hence why they’re preferable for demi-glace, but a combination of beef bones and cross-cut shanks can be substituted. Simmering the bones gently for hours transforms the collagen into gelatin, which is what makes demi-glace solid when chilled.
How do you make veal stock?
Make the veal stock: Preheat the oven to 500°F. Place the bones on a roasting pan for 45 minutes. Add celery, carrots, onions, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves, and roast for another 20 minutes. Deglaze the pan with red wine and add tomato paste.
How long does it take to cook a veal demi-glace?
D’Artagnan offers two types of demi-glace: a classic veal demi-glace and a combination duck and veal demi-glace (we couldn’t resist!). Both are made according to traditional methods, beginning with the bone stock, which is slowly simmered until reduced by about half its volume. This takes 2-3 days and imparts great depth of flavor.
What is demi glace?
Demi Glace (sometimes spelled Demi Glaze) is a rich brown sauce often used as a base in demi glace sauces. Read our article to find out to cook with demi glace.