by Julia Child
It is important that the roux be cooked slowly and evenly. If the flour is burned, it will not thicken the sauce as it should, and it will also impart an unpleasant taste.
For about 1 quart of brown sauce
A heavy-bottomed, 2-quart saucepan
⅓ cup each: finely diced carrots, onions, and celery
3 Tb diced boiled ham (or diced lean bacon simmered for 10 minutes in water, rinsed, and drained)
6 Tb clarified butter, rendered fresh pork fat, or cooking oil
Cook the vegetables and ham or bacon slowly in the butter, fat, or oil for 10 minutes.
4 Tb flour
A wooden spatula or spoon
Blend the flour into the vegetables and stir continually over moderately low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until the flour slowly turns a golden, nut brown.
A wire whip
6 cups boiling brown stock or canned beef bouillon
2 Tb tomato paste
A medium herb bouquet: 3 parsley sprigs, ½ bay leaf, and ¼ tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth
Remove from heat. With a wire whip, immediately blend in all the boiling liquid at once. Beat in the tomato paste. Add the herb bouquet.
Simmer slowly, partially covered, for 2 hours or more, skimming off fat and scum as necessary. Add more liquid if sauce thickens too much. You should end up with about 4 cups of sauce, thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.
Salt and pepper
Correct seasoning. Strain, pressing juice out of vegetables. Degrease thoroughly, and the sauce is ready to use.
(*) If not used immediately, clean off sides of pan, and float a film of stock over the top of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming. When cold, cover and refrigerate or freeze.
BROWN SAUCE (2)
SAUCE RAGOÛT
[Flour-based Brown Sauce with Giblets]
Sauce ragoût is essentially like the preceding brown sauce, but has more character, as it includes bones, trimmings, or giblets gathered from the game, beef, lamb, veal, goose, duck, or turkey the sauce is to be served with.
For 4 cups
A heavy-bottomed, 3- to 4-quart saucepan
1 to 4 cups of giblets, bones, and meat trimmings, raw or cooked
½ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped onions
6 Tb clarified butter, rendered fresh pork fat, or cooking oil; more if needed
Brown the giblets, bones, meat trimmings and vegetables in hot clarified butter, fat, or oil. Remove them to a side dish.
4 Tb flour
Slowly brown the flour in the fat remaining in the saucepan, adding more fat if necessary.
5 to 6 cups boiling brown stock or canned beef bouillon
Optional: 1 cup dry white wine, red wine, or ⅔ cup dry white vermouth
Optional: 3 Tb tomato paste
A medium herb bouquet: 3 parsley sprigs, ½ bay leaf, ¼ tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth
Off heat, beat in the boiling liquid, optional wine, and optional tomato paste. Add the herb bouquet and return the browned ingredients. Simmer, skimming as necessary, for 2 to 4 hours. Strain, degrease, correct seasoning, and the sauce is ready to use.
VARIATIONS
Sauce Poivrade
[Brown Game Sauce]
This is the same as sauce ragoût. If the game has been marinated, a cup or two of the marinade is used instead of the optional wine. The final sauce is highly seasoned with pepper.
Sauce Venaison
[Brown Sauce for Venison]
This is sauce poivrade with ½ cup red currant jelly and ½ cup whipping cream beaten into it just before serving.
BROWN SAUCE (3)
JUS LIÉ
[Starch-thickened Brown Sauce]
Jus lié is a most useful alternative to the preceding long-simmered brown sauces, and takes about 5 minutes to prepare. But it has no culinary interest whatsoever if it is not made with an excellent base, as it is only stock thickened with cornstarch or arrowroot. The sauce is usually made with the liquids obtained from the simmering or stewing of meats, and therefore acquires a good, strong flavor. If it is made from canned bouillon, the bouillon should first be simmered with wine and seasonings as described under meat stocks. Cornstarch is the thickening for ordinary brown sauces of this type. Arrowroot is used when the sauce is to be very clear and limpid, such as that for the ham braised in Madeira or the duck with orange. (Potato starch and rice starch are French equivalents of cornstarch.)
For 2 cups
2 Tb cornstarch or arrowroot
2 cups of excellent brown stock, or canned beef bouillon simmered with wine and seasonings
A 4-cup saucepan
A wire whip
Blend the cornstarch or arrowroot with 2 tablespoons of cold stock, then beat in the rest of the stock. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until sauce has cleared and is lightly thickened. Correct seasoning.
Optional: ¼ cup Madeira, port, or cognac
Add optional wine or cognac, and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, tasting, until the alcohol has evaporated. (*) Sauce may be set aside, and reheated when needed.
SAUCES DERIVED FROM BROWN SAUCE
Following are some of the principal composed sauces which are made with any of the three preceding brown sauces. They are almost always combined with the cooking juices of the dishes they accompany, and thereby pick up additional flavor.
Sauce Diable
[Peppery Brown Sauce]
For: broiled chicken, roast or braised pork, pork chops, hot meat leftovers
A 4-cup saucepan or your meat-cooking pan with its degreased juices
1 to 2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
1 Tb butter or cooking fat
1 cup dry white wine or ⅔ cup dry white vermouth
Cook the shallots or green onions slowly with the butter or cooking fat for 2 minutes without browning. Then add the wine and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced to 3 or 4 tablespoons.
2 cups brown sauce
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Pour in the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Season with enough pepper to give it a spicy taste.
1 to 3 Tb softened butter
2 to 3 Tb fresh minced parsley or mixed green herbs
Off heat, and just before serving, swirl butter into the sauce a bit at a time. Stir in the parsley or herbs.
Sauce Piquante
[Brown Sauce with Pickles and Capers]
For: roast or braised pork, pork chops, boiled or braised tongue, boiled beef, and hot meat leftovers
The preceding sauce diable plus:
2 Tb finely chopped pickles
2 Tb capers
Just before removing the sauce from heat, stir in the pickles and capers. Simmer a moment, then, off heat, beat in the butter and herbs.
Sauce Robert
[Brown Mustard Sauce]
For: roast or braised pork, pork chops, boiled beef, broiled chicken, or turkey, hot meat leftovers, hamburgers
A heavy-bottomed, 6-cup saucepan or your meat-cooking pan with its degreased juices
¼ cup finely minced yellow onions
1 Tb butter
1 tsp oil or cooking fat
Cook the onions slowly with the butter and oil or fat, for 10 to 15 minutes until they are tender and lightly browned.
1 cup dry white wine or ⅔ cup dry vermouth
Add the wine and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced to 3 or 4 tablespoons.
2 cups brown sauce
Add the brown sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Correct seasoning.
3 to 4 Tb Dijon-type prepared mustard creamed with 2 or 3 Tb softened butter and ⅛ tsp sugar
2 to 3 Tb fresh minced parsley
Off heat and just before serving, beat the mustard mixture into the sauce, tasting. Beat in the parsley, and serve.
Sauce Brune aux Fines Herbes
Sauce Brune à l’Estragon
[Brown Herb or Tarragon Sauce]
For: sautéed chicken, veal, rabbit, braised vegetables, hot meat
leftovers, and poached or baked eggs
A 2- to 3-cup enameled saucepan
1 cup dry white wine or ⅔ cup dry white vermouth
2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
4 Tb fresh herbs or 2 Tb dried herbs as follows: parsley, basil, chervil, rosemary, oregano, and tarragon only
Place all the ingredients in the saucepan and boil slowly for 10 minutes, reducing the wine to 2 or 3 tablespoons. This is now an herb essence.
2 cups of brown sauce
A 6- to 8-cup saucepan
Strain the herb essence into the brown sauce, pressing the juices out of the herbs. Simmer for 1 minute.
1 to 3 Tb softened butter
2 to 3 Tb fresh minced parsley, mixed green herbs, or tarragon
Off heat, and just before serving, beat the butter into the sauce by bits, then beat in the herbs.
Sauce Brune au Cari
[Brown Curry Sauce]
For: lamb, chicken, beef, rice, and egg dishes
A heavy-bottomed, 8-cup saucepan
1½ cups finely minced yellow onions
2 Tb butter
1 tsp oil
Cook the onions slowly in the butter and oil for about 15 minutes, until they are tender and lightly browned.
3 to 4 Tb curry powder
Blend in the curry powder and cook slowly for 1 minute.
Optional: 2 cloves mashed garlic
Stir in the optional garlic and cook slowly for half a minute.
2 cups brown sauce
Add the brown sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
2 to 3 tsp lemon juice
Correct seasoning and add lemon juice to taste.
1 to 3 Tb softened butter
2 to 3 Tb fresh minced parsley
Off heat, and just before serving, beat in the butter by bits. Stir in the parsley.
Sauce Duxelles
[Brown Mushroom Sauce]
For: broiled or sautéed chicken, veal, rabbit, or for egg dishes, hot meat leftovers, or pastas
A heavy-bottomed, 8-cup saucepan
¼ lb. (1 cup) finely minced fresh mushrooms or mushroom stems only
2 Tb shallots or green onions
1 Tb butter
½ Tb oil
Sauté the mushrooms with the shallots or onions in hot butter and oil for 4 to 5 minutes.
½ cup dry white wine or ⅓ cup dry white vermouth
Add the wine and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced almost completely.
1½ cups brown sauce
1½ Tb tomato paste
Stir in the brown sauce and tomato paste and simmer for 5 minutes. Correct seasoning.
1 to 3 Tb softened butter
3 to 4 Tb mixed green herbs or parsley
Off heat and just before serving, stir in the butter by bits, then the herbs or parsley.
Sauce Chasseur
[Brown Mushroom Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes, Garlic, and Herbs]
For: same as preceding sauce duxelles
Sauce chasseur is almost the same as sauce duxelles, but a bit more hearty in flavor. The recipe for it is described in the Veal section under escalopes de veau chasseur.
Sauce Madère
[Brown Madeira Sauce]
Sauce au Porto
[Brown Port-wine Sauce]
For: filet of beef, or for ham, veal, chicken livers, and egg dishes, or to sauce a garniture for vol-au-vents
½ cup Madeira or port
A 6-cup saucepan
Boil the wine in the saucepan until it has reduced to about 3 tablespoons.
2 cups excellent brown sauce
Optional: 1 to 2 tsp meat glaze
3 to 4 Tb Madeira or port, if necessary
Add the brown sauce and simmer for a minute or two. Taste carefully for seasoning and strength, adding meat glaze if you have it and feel it necessary. If more wine is needed, add it by tablespoons, simmering briefly to evaporate the alcohol.
2 to 3 Tb softened butter
Off heat and just before serving, beat in the butter by bits.
Sauce Périgueux
[Brown Madeira Sauce with Truffles]
For: filet of beef, fresh foie gras, ham, veal, egg dishes, and timbales
The preceding sauce Madère
2 to 4 diced canned truffles and their juice
Prepare the Madeira sauce as in the preceding recipe, but add the truffle juice to reduce with the Madeira at the beginning. After flavoring the sauce, stir in the truffles and simmer for a minute. Off heat, beat the butter into the sauce just before serving.
OTHER BROWN SAUCES
The following brown sauces are incorporated into recipes in other parts of the book.
Brown deglazing sauce
This sauce is made by dissolving the coagulated cooking juices in a roasting or sautéing pan with wine or stock after the meat has been removed. The liquid is boiled down until it is syrupy. Off heat a lump of butter is swirled in to give the sauce a slight liaison. It is one of the most delicious, useful, and simple of all the brown sauces, and is described in countless recipes. A good illustration is the deglazing sauce for roast chicken.
Sauce à l’Italienne, a brown sauce with ham, mushrooms, and herbs, as described under braised sweetbreads. The sauce may also be used for brains, sautéed liver, egg dishes, and pastas.
Sauce Bordelaise, a red wine sauce with beef marrow, described in the Kidney section under rognons de veau à la bordelaise. The sauce is also good with steaks, hamburgers, and egg dishes.
Sauce à l’Orange, a brown sauce with orange flavoring and orange peel, as described in the Duck section for canard à l’orange. The same sauce could also be used with baked ham or roast pork.
Sauce Bourguignonne, a red wine sauce always accompanied by a garniture of bacon, mushrooms, and braised onions, as described under poached eggs à la bourguignonne. It also goes with sweetbreads or brains, sautéed beef, and chicken. Boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are examples.
TOMATO SAUCES
Sauces Tomate
SAUCE TOMATE
[Tomato Sauce]
This good basic tomato sauce is served just as it is, or may be flavored with herbs or combined with other sauces whenever you wish a tomato flavoring. It is at its best with fresh tomatoes, but canned tomatoes or canned tomato purée will also produce a good sauce. You will notice, during its simmering, that it really should cook for about an hour and a half to develop its full flavor.
For about 2½ cups
A heavy-bottomed, 2½-quart saucepan
¼ cup each: finely diced carrots, onions, and celery
2 Tb minced boiled ham; OR 2 Tb minced lean bacon, simmered for 10 minutes in water, rinsed, and drained
3 Tb butter
1 Tb oil
Cook the vegetables and the ham or bacon slowly in the butter and oil for 10 minutes without letting them brown.
1½ Tb flour
Blend the flour into the ham and vegetables, and cook slowly for 3 minutes, stirring.
1½ cups boiling stock or canned beef bouillon
Off heat, beat in the stock or bouillon.
2 lbs. (4 cups) chopped, ripe, red tomatoes which need not be peeled; OR 3 cups canned tomatoes; OR 1½ cups canned tomato purée and 1½ cups water
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp sugar
2 unpeeled cloves garlic
4 parsley sprigs
½ bay leaf
¼ tsp thyme
Stir in the tomatoes, salt, and sugar. Add the garlic and herbs. Simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, skimming occasionally, and adding water if sauce reduces and thickens too much. You should end up with about 2½ cups of rich, fairly thick sauce.
1 to 2 Tb tomato paste, if necessary
Strain, pressing juice out of ingredients. Correct seasoning. Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste if you feel the sauce lacks color, and simmer again for 5 minutes.
(*) If not used immediately, film surface with stock or a few drops of oil. May be refrigerated or frozen.
COULIS DE TOMATES À LA PROVENCALE
[Fresh Tomato Purée with Garlic and Herbs]
For: broiled or boiled chicken, boiled beef, meat patties, hot meat leftovers, eggs, pastas, and pizzas
Here is a thick, concentrated tomato sauce with real Mediterranean flavor.
For about 2 cups