I believe in the pan sauces. You don’t have to make them all the time, but they absolutely enhance the dining experience. A perfectly cooked steak or chicken is always delicious. But serving it with a pan sauce, takes it to the whole new level!
Preheat the oven to 450.
Line aluminum foil in a large roasting pan. Add vegetables and drizzle with oil and tomato paste; rub tomato paste into the vegetables with your hands.
Gently place chicken wings on another baking sheet (also lined with aluminum foil.) Drizzle with some oil.
Bake everything for 2-3 hours. You are looking for browning (Maillard reaction) and caramelization to occur. I've attached some pictures that demonstrate what you are looking for to get the depth of flavour and colour into your sauce.
Place everything into a very large stock pot. Add about 8.5 quarts of cold water. Bring everything to boil. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Do not worry about skimming the fat from the pot, it will be later strained a couple of times. Simmer the pot uncovered for 16 hours. Do not leave the pot unattended. See note.
After the 16-hour simmer, strain the sauce into another large pot. Take care to press down your vegetables and chicken to extract as much of the sauce as possible. Discard the vegetables and chicken. Increase the heat to medium high and bring your sauce to boil. You are looking to reduce everything by half to about 4 quarts. If you reduce it less, don't worry, it can always be thickened later.
When reduced by about half, strain the liquid once more into a large container. Preferably a square or a rectangle container. Allow it to come to room temperature then place into the fridge and chill for 24 hours.
After chilling, all of the fat should have risen to the top. With a butter knife, gently remove all of the fat. Underneath you will be left with what is by now thick gelatinous demi-glace.
Grab about 16 sandwich ziplock bags and either scoop the sauce into each bag or invert the pan into a large cutting board and gently slice your demiglace into squares. It will all depend on how well the demiglace is reduced and your version may be slightly more or less runny than mine; the sauce will still be rich and full of velvety gelatin, but if not reduced enough, scooping it may be a better option as it may not be easily sliced.
Reserve some to be used within a week and place the rest into the freezer (it will keep in the freezer for quite a while.)
When ready to make the sauce, take one of the portions (pre-portioned for 2.) You can use it in your favourite pan sauce or add to your favourite dishes. You can deglaze a pan after cooking steak or chicken with it. It will only take a minute or two for demi glace to reduce in a hot pan; when reduced to desired consistency, add a teaspoon of butter to emulsify and thicken it even further; season to taste with salt and pepper. Dig in and enjoy this restaurant quality sauce.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450.
Line aluminum foil in a large roasting pan. Add vegetables and drizzle with oil and tomato paste; rub tomato paste into the vegetables with your hands.
Gently place chicken wings on another baking sheet (also lined with aluminum foil.) Drizzle with some oil.
Bake everything for 2-3 hours. You are looking for browning (Maillard reaction) and caramelization to occur. I've attached some pictures that demonstrate what you are looking for to get the depth of flavour and colour into your sauce.
Place everything into a very large stock pot. Add about 8.5 quarts of cold water. Bring everything to boil. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Do not worry about skimming the fat from the pot, it will be later strained a couple of times. Simmer the pot uncovered for 16 hours. Do not leave the pot unattended. See note.
After the 16-hour simmer, strain the sauce into another large pot. Take care to press down your vegetables and chicken to extract as much of the sauce as possible. Discard the vegetables and chicken. Increase the heat to medium high and bring your sauce to boil. You are looking to reduce everything by half to about 4 quarts. If you reduce it less, don't worry, it can always be thickened later.
When reduced by about half, strain the liquid once more into a large container. Preferably a square or a rectangle container. Allow it to come to room temperature then place into the fridge and chill for 24 hours.
After chilling, all of the fat should have risen to the top. With a butter knife, gently remove all of the fat. Underneath you will be left with what is by now thick gelatinous demi-glace.
Grab about 16 sandwich ziplock bags and either scoop the sauce into each bag or invert the pan into a large cutting board and gently slice your demiglace into squares. It will all depend on how well the demiglace is reduced and your version may be slightly more or less runny than mine; the sauce will still be rich and full of velvety gelatin, but if not reduced enough, scooping it may be a better option as it may not be easily sliced.
Reserve some to be used within a week and place the rest into the freezer (it will keep in the freezer for quite a while.)
When ready to make the sauce, take one of the portions (pre-portioned for 2.) You can use it in your favourite pan sauce or add to your favourite dishes. You can deglaze a pan after cooking steak or chicken with it. It will only take a minute or two for demi glace to reduce in a hot pan; when reduced to desired consistency, add a teaspoon of butter to emulsify and thicken it even further; season to taste with salt and pepper. Dig in and enjoy this restaurant quality sauce.
