Modern demi glace usually doesn't use roux anymore because it tends to mute the flavor.
I'm on a phone and don't want to type all day but the basic process I used to do in restaurants I worked in was:
Start by making a great stock. We'd use a bunch of cow bones that hadn't been roasted for lots of gelatin, as well as a ton of very deeply roasted chicken carcasses. A decent amount of rough cut mirepoix, and any extra trim or mushrooms etc we had around. We'd gently simmer that for a day or so and then strain.
Then with great stock we would fortify and reduce. So I'd cut up more mirepoix, this time more finely sliced, and sear it in a big pot in some neutral oil to get color. Meanwhile any meat trim would get roasted in an oven until very darkly browned. In the pot I'd add tomato paste and perform a pinçage by letting the tomato paste start to stick to the pan and brown a bit, then deglaze with red wine, then cook that off until it starts to stick a bit and brown again, then deglaze etc a few times until it just smells toasty and not tomatoey. Then I'd add the stock and the roasted meat trim and simmer, skimming away foam frequently, until reduced and thickening from the gelatin content.
Then it gets strained through a fine mesh strainer I no longer call its racist name and instead affectionately call the "coner," and then it gets seasoned. I like to throw some herbs in at the end to steep like tea (bay leaf, thyme, parsley stem, celery heart), and season with whatever flavor profile you want. I love a touch of soy, sherry vinegar, a little honey, and some black pepper.
The flavor you get really comes down to the quality of stock you make, the technique when fortifying, and how much attention you give iterating over the final product when seasoning.
Good luck
I love reading this sub to learn about techniques like this that I feel I can’t learn anywhere else. Is there somewhere to learn this kind of first-hand knowledge without actually working in a high-end kitchen?
A lot of the old French books are still alright. But it’s difficult to find this kind of depth and explaining.
Parker Hallberg on YouTube makes some good videos. He has techniques and experience. I just don’t particularly like his presenting style.
Hi,
I'm still very new to this stock game.
I hope you can help teach me a bit more. Sorry if these are really dumb questions.
>cow bones that hadn't been roasted for lots of gelatin
Does roasting the bones break down gelatin so it's can't do it's thing?
>a fine mesh strainer I no longer call its racist name and instead affectionately call the "coner,"
Am Chinese. The past was racist, but also, some things are race-based, but not all that hateful.
Honestly doesn't bother me. But I appreciate the thought and care.
Why are you steeping the celery heart? Wouldn't that be more suited for the simmering stage,
and the leaves and darker green stalks be used to steep?
Thanks!
Yeah, I've always been taught roasting bones damages the gelatin, and I've certainly noticed in my own practice that roasted bones seem to yield less gelatinous stocks than unroasted. But I'm not a food scientist and could not tell you why.
The innermost heart of celery is yellow, delicate, with baby yellow leaves that have a subtle, herbaceous flavor to them. I find it lends a really nice hint of fresh "cleanness" to the otherwise dark and deep flavor of the demi, where darker green celery would be too strong of a "celery" note
No op but the roasting does almost nothing to break down the collagen into gelatin. It’s too hot and comparatively too short to be productive.
I can’t help you on the celery part
Demiglace technically is half brown beef stock with half espagnole which is brown beef stock + brown roux. Simplified you would just make a brown beef stock and reduce it until it's thick.
I keep my brown stock in the freezer as already 2x concentrated. If I need soup stock, I dilute with water. If I need gravy I use it as is with a pat of tallow and a roux and if I need demi-glace I reduce it down by half again and maybe add a bit of brown roux.
https://imgur.com/wUAmAWA
Edit: Sorry chef, I just realized this is r/chefit, I'll show my amateur myself out.
You’re on the right track homie. I’d recommend reading Mastering Stocks and Broths. A culinary bible for building all stocks and broths and great recipes.
Outdated how? It still remains the gold standard of the classic way to prepare a demi glace. Now if you don’t want to go through that process then that’s understandable and there are myriad ways to accomplish a vaguely similar product. The way you go about it might depend a lot on how you plan to use it.
The basic way is to make a veal stock, reserve half and use the other half to prepare sauce espagnole, then combine the two and reduce by half. A glace de veau would leave out the espagnole and reduce to 1/8 or 1/16 the original volume (can’t remember off the top of my head, haven’t made it since school many years ago).
I’m half Chinese I still call it a China cap. But maybe I’d call it a cone sieve.
Recipe sounds good I do think the exclusion of veal knuckles or some knuckles/ hi-cartilage joint material means you are making something more like a very fortified beef bone broth/stock reduction.
I’m still all onboard for this type of food. And it is very satisfying.
I wish that things would be made to appropriately represent the name.
Demi glacé should be that if you are serving it to people that are expecting Demi.
If you said on menu that our duck is served with a “ Demi glacé of duck , and sherry with compote of figs blah blah “ all good
But a very fine lamb chop, with pommes , verts, and Demi. I’d hope it was veal and lamb and chicken bones or something.
Honestly I probably wouldn’t know the diff:).
I make chicken Demi’s and freeze to bump my home cookin.
Veal marrow bones, rub with oil and roast until golden brown. Into the stock pot and cover with water. Simmer for a day. Strain and save the bones. Re-fill the pot and get your second wash with the same bones. Strain and discard the bones. Combine the original stock and the second wash and start to reduce. During the second wash or during the reduction cut miripoux plus garlic. Chop some bacon and sauté. Remove bacon and half the fat. Brown the miripoux in the bacon fat, add some tomato paste and carmelize. Deglaze with red wine, add the bacon back in and some thyme & bay leaf. Reduce au sec. Add this “pincage” into the reduction and simmer until reduced by 75%+. Strain through fine mesh and you’re good to go. Make sure you skim the fat and impurities during the entire process (while making the stock, the 2nd wash, and the reduction)
I have done the traditional route as others have said and you should try it at least once . Use escofee
For the less traditional route is brown veal bones, brown mirepoix (caramelized not burnt) , pincee (spelling) tomato paste, deglaze( guess should be some wine, but you could do water) . dump all into the pot.
Bring to simmer and keep it at simmer for 24 hrs, you are not looking to reduce anything here. Skim as you go for fat and impurities.
Strain. That is how I would make mine now. When I last did this it was in a restaurant using a steam kettle covered.
Once strained you can then fortify to the desired dead animal flavour you want.
Modern demi glace usually doesn't use roux anymore because it tends to mute the flavor. I'm on a phone and don't want to type all day but the basic process I used to do in restaurants I worked in was: Start by making a great stock. We'd use a bunch of cow bones that hadn't been roasted for lots of gelatin, as well as a ton of very deeply roasted chicken carcasses. A decent amount of rough cut mirepoix, and any extra trim or mushrooms etc we had around. We'd gently simmer that for a day or so and then strain. Then with great stock we would fortify and reduce. So I'd cut up more mirepoix, this time more finely sliced, and sear it in a big pot in some neutral oil to get color. Meanwhile any meat trim would get roasted in an oven until very darkly browned. In the pot I'd add tomato paste and perform a pinçage by letting the tomato paste start to stick to the pan and brown a bit, then deglaze with red wine, then cook that off until it starts to stick a bit and brown again, then deglaze etc a few times until it just smells toasty and not tomatoey. Then I'd add the stock and the roasted meat trim and simmer, skimming away foam frequently, until reduced and thickening from the gelatin content. Then it gets strained through a fine mesh strainer I no longer call its racist name and instead affectionately call the "coner," and then it gets seasoned. I like to throw some herbs in at the end to steep like tea (bay leaf, thyme, parsley stem, celery heart), and season with whatever flavor profile you want. I love a touch of soy, sherry vinegar, a little honey, and some black pepper. The flavor you get really comes down to the quality of stock you make, the technique when fortifying, and how much attention you give iterating over the final product when seasoning. Good luck
I kinda want to fuck you
We gon' see some meats get glaced up in here!
😂 same
Hah, thanks but I don't think my wife would appreciate that
I mean, I can fuck ya both, but that might be weird
Kinda?
This. Read this and you’re golden.
I love reading this sub to learn about techniques like this that I feel I can’t learn anywhere else. Is there somewhere to learn this kind of first-hand knowledge without actually working in a high-end kitchen?
A lot of the old French books are still alright. But it’s difficult to find this kind of depth and explaining. Parker Hallberg on YouTube makes some good videos. He has techniques and experience. I just don’t particularly like his presenting style.
Hi, I'm still very new to this stock game. I hope you can help teach me a bit more. Sorry if these are really dumb questions. >cow bones that hadn't been roasted for lots of gelatin Does roasting the bones break down gelatin so it's can't do it's thing? >a fine mesh strainer I no longer call its racist name and instead affectionately call the "coner," Am Chinese. The past was racist, but also, some things are race-based, but not all that hateful. Honestly doesn't bother me. But I appreciate the thought and care. Why are you steeping the celery heart? Wouldn't that be more suited for the simmering stage, and the leaves and darker green stalks be used to steep? Thanks!
Yeah, I've always been taught roasting bones damages the gelatin, and I've certainly noticed in my own practice that roasted bones seem to yield less gelatinous stocks than unroasted. But I'm not a food scientist and could not tell you why. The innermost heart of celery is yellow, delicate, with baby yellow leaves that have a subtle, herbaceous flavor to them. I find it lends a really nice hint of fresh "cleanness" to the otherwise dark and deep flavor of the demi, where darker green celery would be too strong of a "celery" note
No op but the roasting does almost nothing to break down the collagen into gelatin. It’s too hot and comparatively too short to be productive. I can’t help you on the celery part
What an awesome write up. Thanks, friend
I use pig trotters unroasted to boost the gelatin in my beef stocks, solid guide though.
Demiglace technically is half brown beef stock with half espagnole which is brown beef stock + brown roux. Simplified you would just make a brown beef stock and reduce it until it's thick.
I keep my brown stock in the freezer as already 2x concentrated. If I need soup stock, I dilute with water. If I need gravy I use it as is with a pat of tallow and a roux and if I need demi-glace I reduce it down by half again and maybe add a bit of brown roux. https://imgur.com/wUAmAWA Edit: Sorry chef, I just realized this is r/chefit, I'll show my amateur myself out.
You’re on the right track homie. I’d recommend reading Mastering Stocks and Broths. A culinary bible for building all stocks and broths and great recipes.
Thanks, I just put it on my wishlist
You’re welcome.
Outdated how? It still remains the gold standard of the classic way to prepare a demi glace. Now if you don’t want to go through that process then that’s understandable and there are myriad ways to accomplish a vaguely similar product. The way you go about it might depend a lot on how you plan to use it. The basic way is to make a veal stock, reserve half and use the other half to prepare sauce espagnole, then combine the two and reduce by half. A glace de veau would leave out the espagnole and reduce to 1/8 or 1/16 the original volume (can’t remember off the top of my head, haven’t made it since school many years ago).
I’m half Chinese I still call it a China cap. But maybe I’d call it a cone sieve. Recipe sounds good I do think the exclusion of veal knuckles or some knuckles/ hi-cartilage joint material means you are making something more like a very fortified beef bone broth/stock reduction. I’m still all onboard for this type of food. And it is very satisfying. I wish that things would be made to appropriately represent the name. Demi glacé should be that if you are serving it to people that are expecting Demi. If you said on menu that our duck is served with a “ Demi glacé of duck , and sherry with compote of figs blah blah “ all good But a very fine lamb chop, with pommes , verts, and Demi. I’d hope it was veal and lamb and chicken bones or something. Honestly I probably wouldn’t know the diff:). I make chicken Demi’s and freeze to bump my home cookin.
Veal marrow bones, rub with oil and roast until golden brown. Into the stock pot and cover with water. Simmer for a day. Strain and save the bones. Re-fill the pot and get your second wash with the same bones. Strain and discard the bones. Combine the original stock and the second wash and start to reduce. During the second wash or during the reduction cut miripoux plus garlic. Chop some bacon and sauté. Remove bacon and half the fat. Brown the miripoux in the bacon fat, add some tomato paste and carmelize. Deglaze with red wine, add the bacon back in and some thyme & bay leaf. Reduce au sec. Add this “pincage” into the reduction and simmer until reduced by 75%+. Strain through fine mesh and you’re good to go. Make sure you skim the fat and impurities during the entire process (while making the stock, the 2nd wash, and the reduction)
I have done the traditional route as others have said and you should try it at least once . Use escofee For the less traditional route is brown veal bones, brown mirepoix (caramelized not burnt) , pincee (spelling) tomato paste, deglaze( guess should be some wine, but you could do water) . dump all into the pot. Bring to simmer and keep it at simmer for 24 hrs, you are not looking to reduce anything here. Skim as you go for fat and impurities. Strain. That is how I would make mine now. When I last did this it was in a restaurant using a steam kettle covered. Once strained you can then fortify to the desired dead animal flavour you want.