Any SERIOUS Cook Needs to Master This

If you wanna level up your cooking, mastering demi-glace is a must. There's a reason it's called liquid gold in the culinary world. It's a rich, umami-packed brown sauce that chefs swear is the secret weapon for any dish. But to make demi-glace, you first need espanol. And to get that, you've gotta start with veal stock. I've got 16 total pounds of veal bones that cost me $1.90 to a pound. Now, you'll absolutely be able to pick these up from a local butcher shop. Now, you can use beef bones if that's all you can find. However, veal bones are better because they contain more collagen, which will make the stock richer in flavor and have a more gelatinous viscosity. However, whatever you do end up using, you're going to need to roast them, and any roasting pan will work for this. I usually use my 400 hotel pan, which is 12 inches by 20 inches and four inches deep. Evenly spread the bones and take care not to overlap them. Remember, we wanna roast them, we don't wanna steam them. So if you need a second pan, absolutely use it. And for me, I am gonna use that second pan. Now, there's no need to coat these in any oil because there's going to be plenty of fat on these for roasting. We're gonna add them to the oven in the middle and on the lower racks at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for a total of an hour and 20 minutes. However, halfway through that process, I'm going to come back and rotate the bottom to the middle and vice versa. Now, while we still have some time, let's prepare our veg for the stock. A standard ratio for stock is eight pounds of bones to one pound of mirepoix. Mirepoix being 50% onions, 25% celery, and 25% carrots. So because I have 16 pounds, I'm obviously going to need to double everything, beginning with about one pound or four yellow onions. Just cut them into larger chunks. There's no need to be perfect here. The same goes for three to four ribs of celery and three to four carrots. No, I don't peel these. Then just set them to the side in a bowl with the other veg. And to enhance the flavor of this stock even more, now is when you wanna break out all your frozen veggie scraps that I always tell you to keep. This is when you use them. You can also feel free to add in a thickly sliced leek, one large cut celeriac root, a thickly sliced parsnip, and my favorite, a pine of mushrooms. All of these are just going to make this that much better. Almost all veg are good to use, except turnips or anything from the horseradish family, beets, because they'll jack up the color, and bell peppers, which can make everything bitter. Don't use those. All right, now what we need to do is caramelize these veggies. But first, you're going to need to find the biggest pot you can get ahold of, one that you can take a bath in. Okay, I'm kidding, not that big. But this one is 7 1⁄2 gallons. Now, if you need to use two pots, you do it, no problem. It's about that time to pull out the bones. These look beautiful, and the smell in my kitchen is divine. We're roasting meat. Why wouldn't it be? All we're going to do is transfer these over right into the pot. Then we're going to cover them with about three gallons of cold water. The biggest thing here is to make sure the bones are completely submerged by at least one to two inches. We're going to turn the heat on to low-medium and begin that long simmering process. But we also need to add more in here, and it begins with those roasting pans. I'm going to drain the rendered fat from one pan into the other and crank the heat up to medium. We're going to add in all that veg and roast it up right into that rendered veal tallow. So good. This is going to take about 25 to 30 minutes to get all these vegetables browned up while frequently stirring. Now, the other option is hit these back into the oven on that middle rack at 450 F for 25 to 30 minutes. You can be the judge for whatever it is you want to do here. These are looking fantastic, and they're almost ready. But first, we're going to hit it with 12 ounces of tomato paste. This is going to add a depth of umami flavor and just a touch of acidity. We cook this right into the vegetables while frequently stirring for a total of eight to 10 minutes over low to medium heat so we turn it down a little bit. Now, like before, you can absolutely hit this back in the oven, again, 450 F, eight to 10 minutes on a middle rack. When it's done, you'll notice that it turns a rusty, reddish color. The process of this tomato paste cooking is called pince. I'm just saying, and this is perfect. Let's transfer this right over to the stock pot, and let's add a little more flavor, shall we? We're adding that pan back over to the burner over medium heat, and we're going to deglaze with one and a half cups of dry red wine. Now, while this is cooking, use a spoon, a spatula, whatever, and scrape all of that fond off the bottom and the sides of the pot. This is all that nummy goodness stuck on there. Little things like this will bring about more flavor. Don't skip it. And after the wine reduces to about three quarter cup left, we're going to pour it right into the stock pot. And because I try to get all of it out, swoosh an extra half cup of water in the pan and get all that goodness out and into that pot. Now, if you roasted in two separate pans as I did, I'm going to do the same thing with that other pan. Hit it with one and a half cups of dry red wine, deglazing over medium heat while scraping up all the goodies and reduce it down to three quarter cup. Hit it right into that pot. Now, we're one step closer to it being good to go, but first, can't forget about the aromatics. So I'm going to make a sachet de piece. I have a one and a half foot square piece of cheesecloth. I'm going to add to the center four to six thyme springs, three to four garlic cloves, one bay leaf, although those are optional, 15 to 18 peppercorns, and four to six parsley stems. Now, wrap it up like a little pouch by bringing all the corners together and tie a double knot around it using some butcher's twine and place this little flavor bomb beggar's purse right into that stockpot. And what we want to do is simmer this for six to eight hours over low to medium heat. It should be around 170 to 180 degrees and have a few bubbles popping up. Or as my chef would always tell me, just make sure it's tooting. Ridiculous, I know. However, we're not done yet. Every hour, we're going to come back and do a process my old culinary school instructors would call skimming the scum. Use a ladle and get all the impurities and fat off the top to make it a cleaner, more pure, more flavorful stock. There is no perfect technique for this. Just remember to come back and do it every 60 minutes until the clock runs out, which in that case, it's time to strain. And you just will not believe how good your kitchen is going to smell. Now I'm gonna transfer it over to the countertop and I have a chinois, a fine mesh strainer will also work. Then I have a smaller pot, which we call a dipping pot. I'm going to scoop out the liquid and transfer it right from the stock and add it to the chinois into another container, or you can absolutely use another pot. Now you could strain this through a cheesecloth if that's all you have, no problem. And for a little chef technique, when the chinois starts to get clogged up, skip the rubber spatula and opt for a small ladle and move it up and down to get things through much quicker. You're welcome. Once it's completely strained, I usually come back one more time and get rid of as much fat off the top as possible. One more scum skimming, if you will. All in all, you'll probably get two to two and a half gallons total of a beautiful veal stock. And if you stopped right here, this is what you would use in all your soups or your thick stews or even your braising liquids for things like short ribs or even lamb shakes. So, so good. But hey, what about all those leftover bones? Do I throw those out? You can. Or here's an old technique I learned from one of my favorite chefs that I work for, Chef Daniel Pliska. Make something called a remoulage, or translated to a rewetting. Pot goes back on the stove and cover the bones completely again with cold water. Now, these will only cook for a total of three to six hours over low to medium heat. The flavor's less intense, but still far better than anything that's coming out of a box from the grocery store. I love doing this. All right, let's reset. All right, step one is done. Now it's espanol sauce time. So if you've never heard of espanol sauce, it's one of the five classic French mother sauces along with bechamel, hollandaise, veloute, and tomate. Once you've got espanol, you can then make smaller sauces like this demi. At this stage, we're going to roughly chop two yellow onions, three ribs of celery, and three carrots. Let's bring this back to the cooktop and in a large two-gallon pot. Over medium heat, I'm going to add in two tablespoons of unsalted butter. Remember, always unsalted in cooking and baking so that you can control the sodium content. Once it's melted, we're gonna add in that onion, celery, carrot mirepoix, and we're gonna saute it for 15 to 20 minutes or until it begins to turn brown, just like this. And again, don't skip this. It's just more flavor for the end result. Now at this point, we're going to add in four ounces of tomato paste, and again, pince the paste for more flavor. We'll cook this over low to medium heat for four to six minutes. Now you could swap out the paste for two cups of tomato puree, and there's obviously no need to cook that down. Okay, back to the paste and veg, and we're at that coveted rusty color. Beautiful. Now at this stage, I'm going to pour in half of the veal stock, which is going to be around five quarts. It's okay if you're plus or minus a cup or two. No problem. Now for some aromatics, you could do that sachet de piece in the cheesecloth, or if you do have a chinois or fine mesh strainer, things can go right into the pot. I'm going to use the same amount as last time, four to six thyme sprigs, four to six parsley stems, two to four garlic cloves, 15 to 18 peppercorns, and one bay leaf, and that one is again optional. Now we're going to cook this for a total of two hours, and yes, you guessed it, we are coming back every 30 minutes to skim some more scum. With about 30 minutes left in the cooking process, we're gonna come back over to make a brown roux. So in a large saute pan over low to medium heat, I'm adding in eight ounces or two sticks of unsalted butter. Now once it's melted, I'm going to whisk in eight ounces or about one and a half cups of all-purpose or bread flour. We're going to cook it while frequently whisking for 20 to 25 minutes. It should be smooth and shiny, and will turn brown like this after that amount of time. Perfection. Let's bring our brown roux right over to the stock pot, and we are gonna add it in while constantly whisking the stock until it is completely incorporated. We'll cook this for a further 20 to 25 minutes, and boom, now you've got espanol sauce. And the same exact process as before will ensue. Chinois, dipping pot, and straining the espanol sauce into a large three-gallon pot, or any larger pot will work. Don't forget my ladle trick if things start to clog up, and get all of that goodness out. Take the time to do this. The smell in here, 10 out of 10. Definitely recommend. Veal stock, check. Espanol sauce, check. Let's bring this thing home and make the den. I'm going to pour the remaining five quarts of veal stock into the strained espanol sauce pot, and before we reduce it down, we're gonna hit it with one bay leaf. Again, optional, four to six thyme sprigs, four to six parsley stems, 15 to 18 peppercorns, and two to four garlic cloves. We're hitting it back on the cooktop. Over low to medium heat. We need to reduce this down in half. After all, that's what demi-glace means. More on that in a few seconds. But first, the amount of liquid's here, and we need to get it down to here. This will take anywhere from three and a half to four hours at this temperature. And don't forget to come back every 45 minutes to skim the scum. And even I'm sick of saying it, I'm sorry. You'll also start to notice as you come back those reduction rings around the inside of the pot from where you started to where you're trying to go will absolutely help guide you. Okay, so about that demi-glace. It translates into half-glaze and was created by the famed August Escoffier in the early 1900s by making the reduction of equal parts stock and espanol into half the amount and sometimes three quarters, which is honestly what I'm going to do. Now, some folks out there make the stock, strain it, and reduce it down all the way until about four to six cups of the stock remains. This is better known as a glace de viande, not a demi-glace. Okay, speaking of that demi, let's go back to it. One last final skimming, and we are good. I reduced it from a bit more than half to almost three quarters of the way, and it looks beautiful. I'm going to strain this gold through a chinois. Feel free, though, to also scrape the sides of the pot to get all that fond off of there. Believe it or not, an incredible amount of goodness is stuck to that side of the pot. Use it. Once it's strained, you'll see beautiful viscosity, flavor, and richness. It will perfectly coat a spoon. Now, this is good to use as a base in all your mushroom gravies, your regular beef gravies, or your incredible, delicious pan sauces. Oh, I can't wait to see how you use it. However, if you're not going to be using it right away, what I like to do is I cool it down and then transfer it to 32, 16, or eight-ounce containers, and then freeze it for up to six months. Or, since this is so jam-packed with flavor, I often pour them into ice cube trays and just freeze them like this. So when I'm ready and I've seared up a beautiful steak and I'm ready to make a quick red wine shallot pan sauce, I pop a few cubes in there, maybe a scoach of water, and I make one dang good sauce that you will absolutely love and will blow your friends and family completely away. And if you chill it, this is what it will be like. Just look at how gelatinous that is. I had to. But all in all, this 12 to 13-hour sauce is absolutely worth it. You have to know how to make this sauce, but you can't rush it. It just takes time, but I promise you, it will be well worth it. And if you want to put it into practice, use it as the base sauce in my pork loin. Oh my gosh, it will be incredible. Got a great recipe video. I'll see you on there.