Foundation Sauces

In my humble opinion sauces transform an ordinary dish and take it to memorable levels. They are an important part of why restaurant food sometimes tastes better than what can be prepared at home, and are a study all their own. Sure many sauces are a bit heavy on the butter (hollandaise) but there are many that are wonderful and add flavor and fun without tons of fat. Here are two of my favorites, both traditionally used on beef. Many sauces can be made in large batches, then frozen in small containers for later use. Both these are of that type.



Peppercorn Steak Sauce

1/2 cup white wine
1 shallot finely chopped
2 TBL coarsely crushed peppercorns
1 can consommé
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Bring white wine, shallots, and crushed peppercorns to a boil in a heavy saucepan; simmer until mixture is reduced by 1/2, about 5 minutes. Add consommé and chicken broth, boil until reduced by 1/2 again, about 25 minutes. Add heavy cream and cook until sauce coats spoon. The resulting sauce will be thin and could be thickened with corn starch if desired. This has quite a peppery taste, it might be best to try 1/2 the amount of cracked peppercorn on your first try just to make sure.


Brown Sauce
A great sauce invented by my dad. Its got lots of tastes and sure cuts the time required to cook a traditional brown sauce

1 onion chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 carrot grated
3 TBL flour
1 can consommé
1/2 cup red wine
1 can water
1 TBL Kitchen Bouquet
1 tsp parsley

Sauté onion in vegetable oil until they just begin to brown. Add carrot , stir for a minute. Add flour and stir for another minute. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for an hour until reduced by 1/2.