Recipe: Bordelaise Sauce

Here’s another wonderful recipe from the kitchens of our friends at Viking River Cruises. Enjoy!

Bordelaise [bore duh LAZ] Sauce is a great accompaniment for any grilled red meat. Bordeaux wine is the key to this recipe’s rich taste. The author of this classic recipe is Georges Auguste Escoffier; it appears in his book Le Guide Culinaire, first published in French in 1903 and now in its fourth edition.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 C demi-glace*
1 1/4 C Bordeaux wine (a dry red wine)
1 oz shallots, finely chopped
Ground pepper to taste
1 whole bay leaf
1 sprig thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
Mushrooms, if desired
1 tsp butter, melted
Juice of 1/4 lemon
2 oz beef bone marrow, poached & diced**

Directions:
Warm the demi-glace in a saucepan over medium heat. In a stockpot, bring the wine, shallots, pepper, bay leaf and thyme gently to a boil; cook slowly until the quantity is reduced to 1/4. Add the demi-glace and gently simmer for another 15 minutes. Strain the sauce. If you are using mushrooms, sauté them in a skillet and add to the pot. Finish with the butter, lemon juice and bone marrow. Serve over a grilled steak, slow-roasted beef or other red meat; the sauce is a good complement to roasted or mashed potatoes.

*You can buy demi-glace at a gourmet shop like Williams-Sonoma or Whole Foods, or in packets on amazon.com. You can also substitute a high quality beef stock or consommé.

**You can get bone marrow at your market’s meat counter. Bone marrow will give the sauce an extra richness but can be left out.

Cook time: 15 minutes

Makes 3-4 servings.