The Mother of All Sauces

In preparation for Easter Lunch this Sunday, I made The Mother of all Sauces last night. Not to go into full disclosure and spoil the surprise, but as one of the sauces for an Entree, I created a Marrow & Mushroom Bordelaise. It felt like I died and went to heaven when I tasted it.

When I say that it was the Mother of all Sauces, I mean that the sauce is "da bomb" or "to die for" or "outstanding" or "best ever". Not necessarily that it's a mother sauce.

For the uninformed: There are five mother (Grande) sauces in classic French cuisine, from which all other sauces are made from; Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Hollandaise and Tomato. Mine was a descendant of the Espagnole.

If none of these sound familiar, try thinking Bordelaise (made from Espagnole, and found on almost all fine dining menus), Mayonnaise (some version of hollandaise), Lasagne (that creamy thick stuff on the top? That's bechamel), Creamy Stew Gravy ( that's usually a veloute), and as for tomato sauce, Italian food anyone?

At the top of my list is Bordelaise, because it's just the most delicious, and is a "goes with anything" kind of sauce, without the creamy and fatty taste of the other sauces, sans Tomato. WIth Bordelaise, a tablespoons adds so much flavor, that it goes about a mile, or just till the end of the meal :) So it's not surprise that my sauce has Bordelaise base.

The recipe for Bordelaise includes and equal amount of Red Wine and Demi Glace (equal parts of Veal Stock and Espagnole, reduced by half). Traditional Espagnole is made with a brown roux and more veal stock, but I don't know anyone that makes it this way anymore. These days, a Demi Glace is simply made with two parts of veal stock, where the first part is veal stock reduced by half, and then reduced by half again. Confused? I supposed it I wrote it out in mathematical terms, it would look like this:

Demi Glace = (Veal Stock/2 + Veal Stock)/2

Bordelaise = (Demi Glace + Redv Wine)/2

So, now that we got our basics down for Bordelaise, I can tell you how to make this "die & gone to heaven" sauce. It's not for the faint hearted, or those taking the easy way out, but the results, oh my... the results.... they drool for themselves.

The sauce starts off with a good beef or veal stock. Get about 5 lbs of bones from the butcher, and ask for a few marrow bones.


This is what marrow bones looks like

In my 5 lb bag, I got about 3 bones with good clean marrow, about 2 oz in total. Take the marrow bones, and gently push the marrow out, leaving a hollowed bone. If you're having trouble, run the back of a small knife against the other side to loosen it up. The marrow should come out in one piece.

Soak the marrow in cold water overnight, changing the water every 6 hours. This is to remove as much blood as possible.

Lightly coat the bones in oil, and roast at 425F for about 20 minutes on each side for a deep brown color. Place the bone in a very large pot, add roughly chopped pieces of 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, bay leaf, 5 peppercorns, a spring of thyme and a bay leaf. Add enough water to cover the bone, and more if your pot will allow it. Bring to a boil, then add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. Let the stock simmer at least 8 hours, if not overnight.

Strain stock, and reduce to 1 qt for a quick Demi-Glace.

Soak 1 cup dried exotic mushrooms ( I recommed a mixture of morrels and porcini) in hot water. When mushrooms are soft, strain, reserving liquid, and squeeze excess liquid from mushrooms.

In a heavy saucepan, heat a tbsp of olive oil, and saute 2 cups of sliced crimini (baby bella or brown button) mushrooms with 1 clove of garlic and 1 spring thyme. Cook until mushrooms are browned, and liquid has mostly evaporated. Remove from pan and saute the reconstituted mushrooms in the same way.

Add all the mushrooms in a large pot, and the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, together with 1 bottle good wine and a bay leaf. I like pinot noir for this because it's light and fruity. For a heavy sauce, try a Syrah. I would skip Cabernets on this, the tannins won't go well with the mushrooms. Add the Demi-Glace and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about 1 hour. Strain the mushrooms off, reserving the delicious sauce. Reduce sauce to 1 cup.

Remove your marrow from the cold water and pat dry. Heat a heavy sautepan, and when very hot, add the marrow. Kiss the marrow pieces on all sides to brown. The more brown you can get it, the more delicious the end sauce will be.

Add the reduced sauce, the marrow, and all the rendered liquid from the marrow sautepan into a blender.

Blend well, and add salt to season. You can finish with a dash of lemon juice if you feel the sauce needs some acid for cutting.

Pour over any meat to serve, and you can garnish with the reserved mushrooms.

It might be an all day affair, but the wait is so worth it!