Brown Sauces

Espagnole and Demi-glace

In classical French cuisine, one of the mother sauces, espagnole or simply “brown sauce,” is a rich sauce made with a brown veal stock, roasted mirepoix with tomato or a pinçage and thickened with a brown roux.  Developed in France in the early 1600’s, the name “espagnole” refers this its use of tomatoes as an ingredient, what was considered a Spanish ingredient at the time. Tomato is added mainly to darken the color of the sauce and not for flavor.  This is not a tomato sauce. Espagnole is an intermediate or middle sauce commonly used to make a demi-glace, which may be used directly or as another intermediate sauce for numerous derivative sauces. 

The classic demi-glace is made with equal parts espagnole and a brown stock simmered together and then reduced by half or to a nappé consistency.  It is often finished with small amount Madeira or sherry.

Today, both the terms brown sauce and demi-glace can refer to almost any brown-colored meat sauce including a simple gravy or jus lié, pan sauces, or stock reductions like glace de viande or a glace de veau.

Jus lié

The classical version of a jus lié is made by thickening a brown stock with a cornstarch or arrowroot slurry or by reduction of the stock. (A jus lié reduced 80-95% is glace.)  A jus lié is often preferred to a demi-glace because it is easier to make and doesn’t have the taste of roux.  A jus lié depends on the richness of the brown stock where a demi-glace is enriched by the butter in a roux.  A jus lié typically isn’t as thick as demi-glace.

The ultimate success of a brown sauce depends directly on the quality of the stock.  The stock used to make a brown sauce would be a rich brown stock of roasted meat or poultry and roasted mirepoix. Because the stock will be reduced and concentrated, the stock must be of excellent quality, with a rich and well-balanced flavor and aroma, and without any strong notes of mirepoix, herbs, or spices that might overwhelm the finished sauce.

Bones and trim, cut in small pieces for faster extraction, that are added to the sauce improve the flavor of the base stock. Mirepoix, cut into large dice, may also be added to the sauce base. If the stock is extremely flavorful, additional bones, trim, and mirepoix may not be necessary. Mushroom trim, herbs, garlic, or shallots may also be added to the sauce as it develops.

Roux is the classic and only one of several thickening options. The thickener of choice for jus lié is arrowroot, though any pure starch, such as potato starch or cornstarch, may also be used. Arrowroot is preferable because it results in a translucent, glossy sauce without the addition of butter or the heaviness and flavor of flour.  Arrowroot is also more heat stable.

Reduction vs. Thickening with a Liaison

• Reductions have a cleaner taste and smoother consistency.
• Reduction significantly increases cost with the dramatically lower yield.
• Using a liaison preserves the yield and lowers the cost.
• Liaisons may adversely affect flavor and texture.
• Liaisons add additional calories and/or fat.

“What’s Gravy?”

In most of the US, “gravy” is the flour-thickened and de-fatted (dégraisser) juice or drippings from a roast.  In French, this is a jus lié. In England, their version of gravy isn’t thickened and simply a jus.

In New England, “gravy” is a tomato sauce associated with a pasta dish.

In the Southern US, “red-eye gravy” is a sauce made from deglazing the sucs of a baked ham or piece of pan-fried ham with coffee and thickened with flour.

“Sawmill gravy” or white gravy is essentially a béchamel seasoned by the meat or sausage drippings from pan-frying.  Add some onion and make an “onion gravy.”

Giblet gravy is the gravy we associate with turkey and thanksgiving.  It is a basic gravy made from the drippings (defatted) from the roast turkey and partly thickened with the cooked and ground or minced “giblets”, the gizzard, heart and sometimes, liver.