Kitchen Fundamentals: Sauce Vin Rouge

Overview

The team at Tasty Vines would like to introduce the Kitchen Fundamentals series. The Kitchen Fundamentals series is a set of recipes that focuses on teaching a few simple tips and tricks to elevate anyone’s cooking. Whether you’re a master in the kitchen or just starting out, they’re are made for all. Some of you might already have your own favourite recipes - thats ok! A small tweak could elevate your dish that much further. We look forward to learning with you.

Red wine sauce? Sauce Vin Rouge? Sounds fancy. If you’re like me and you hear this on a menu, my mind is immediately filled with dreams of white table clothes, waiters and waitresses wearing black ties, a dinner by candlelit overlooking the Siene. 1960’s Paris. Old School.

Its such as easy way to make your dish immediately luxurious, visually appealing, and French. This sauce is packed with savoury flavour and pairs perfectly with red meats. Mix it with your mashed potatoes for something truly divine. Dont skimp on the butter (it is, after all, a French sauce).

Wine Pairing

Partnering a wine with this dish is essential…it’s the base to the sauce! So, our suggested pairing is something you can use to make the sauce, drink while cooking, and of course pair with the meal after all your hard work. It can’t be so expensive or special that it will make you cringe when you put it into a hot pan, but also can’t be bad wine or the sauce will be just as bad.

That being said, a medium bodied Sangiovese based wine is perfect. It will also compliment the variety of meats you would be using this sauce with after. Think something like a mid-tier chianti or if you’re feeling higher-end, a Brunello di Montalcino.

A specific wine that this works wonderfully with is the Garofoli Montereale Marche IGT Sangiovese. It’s medium body and balanced flavours makes a fantastic sauce, tastes great, and it’s priced low enough that it won’t make you scream when you cook with it. If you’re interested, check out our full review here of this great Sangiovese wine.

2019 Garofoli Montereale Marche IGT Sangiovese

Ingredients (Makes A Mason Jar)

• 2 cups of a dry red wine (doesn’t have to be expensive, but avoid the cheap sugary stuff)

  • Please see below for our wine guru’s local recommendation.

• 2 cups of beef stock (more later on how to make a good beef stock, use what you have for now)

• Splash of balsamic vinegar

• A few tablespoons of good butter (2-3)

• 2-3 french shallots, sliced

• 1 red beet, cubed

• 1 bay leaf

Steps

• Build the Sauce Base. In a small saucepan or pot, combine the 2 cups of dry red wine, all sliced 2-3 French shallots, a slash (1-2 tablespoons) of balsamic vinegar, all of cubed red beet, and 1 bay leaf (broken in two).

Reduce the Sauce - bring the mixture to a boil over high heat and reduce by half.

• Reduce by half? Take half out? What does that mean?

• To reduce something means to boil out the liquid, plain and simple. Essentially, you’re evaporating the excess water out of something while cooking the ingredients inside the mixture. All the good flavours remain in the pot. With less liquid, there’s a higher concentration of flavour per drop.

• How do you know if its been reduced by half?

• Trick #1 - liquid will tend to leave a ring around the highest point in the pot as you boil it down (see below - can you see it?). Think of it like the ring marks that coat the inside of a beer glass as you drink the beer inside of it. Same concept.

• Trick #2 - insert a wooden spoon upright before you begin boiling. When you pull it out, you’ll be able to see how high the liquid rests. Insert at the end of the cooking process and the liquid should be near the halfway point.

Add Broth, Reduce Again - same step as above, except you reduce your 2 cups of beef broth. Re-read it if you’d like, but you’ve managed this far in life. I have faith that you can pour in some liquid and reduce again.

Start Finishing Your Sauce - after the broth and red wine mixture have been reduced. SLOWLY (and I mean slower than you get out of bed in the morning) add your 2-3 tablespoons of butter one at a time. Whisk in the butter into the sauce. Once the one tablespoon of butter is fully melted, repeat until complete.

• Why one at a time? Butter has fat. Fat is an oil. Oil and water DO NOT MIX. HOWEVER, you can get them to kiss and make up if you take your time (somewhat).

• The process of mixing oil and water is called Emulsification (my fiance is a Chemist, so she knows a thing or two). Basically, you dont want to “flood the system”. You’re doing something slowly, but with a quick speed. You’re incorporating oil droplets in the water.

• If you go too fast, the oil and water will be separated (try pouring olive oil on water and see what happens…).

Season and Serve - season the sauce with salt and pepper. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a holding device (I trust you know the sauce will be hot). Serve.

• Of note - this isn’t soup, so don’t treat it like soup. You can add a little extra salt, if you want. This is because you or your guests will be getting a little bit of this with every bite of other food. However, make sure not to make your main dish too salty!

• You can also store it in the fridge for a week or freeze it for a few weeks (3-6 weeks).