Demi-glace is a culinary luxury, adored by classical cooks, and entirely possible to produce at home. That is, if you can get your hands on a whole bunch of bones, preferably veal bones.

So what is demi-glace exactly? According to Anthony Bourdain in his Les Halles Cookbook, which first inspired me to make my own demi-glace, it’s “the most important sauce you’ll need.” Throughout the book, lines like “nice to have a little demi-glace here, too” and “right now, you really could use a tiny bit of that demi-glace I told you to keep in your freezer” appear in parenthesis in the ingredients lists.

A chunk of demi-glace ready to go

Basically, demi-glace is half brown sauce plus half brown stock, reduced by half. It’s the basis for the whole array of thick, flavorful sauces that accompany red meats. Add it to some mushrooms and shallots sautéed in butter, simmer for 10 minutes, then add a little sherry and lemon juice, and you’ve got Mushroom Sauce. Add it to some reduced red wine and shallots, and you’ve got Marchand de Vin. Reduce white wine, chopped shallots, crushed peppercorns, add some demi, simmer 20 minutes, season with cayenne, and you’ve made some Diable Sauce. In my reference, Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen, there are 16 of these small sauces based on demi-glace, all of which are fairly simple to make once you have the demi-glace on hand. Serve one of these classical sauces over a steak at your next barbecue, in place of that A1 sauce, and I guarantee you it will be well received.

Having demi in the freezer is also great because it works wonders added to braised dishes, stews, and pan sauces, imparting its beautiful color, flavor, and thickness. My first use for this batch of demi glace was to jack up a pot roast I cooked for Christmas dinner. You know, give the folks something special for the holidays.

So, I finally put enough veal bones together recently for my first attempt at making demi-glace. It came out amazing, but not quite perfect (I’m a perfectionist, especially with things like classical sauces). I love the consistency and the taste is superb, but it’s not quite as dark as I’d like it to be. Next time will be better.

Part 1: Dark Veal Stock

There are three steps to making demi-glace. The first step is to make a dark stock, preferably from veal bones, although beef bones can be used as well. There’s gonna be a lot of reducing, so get as many bones as you can and make a large amount of stock. If necessary, you can use two pots, if they don’t all fit in one.

18 pounds of veal bones

Veal bones can be very hard to procure, especially in a country that doesn’t eat much veal. It’s easier in big cities. I live in NY and found a supply at Big Apple Meat Mart, on 9th Ave. at 41st St. It took me about four visits to get enough bones to make an enormous quantity of veal stock (I ended up with almost 18 pounds). Making demi-glace, especially by the classical method, is a fun but extremely time-consuming process; you definitely don’t want to do it too often, so make enough to last a long time.

Browned bones

So I finally decided I had enough bones. I thawed the ones I had already bought, which were waiting in gallon-size bags in the freezer. I roasted the bones on a couple oiled sheet pans for about an hour and 15 minutes, coated in tomato paste to prevent burning. Then the bones went into the pot with water to cover, and I roasted the mirepoix and put together a sachet (thyme, parsley stems, peppercorns, bay leaves, and cloves.)

Filling up the pot

It took an hour or so for the water (about 4 gallons) to come to a boil. I let it simmer for 8 hours, skimming at intervals, then strained it, and got ready for the next step. The yield was about 9 quarts. I used about 5 1/2 quarts to make espagnole, and cooled the rest to mix with the espagnole in Part 3.

Mirepoix

Sachet

Simmering for 8 short hours

Part 2: Espagnole

Espagnole, or brown sauce, is reduced brown stock thickened with a brown roux and further flavored with more browned mirepoix. This is where I lost some color, as well as some caramelized flavor. My mirepoix didn’t brown enough, and my roux wasn’t dark enough. Next time, I’ll just cool all the stock and make the espagnole the next morning, give it more time and attention, and get it as dark as I possibly can.

Browned mirepoix and roux

To make espagnole, first you brown mirepoix in clarified butter, and then add flour to make the roux. When it’s dark enough, add the stock, then simmer for a few hours to reduce it by one third. Strain out the mirepoix, and you’ve got espagnole. Now it’s time to make demi-glace.

Espagnole. It's thick but just too light.

Who doesn't love a thick sauce like this

Part 3: Demi-Glace – More Reducing

Part three is the easiest part. You take equal parts of brown stock and espagnole (I used about 3.5 quarts of each), combine them in a saucepot, and simmer for a few hours while you drink a few beers, until the demi is reduced by half.

Equal parts brown stock and espagnole

So, I ended up with about 3 1/2 quarts of demi-glace. I’ve got it stored now in my freezer in ice cube trays and in chunks in zip-loc bags. A trick for freezing demi-glace in usable amounts is to cool it in the refrigerator first to firm it up, then cut it into chunks and move with a spatula to a sheet pan, freeze it on the sheet pan covered with wax paper, and then remove to freezer bags.

Reducing and reducing

Demi-glace is one of the greatest things one can have on hand in the kitchen, and it’s definitely worth a day or two (yes, a couple days) of your time.

Frozen in chunks on a sheet pan

Now Make Your Own

I’ve included recipes for all three parts of the process, but don’t rely on just this one methodology. There are many different variations to making stocks and sauces, and it’s good to consider several before choosing one for your own purposes. There are plenty of other recipes for brown stock, espagnole, and demi-glace online and in books. Do a search and compare several recipes, in fact as many as you can find. You will see that amounts and procedures vary, but the general technique is: start with the best quality veal stock you can make. Add water just to cover; don’t water it down. Never allow the stock to reach a boil. Strain the finished stock as best as you possibly can. Cool the stock to 40º within one hour in an ice bath, not overnight: don’t ruin a beautiful batch of stock by letting bacteria grow in it. Etc, etc.

There are other methods for making demi-glace, but this is a classical method. One modern procedure is to skip the espagnole step entirely, and just simmer down a brown stock until greatly reduced. This is easier, but more expensive, as you end up with less demi-glace because of all the reduction. I prefer thickening with the dark roux in the espagnole.

To quote Bourdain once more,

“Do try to make stock and demi. It’s easy; it’s relaxing. You can train a chimp to do it, and it’ll make your house smell nice. If you’re lucky enough to have a chest freezer in the garage or cellar, or have a lot of freezer space, throw out all those toaster waffles, frozen dinners, and microwave egg rolls and make room. You have more important things to store there.”

Also see: beef stock and chicken stock