POIVRADE SAUCE (Recipe I)

POIVRADE SAUCE   (Recipe I)

Finely dice 150 g scraped or peeled carrots with cores removed, 100 g onions, and 100 g green streaky bacon. Cut 50 g celery into strips. Sweat very gently for approximately 20 minutes with 30 g butter, a sprig of thyme, and half a bay leaf. Add ½ litre vinegar and 1 dl white wine, and then reduce by half.

Make a brown roux with 40 g butter and 40 g flour. Add 7.5 dl beef or chicken sock and cook gently for 30 minutes. Skim the fat from the mirepoix and add to the roux. Deglaze the mirepoix pan with 1 dl white wine and add to the sauce, together with 2-tablespoons chopped mushroom.

Cook gently for a further hour, adding a little stock if the sauce reduces too much. Crush about 10 black peppercorns; add to the sauce, and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Then strain the sauce through coarse muslin (cheesecloth) or a very fine strainer.

If this sauce is to be served with marinated meat, use the strained marinade to deglaze the cooking pan and dilute the roux.

If it is to be served with game, cut the trimmings from the game into small pieces and add to the mirepoix.