Glace de Veau: The Mother of All Sauces

Pictured above is a beautiful rondo of perfectly reduced veal stock - glace de veau, or 'veal glaze' as it's translated from French to English. This sauce is the main mother sauce at my restaurant, forming the base for numerous sauce derivatives, like our white truffle sauce, our pink peppercorn sauce and our foie gras sauce. Decadent stuff. 

Making this sauce properly is no small feat. It requires time, properly prepared ingredients and a great deal of love. It takes, from start to finish, about 2 and a half days to make. The initial veal stock is put on in the morning of the first day, with properly browned veal knuckle and marrow bones, and a rough cut of browned mirepoix (diced celery, carrot and white onion), a few black peppercorns, bay leaves, parsley stems and tomato ends. The pans from the browning process are always deglazed (loosened, dissolved) with quantities of red wine, to include the sought after flavours and colour cooked onto the pans. This step is important, as it provides the stock with "body", and helps develop the dark brown colour that is the desired end-result. It is then set to a simmer, and left typically overnight. 

In the morning, the stock is strained into another pot, fat is skimmed, and the 'first boil' is set to reduce by half. This first boil is the 'colour and flavour pull'. The second boil consists of the spent bones and veg being brought up to a boil again with fresh cold water, and being left again to simmer overnight, thus repeating the process. This second boil is the 'gelatin pull', whereas the second boil action will break down the remaining collagen (constituents: gelatin and water, it is animal connective tissue). The result after an evening of playful, gentle roiling and simmering: a muddy, insipid beige liquid. Yuck...not exactly the dark, aromatic sex in a pot the first boil was...most of the caramel colour was taken away with the first boil. This liquid is then reduced by half, with tomato paste and red wine. The two 'pulls' are then combined, and reduced further, until sauce consistency has been reached.

Did I say it takes time? Yes. But well worth it. There is no product on the market that can touch the homemade version, and those places that do make their own sauces are always worth revisiting. The care, effort and attention the Chef has taken to make this from scratch is proof enough.

Bon Apetit!