Various Glazes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5 to 6-quart (4.7 to 5.7 L) wide heavy saucepan
• •1 to 2-quart (950 ml to 1.9 L) heavy saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve and heatproof measuring jug
• •Flexible heatproof spatula
• •White saucer, chilled
• •Silicone freezer tray with 1-tablespoon wells

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the stock

   Choose one finished stock and keep its identity clear: meat for a glace de viande, fowl for a glace de volaille, game for a glace de gibier, or fish for a glace de poisson. The stock must be cold and unsalted. It should wobble softly from its natural gelatin, except that fish stock may set more delicately. Taste it now. If it is already noticeably salty, reserve it for an ordinary sauce rather than reducing it to a harsh concentrate.

   Don't combine unrelated stocks merely to fill the pot. A clear identity is what lets a measured spoonful strengthen a dish without muddying it.
2. 2

   Degrease and strain

   Lift every trace of solid fat from the chilled stock. Pour the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a wide, heavy saucepan, leaving any sediment behind. Fat does not become glace when reduced; it separates into a greasy film and dulls the brilliant finish you are working toward.

3. 3

   Begin the reduction

   Bring the stock just to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower it to a purposeful uncovered simmer. Skim off grey foam and stray fat as they gather, but don't stir yet. Let the stock reduce to about 1 quart, roughly half its starting volume, for 45 to 75 minutes. The wide pan supplies evaporation without the brigade's row of simmering pots. Keep the bubbles active but never violent, since splashing stock onto the sides encourages scorching later.

4. 4

   Change pans for control

   Strain the reduced stock into a smaller heavy saucepan. Continue simmering over medium-low heat until about 1 1/2 cups remain, skimming when necessary and stirring more frequently as the concentration rises. The bubbles will become larger and slower, the color will deepen, and a clean savory aroma will replace the lighter smell of ordinary stock. For fish glace, taste every few minutes at this stage and stop before its clean marine flavor turns bitter.

5. 5

   Find the glaze point

   Lower the heat and stay beside the pan. Reduce toward 1 cup, stirring across the bottom with a flexible spatula. Dip in a cold spoon: the glace should leave a clear, glossy film at nappe, the coating consistency. Place a few drops on a chilled white saucer and wait one minute. They should cool into a tacky gel that holds its shape without becoming hard. If the glace has tightened into a rubbery paste, don't panic. Ça se rattrape: pull it off the heat and whisk in hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it flows again. If it catches on the bottom, pour the clear upper portion immediately into a clean pan without scraping; taste it, and discard it only if bitterness has traveled through the batch.

   Hot glace can look deceptively loose. The chilled-saucer test tells the truth, particularly during the final few minutes when a correct glaze can become an overreduced paste very quickly.
6. 6

   Strain and chill

   Pass the finished glace through a clean fine-mesh sieve into a heatproof measuring jug. Set the jug in a shallow ice bath and stir occasionally until cool, then cover and refrigerate. Meat, fowl, and game glaces should set into a firm, glossy gel; fish glace is often softer. Portion the cold glace by the tablespoon for freezing so you can reach for exactly what a sauce needs.

7. 7

   Use it precisely

   To coat cooked meat, fowl, game, or fish, warm 1 tablespoon of the matching glace with 1 teaspoon hot water and brush on a thin, brilliant layer just before serving. To strengthen an existing sauce, add the glace 1 teaspoon at a time, tasting after each addition. For a buttered sauce, warm 1/4 cup glace with 1/4 cup hot water, remove it from the heat, and whisk in the cold butter cube by cube. For a creamed sauce, simmer 1/4 cup glace with the heavy cream until it coats the spoon. Season only after reducing. Glace is powerful, so use judgment, not the whole jar. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The stock decides everything. Use an unsalted stock with enough natural gelatin to wobble when cold. Most boxed stocks are both too salty and too thin for this degree of reduction.
• •Keep the four families distinct. Glace de viande gives body to beef, veal, and lamb preparations; glace de volaille serves poultry; glace de gibier carries the darker character of game; glace de poisson belongs with fish and shellfish.
• •Never salt the stock before reduction. Concentration can turn an innocent amount of salt into something unusable, while an unsalted glace can always be seasoned in the finished dish.
• •Fish glace demands the closest tasting. Fish stock can move from delicate to harsh before it sets as firmly as a meat glace, so flavor outranks a rigid final volume.
• •Freeze the glace in 1-tablespoon portions. One portion can burnish a roast or enrich several servings of sauce, which is precisely why a home batch needn't approach brigade quantities.

Advance Preparation

• •Make and chill the chosen stock at least one day before reducing it. Cold stock releases its fat cap cleanly and reveals whether sufficient gelatin is present.
• •Refrigerate finished glace in a covered container for up to 4 days. For longer storage, freeze tablespoon portions until solid, transfer them to a sealed container, and keep meat, fowl, or game glace for up to 3 months and fish glace for up to 2 months.
• •The glace itself is designed for advance preparation, but buttered and creamed sauces should be finished shortly before serving. Reheat the plain glace gently, then add butter or cream as directed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 15g)