Chef Juliette
Sauce Bigarrade
Duck stock reduced dense, sharpened with an amber gastrique, then restored with orange, lemon, and fine blanched rind: Sauce Bigarrade teaches that clarity comes from balance, not sweetness.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Chasseur Sauce (Escoffier’s Method)
Created by Chef Juliette
Butter-bronzed mushrooms and shallot meet a white wine and brandy reduction, then demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande make a glossy chasseur for poultry, veal, rabbit, or game.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
20 min
Active Time
30 min cook•50 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (1.9 L)
Sauce chasseur (hunter’s sauce) teaches reduction. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is that the white wine and brandy must lose half their volume before the finished sauces enter. Rush that reduction and the chasseur tastes raw, loose, and divided; finish it properly and the sauce becomes glossy, concentrated, and deep enough to carry mushrooms without becoming mushroom gravy.
The original method assumed a saucier on staff, a stockpot never off the fire, and finished demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande waiting beside the stove. A salamander may have stood nearby, but it has no work here. At home, one wide heavy pan and good finished foundations, made ahead or bought without excess salt, are the honest equivalents. The separate vegetable pan and brigade mise en place are scaffolding and can go; quickly browning the mushrooms, removing half the fat, reducing the alcohol, and boiling the completed sauce for five minutes are the dish and must stay. Only the units and working pan have changed, with the original sequence and proportions held intact in a two-quart batch one cook can divide among several dinners.
Done correctly, chasseur is mahogany-brown with a quiet tomato tint, finely studded with mushrooms, and thick enough to cloak a spoon without sitting heavily upon it. We don’t apologize for butter, but we do remove the excess before building the sauce. Reduce the wine and brandy to half. Everything depends on it.
Sauce chasseur belongs to the classical national repertoire shaped in Parisian kitchens rather than to one provincial larder. Its hunter’s name reflects the old pairing of mushrooms, shallots, wine, and concentrated meat sauce with game, though generations of cooks carried it readily to sautéed poultry, rabbit, and veal. It is not a rustic mushroom gravy: the mushrooms sit inside a disciplined reduction strengthened with demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
medium button mushrooms
Quantity
24 medium (about 5 cups / 400 g)
peeled and finely minced
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g)
olive oil
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 55 g)
shallot
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 20 g)
finely minced
dry white wine
Quantity
4 cups (950 ml / 950 g)
brandy
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 225 g)
finished demi-glace (half-glaze)
Quantity
4 cups (950 ml / 1 kg)
finished Sauce Tomate (tomato sauce)
Quantity
2 cups (475 ml / 490 g)
finished glace de viande (meat glaze)
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 75 g)
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 5 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| medium button mushroomspeeled and finely minced | 24 medium (about 5 cups / 400 g) |
| unsalted butter | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) |
| olive oil | ¼ cup (60 ml / 55 g) |
| shallotfinely minced | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 20 g) |
| dry white wine | 4 cups (950 ml / 950 g) |
| brandy | 1 cup (240 ml / 225 g) |
| finished demi-glace (half-glaze) | 4 cups (950 ml / 1 kg) |
| finished Sauce Tomate (tomato sauce) | 2 cups (475 ml / 490 g) |
| finished glace de viande (meat glaze) | ¼ cup (60 ml / 75 g) |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 5 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •5-quart heavy sauté pan or wide saucepan, at least 30 cm across
- •Heatproof liquid measuring jug
- •Long-handled wooden spoon
- •Shallow spoon or fine skimmer for removing fat
Instructions
- 1
Ready the foundations
Peel and finely mince the mushrooms, then measure every remaining ingredient before heating the pan. Keep the finished demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande close at hand. Once the alcohol has reduced, the foundations must follow without delay.
- 2
Brown the mushrooms
Heat the butter and olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium-high heat. When the butter’s foam subsides, add the mushrooms and fry them quickly, tossing only as needed, until their released moisture has evaporated and their edges are lightly browned. They should remain supple, not dark or dry. If the pan floods and the mushrooms begin to stew, keep it uncovered and let the liquid cook away before browning them. Ça se rattrape.
If your pan is narrower than 30 cm, brown the mushrooms in two batches and return them all before adding the shallot. Crowding delays browning and gives the sauce a boiled mushroom taste. - 3
Add shallot and degrease
Add the minced shallot and toss it through the mushrooms for about 20 seconds, just long enough to release its fragrance without colouring. Immediately tilt the pan and spoon away roughly half the visible cooking fat. Remove what runs freely, not what the mushrooms have absorbed; the finished chasseur should gleam, never carry an oily slick.
- 4
Reduce wine and brandy
Take the pan off the heat before pouring in the white wine and brandy, particularly if you cook over gas. Return it to high heat, scrape the pan floor clean, and boil uncovered until the liquid has reduced from 5 cups to about 2½ cups, roughly 12 to 18 minutes. The sharp alcoholic smell will soften, the bubbles will become finer, and the liquid will taste concentrated rather than raw. This reduction is the heart of the sauce. If it slips below 2½ cups, add enough water to restore the lost volume; only water has evaporated, so the balance remains intact. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Finish with the foundations
Stir in the finished demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande until completely combined. Bring the sauce to a boil, then maintain a lively simmer for five minutes, skimming away any excess fat that gathers at the surface. It should become nappé, coating the back of a spoon in a glossy, even film. If it remains thin after five minutes, continue simmering only until it coats; if it tightens too far, stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time.
- 6
Add parsley off heat
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley so it keeps its fresh green character. Use the chasseur at once over sautéed chicken, veal, rabbit, or game, or cool it promptly for later. Do not boil the parsley into dullness. The sauce is finished. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande are finished foundations, not ingredients to rebuild inside this recipe. Choose versions with restrained salt, because the wine reduction and five-minute finish concentrate every seasoning already present.
- •Plain button mushrooms are correct here. Their mild earthiness supports the concentrated meat sauces without taking command, and mincing them finely lets their flavour travel through every spoonful.
- •The brandy is reduced, not flambéed. Fire adds spectacle but no necessary flavour, and the measured reduction gives you much better control over what remains in the pan.
- •Chasseur is generous with sautéed chicken thighs, veal cutlets, rabbit, or game. Allow about ¼ cup per portion, enough to cloak the meat and leave a little sauce for bread.
Advance Preparation
- •The finished demi-glace, Sauce Tomate, and glace de viande can be prepared or purchased well ahead and kept ready in measured portions. Bring chilled foundations toward room temperature before adding them so the reduction returns to a simmer promptly.
- •The chasseur can be completed through the five-minute simmer, cooled quickly, and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat it gently, correct the consistency with a little hot water if necessary, and add the parsley only after removing the pan from the heat.
- •For longer storage, freeze the sauce without parsley in small portions for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the cold, reheat at a bare simmer, and finish with freshly chopped parsley.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 60g)
Calories
75 calories
Total Fat
5 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
5 mg
Sodium
370 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
2 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from The Small Compound Sauces - The Small Brown Sauces
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Sauce Bordelaise
Sauce Bordelaise (Bordeaux red-wine sauce) teaches reduction without haste: wine, shallot, herbs, and pepper tightened into half-glaze, brightened with lemon, then made generous with tender cubes of poached beef marrow.
Chef Juliette
Brown Chaud-froid Sauce
Sauce chaud-froid brune teaches the decisive moment between liquid and set: truffle-scented half-glaze and aspic reduced with care, finished with Madeira, then cooled until it veils cold meat in one even, savory gloss.
Chef Juliette
Varieties of the Chaud-froid Sauce
Three chaud-froid sauces, tuned to duck, feathered game, or fish, teach the cold-buffet art: flavor the correct foundation, cool it with attention, and coat only when the film sets smooth and glossy.