Salmis Sauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6-quart (5.7 L) heavy saucepan or small stockpot
• •Heavy poultry shears or cleaver and a stable cutting board
• •Sturdy fine-mesh sieve or chinois
• •Cheesecloth
• •Heatproof bowl or measuring jug
• •Sturdy ladle and flexible spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the carcasses

   Remove every useful piece of meat from the roasted birds and reserve it for the salmis or another dish. Pull the skin from the limbs and keep it with the frames. Using heavy poultry shears or a cleaver on a stable board, cut each carcass into pieces about 2 inches (5 cm) across, cracking the breast and back bones enough to expose their interiors without reducing them to splinters.

   If the birds were hunted, inspect the frames carefully for shot before chopping. Ask whoever dressed the birds to split them when possible.
2. 2

   Brown the foundation

   Melt 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g) of the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the Mirepoix (No. 228) and brown it gently, stirring often, until its edges color and the saucepan floor develops a chestnut fond. Add the reserved skin and chopped carcasses, then continue turning them until their exposed edges are bronzed. Gentle does not mean pale, but nothing should blacken. If black specks appear, transfer the solids to a clean pan and leave the burned fond behind; bitterness only grows during reduction.

3. 3

   Reduce and extract

   Pour in the white wine and scrape the saucepan floor thoroughly so every sound brown trace joins the liquid. Bring it to a lively simmer and reduce the wine by one-third, from 6 cups to about 4 cups (1.44 L to 960 ml). Add the demi-glace and return the mixture to a bare simmer. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes, with only an occasional bubble breaking the surface. A hard boil emulsifies fat and bone impurities into the sauce, making the later skimming needlessly difficult.

4. 4

   Press the quintessence

   Set a sturdy fine-mesh sieve over a heatproof bowl and pour in the saucepan contents while they are still very hot. Press the carcasses and aromatics firmly with the back of a ladle, turning them several times and bearing down until only a reluctant trickle remains. This pressure is the technique, not a flourish. Do not discard the solids after the first easy flow, because the last dark spoonfuls carry the concentrated character of the sauce.

   Use a bare metal sieve for this first pressing. Bone points can tear cheesecloth, which belongs only in the final refining pass.
5. 5

   Despumate the sauce

   Rinse the saucepan, return the strained cullis to it, and add the game stock. Bring the sauce just to a simmer and despumate it, skimming away foam, grey impurities, and excess fat every few minutes, for about 1 hour. Keep the surface at a quiet tremble and avoid stirring the impurities back through. If the sauce boils hard and turns greasy, lower the heat and add 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of cold mushroom liquor around the edge. Wait for the fat to gather, then skim again. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Reduce and refine

   Once the surface remains clean, simmer the sauce until it is slightly tighter than nappant, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon before the final liquids are added. Stir in the truffle essence, then add the remaining mushroom liquor a tablespoon at a time until the sauce flows in a glossy ribbon and measures about 8 cups (1.9 L). If it becomes too loose, stop adding liquor and reduce it again before proceeding. Taste before salting, because demi-glace and preserved truffle liquid can carry plenty of seasoning.

7. 7

   Mount with butter

   Line the clean sieve with damp cheesecloth and rub the sauce through with a flexible spatula, the honest home equivalent of a tammy. Warm it once more without boiling, remove it from the heat, and monter au beurre, finish by whisking in the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of cold butter a little at a time. If the butter separates into greasy beads, put 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) of cold mushroom liquor in a clean warm bowl and whisk the sauce into it gradually. Serve at once over warmed pieces of roast pheasant, partridge, grouse, or duck. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Save roasted game bird frames and their skin in the freezer until you have three. Match the carcasses to the bird you plan to serve when possible; pheasant bones make the truest sauce for pheasant, though a mixed game batch still has fine depth.
• •Use unsalted game stock and demi-glace. This sauce undergoes several reductions, and a foundation that tastes properly salted at the beginning can become briny before the texture is right.
• •Mushroom liquor means the clear, unsalted liquid from cooking mushroom trimmings or soaking dried mushrooms, strained until no grit remains. It restores fluidity without diluting the game character as plain water would.
• •Use the liquid from preserved truffles or a proper truffle essence, not truffle-flavored oil. The source asks for a quiet earthy finish, not a perfume that overwhelms the bird.
• •Choose a dry white wine with sound acidity and little sweetness. It need not be costly, but reduction exposes every flaw, so anything harsh in the glass will become harsher in the saucepan.

Advance Preparation

• •The carcasses and reserved skin can be frozen in a well-sealed bag until three birds have accumulated. Thaw them in the refrigerator before chopping.
• •The sauce can be completed through the final cheesecloth pass one day ahead. Cool it promptly in shallow containers, cover, and refrigerate; reheat gently and whisk in the cold butter only when serving.
• •For longer storage, freeze the strained sauce before adding the finishing butter. It keeps well for up to three months; thaw it in the refrigerator, reduce or loosen as needed, then monter au beurre at the last moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)