Chef Klaus
Bratensoße (Dunkle Bratensauce)
A proper Bratensoße begins with the brown bits in the pan, not a packet: bones roasted dark, wine scraped clean, stock reduced until it coats the spoon.
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Jägersoße, Franconian Hunter's Sauce
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A Franconian mushroom sauce lives or dies in the first ten minutes: brown the mushrooms hard, then wine, stock, tomato, Speck, and cream can do their proper work.
Sauces & Condiments
German
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
20 min
Active Time
30 min cook•50 min total
YieldAbout 500ml sauce, enough for 4 servings
Jägersoße is a mushroom pan sauce for the weeknight schnitzel and the Sunday pork, strongest in Franconia and the south where Speck, wine, stock, and cream make a proper plate without making a ceremony of it. Autumn gives you Pfifferlinge, Steinpilze, and field mushrooms; the rest of the year the larder answers with dried Steinpilze and good brown mushrooms. Weggeworfen wird nichts: the Speck fat seasons the pan, and the mushroom soaking liquor goes into the sauce, not down the sink.
The regions do not agree, which is normal. In Franconia I cook it with Speck, white wine, a small spoon of tomato paste, brown stock, and cream. Swabia often keeps it plainer and wants Spätzle under it; darker central German versions lean harder on onion and brown gravy. In the old DDR, Jägerschnitzel can mean breaded Jagdwurst with tomato sauce, a different meal entirely. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders.
The sauce is decided before the liquid goes in. Mushrooms must brown, not stew. Put them in a wide hot pan and wait until their water has cooked away and the fat starts doing its work; then they taste nutty and deep. Crowd the pan and they boil grey, and no cream at the end will save them.
After that, the rest is discipline. Cook the tomato paste and flour in the fat so they taste like sauce, not paste and powder. Reduce the wine until its sharpness settles. Add stock, finish with cream, and salt only at the end because Speck has its own opinion. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.
Jäger, hunter, in German menu language came to mean a mushroom garnish or sauce because mushrooms and game belonged to the same forest larder; the wording appears in German-speaking restaurant cookery by the 19th century and runs parallel to the French sauce chasseur. The German versions split by region: Franconian and southern cooks often use Speck, wine, tomato paste, stock, and cream, while darker central German versions lean harder on onions and brown gravy. In the DDR, Jägerschnitzel meant something else altogether, a slice of breaded Jagdwurst with tomato sauce in school and canteen cooking, so the name is a good warning that Germany never had one national plate.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried Steinpilze (porcini) (optional)
Quantity
10g
hot water (optional)
Quantity
150ml
for soaking the dried mushrooms
brown mushrooms, field mushrooms, or seasonal mixed mushrooms
Quantity
400g
trimmed and thickly sliced
Speck or smoked bacon
Quantity
80g
finely diced
lard or butter (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
small onion or shallots
Quantity
1 onion or 2 shallots
finely diced
bay leaf
Quantity
1
thyme or dried marjoram
Quantity
1 small sprig thyme or 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
tomato paste
Quantity
1 tablespoon
plain flour
Quantity
1 tablespoon
dry white wine
Quantity
125ml
preferably Franconian Silvaner
brown pork, veal, or beef stock
Quantity
300ml
including strained mushroom soaking liquor if used
cream
Quantity
100ml
wine vinegar or pickle brine
Quantity
1 teaspoon
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried Steinpilze (porcini) (optional) | 10g |
| hot water (optional)for soaking the dried mushrooms | 150ml |
| brown mushrooms, field mushrooms, or seasonal mixed mushroomstrimmed and thickly sliced | 400g |
| Speck or smoked baconfinely diced | 80g |
| lard or butter (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| small onion or shallotsfinely diced | 1 onion or 2 shallots |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| thyme or dried marjoram | 1 small sprig thyme or 1/2 teaspoon marjoram |
| tomato paste | 1 tablespoon |
| plain flour | 1 tablespoon |
| dry white winepreferably Franconian Silvaner | 125ml |
| brown pork, veal, or beef stockincluding strained mushroom soaking liquor if used | 300ml |
| cream | 100ml |
| wine vinegar or pickle brine | 1 teaspoon |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 1 tablespoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy sauté pan, 28 to 30cm
- •Fine sieve for mushroom liquor
- •Wooden spoon or flat spatula
- •Small whisk
Instructions
- 1
Soak the Steinpilze
If you're using dried Steinpilze, cover them with the hot water and leave them 20 minutes, then lift them out and chop them. Strain the soaking liquor through a fine sieve and count it as part of the stock. Leave the last gritty spoonful behind; sand in a sauce tells everyone you hurried.
- 2
Render the Speck
Put the Speck into a wide cold pan and set it over medium heat, letting the fat melt out before the cubes brown. Starting cold gives you fat for the mushrooms; throw Speck into a fierce pan and the outside hardens before the good part has seasoned anything. Lift out the browned Speck and leave the fat in the pan.
Use a wide pan, 28 to 30cm if you have it. Jägersoße is won by browning, and browning needs space. - 3
Brown the mushrooms
Turn the heat to medium-high and add the fresh mushrooms in one layer, with the lard or butter if the pan looks dry. Don't salt them yet. Let their water cook away first, then keep them in the fat until the edges turn chestnut and smell nutty. A crowded pan boils mushrooms in their own water, and then you've built a grey sauce before the stock even arrives. Work in batches if you must, and lift the browned mushrooms out with the Speck.
- 4
Build the base
Lower the heat to medium and add the onion, bay, and thyme or marjoram to the fat left in the pan. Cook until the onion is soft and pale gold, because raw onion sharpens the sauce in the wrong place. Stir in the tomato paste and flour and cook them for a minute or two; the tomato loses its raw tin edge, and the flour coats itself in fat so the sauce thickens smooth instead of turning lumpy.
- 5
Deglaze and simmer
Pour in the wine and scrape the browned bits from the pan, then let the wine reduce until it smells rounded instead of sharp. The alcohol and raw acidity need to cook down before the stock dilutes them. Whisk in the stock, including the strained mushroom liquor if you used it, then return the Speck, chopped Steinpilze, and browned mushrooms. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- 6
Finish the sauce
Stir in the cream and let the sauce move gently for 3 to 5 minutes, not a hard boil, because cream splits when you bully it. Remove the bay leaf and herb stem. Finish with the vinegar or pickle brine, parsley, black pepper, and only then the salt, because Speck and stock concentrate as they reduce. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. Spoon it over schnitzel at the table, or put it beside Spätzle and pork. Nicht aus dem Glas.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh wild mushrooms belong to autumn. When the season's shut, use brown mushrooms and a few dried Steinpilze. That's not second-best cooking; that's the winter larder doing its job.
- •Do not rinse mushrooms and throw them wet into the pan. Brush them clean, or rinse fast and dry them hard on a towel, because surface water delays browning and pushes you toward a thin, dull sauce.
- •Use real stock, even bought from a good butcher. Powder and jarred Bratensoße bring salt and colour before they bring flavour, and then you spend the whole cooking time correcting a thing you shouldn't have started.
- •Sauce schnitzel at the table if you care about the crust. Pouring Jägersoße over it in the kitchen softens the breading before the plate reaches anyone.
- •Salt last. Speck, stock, and reduced wine all concentrate in the pan, and an early heavy hand turns a good sauce into a salt lesson.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the sauce base up to 2 days ahead through the stock simmer, without the cream, parsley, or final vinegar. Reheat it gently, then finish with cream and the bright things so the sauce tastes fresh.
- •Freeze the sauce base without cream for up to 2 months. Cream can split after freezing, so add it only after the thawed base is hot and smooth.
- •The mushrooms can be sliced a few hours ahead and kept uncovered on a tray in the refrigerator. A dry surface browns better than a damp one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 125g)
Calories
275 calories
Total Fat
22 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
10 g
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