Sauce Basics

When I dine in a fine restaurant, several places in Paris cross my mind, the thing I look most forward to are the sauces.  Sauces can add a lovely counterpoint and dimension to an otherwise ordinary focal point.

Sauces delight me.

I am still experimenting, but I'd like to share with you the most basic pan sauce that you can do to spruce up any meat that's been prepared in a skillet.

To begin, never ever, EVER use a non-stick pan.  If you use one, this conversation is over.  It won't work.

Now that we're past that, you'll need the following for a lighter style sauce to be used with chicken, pork, fish, or turkey cutlets :

• oil for frying (if you are searing meat, peanut or grape seed oils are best as you can heat them very high before they begin to smoke)
• white wine (not sweet--try sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, or anything pretty dry)
  
• lemon juice or mustard
• chicken broth or water
• shallots
• butter
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Prepare your pan by pouring enough oil into your pan to thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan.

Heat the pan until the oil sizzles when you touch a bit of the meat to it.

Lay your seasoned, DRY meat (do not ever put a damp or wet piece of meat into a pan with hot oil--you will get burned from the oil which will splatter) into the pan.  Do not crowd the pan or you'll end up steaming the meat rather than searing it.

Cook until the meat is browned on one side.  Turn and cook until meat is finished to your taste.  There should be a brown coating on the bottom of the pan. Set meat aside and keep warm.

Add the sliced shallots to the pan that you just cooked the meat in.  Cook them until they are soft.

Pour about 3/4 cup (or so) of white wine into the pan.  It should make a very impressive sizzle.  Using a metal spatula, scrape up the brown bits into the wine and stir until they dissolve.  You should have a very clean pan at the end of this process (i.e. nothing sticking to the bottom).

Reduce the wine until it thickens and is mostly gone....but not too much where it begins to burn.  Add about 2 tablespoons of lemon to the mixture and reduce by 3/4.  If you choose to use mustard instead, add this in last and skip the lemon step.

Finally, add about a half cup of water or chicken stock and reduce until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

Take the sauce off the heat and stir in about 3 tablespoons of cold butter.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the sauce onto a plate and place your meat on top of that and enjoy!

(Jean-Marie, I know that this is nowhere near as good as Taillevent, but I will keep trying)