- protein, any kind of meat
- oil: olive or butter
- aromatics: onion, garlic, shallots, carrot
- wine
- flour
- herbs
- liquid: cream or broth
- cheese
Fry the meat in the pan, remove and proceed to make sauce. Do not wash the pan – the fats from the meat add flavour.
Use butter for French type flavour, olive oil for Italian.
First, brown the aromatics.
Add garlic only once other aromatics have browned. If garlic is over-roasted, it becomes bitter.
Deglaze with wine and let the sauce reduce for a few minutes.
“Deglazing” is the process of using wine, stock or other liquid to clean and scrape the bottom of the pan during the cooking process.
Add a little more fat (olive oil or butter) and once incorporated, add a little flour. Let it incorporate and brown a bit.
Add volumizing liquid, such as cream, milk, broth. Reduce until desired consistency is reached.
Add cheese if desired. Season to taste.
Seasoning: Learn to correct by understanding what flavors cancel one another out. Too salty? Add some volume, acid, fat or sweetness. Too spicy? Add some fat. Too bland? Add some salt. Sauces are very forgiving, you’ll just end up with more sauce. Need some acid? Add a little lemon juice. Need some sweetness? Try molasses or honey.
Add the meat back to the pan.
If serving with pasta, dump it in the pan to incorporate the flavour.
Serve!