Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Au jus, Jus Lie, Glace and Essence: the differences

Here are how I understand the difference between the following sauce terms:

1. Au jus - an unthickened sauce made from pan drippings and what is left over after a roast

2. Jus lie - a thickened sauce made from pan drippings and what is left over after a roast

3. Stock* - flavorful liquid made from bones, vegetable matter and herbs/spices.

4. Broth* - Flavorful liquid made from meat, vegetable matter and herbs/spices.

*The difference between stock and broth is the natural gelatin content imparted by bones while cooking the stock.

5. Vegetable stock - technically a broth, but can be used to replace stock in vegetarian-ized dishes.

6. Glace (or Glaze) - stock reduced by 90%. It is very thick and solid when refrigerated. Reducing a stock to a glace makes for easier storage. You can just add water to create a stock. One way is to freeze glace in ice cube trays and store in standardized portion sizes.

7. Essence - is a vegetable stock reduced by 90%. This will still be thick but not nearly as thick as a glace. Essence can be made and put in a squeeze bottle and used as a sauce for presentation purposes.

8. Mother sauces - There are 5 main sauces in french-style cuisine. Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Tomato and Hollandaise.

9. Small sauces - sauces made by adding one or more ingredients to a mother sauce

10. Intermediary sauces - a sauce made by adding on or more ingredient to a mother sauce that becomes a base sauce for two or more small sauces.

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