Classic French Resturant Sauce - Sauce Espagnole

A roux is made to thicken a sauce, while also adding colour and flavour. Make the roux by adding oil and flour to the pot. Cook it at 230 °C for about 5 minutes, while stirring. The roux should turn a dark brown colour.

When the roux has reached the desired colour, lower the temperature to 180 ºC. Add the tomato puree and fry it while stirring. Roasting the tomato paste gives more depth and less bitterness to the flavour of the sauce.

Add half of the water (½ liter) to the roux. Crush the garlic with the flat side of a knife. And add it to the pot along with the garlic, parsley, thyme, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Let the stock simmer at 103 ºC.

While the stock is simmering, roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery. Start the program and heat your largest frying pan to 220 °C, add oil. Add the vegetables to the pan and fry until well browned. Pour the vegetables over into the stock pot. Then brown all the meat in the same frying pan. Brown it for about 2 minutes on each side. Then add it to the stock, so that it lies on top of the vegetables. Fry the meat in batches, only frying as much as you can fit in the pan. When all the meat is cooked, pour red wine into the pan to deglaze the pan. Pour the wine into the stock. Cover with water, but leave room, so that it does not touch the lid. You can also cook the stock with the lid off. When it is simmering again, lower the temperature to 100 °C and let it cook at a simmer for 3 hours (tho program does this automatically).

Pour the sauce through the finest strainer you have. Return it to the pan and add ½ tsp. of salt. Start the program. The sauce is reduced to 3 dl, at 105 ºC and about 700 watts. When it is reduced it is ready to serve, use about 2 tbsp. per serving.