Dress Up Your Dinner With French Bordelaise Sauce (2024)

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European Food
French Food
French Sauces

Rebecca Franklin

Rebecca Franklin is a freelance lifestyle writer and recipe developer. Her expertise is in French cuisine, which she writes about and teaches.

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Updated on 02/5/24

Tested by

Diana Rattray

Tested byDiana Rattray

Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.

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Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 20 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Yield: 1/2to 2/3 cup

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Bordelaise sauce is a classic French sauce that uses red wine from the Bordeaux region in Southwest France. It's rich and flavorful, so it takes just a small drizzle of Bordelaise sauce to perk up a simple grilled steak or slow-roasted beef. This tangy and savory red-wine sauceis also a great accompaniment to roasted potatoes.

Traditionally, the sauce would be made using a Bordeaux wine, but these wines are some of the most expensive in the world, so barring a Bordeaux, a good-quality dry red wine will suffice.These types of French wine are typically made with cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, and malbec grapes, and wines made with those grapes are perfect for making the sauce. Just remember: the better the wine, the better the sauce. Use something you would drink with your meal; you'll need one glass of wine for the sauce and can drink the rest when you eat.

There are many variations on Bordelaise sauce. Red wine and shallots are two key ingredients. Some classic recipes use veal stock, bone marrow, and demi-glace, or some combination of those. This particular recipe takes a simpler approach, preferring beef stock so you don't have to make the separate demi-glace sauce or use marrow. It's just as flavorful and can be made quickly right before serving time. If needed, it can be prepared up to a day in advance.

Dress Up Your Dinner With French Bordelaise Sauce (2)

What You'll Need To Make This Classic Bordelaise Recipe

A Nice Sharp Knife

A Good Saucepan

A Gravy Boat

"The sauce was very good with steak. It took about 4 minutes to cook the wine and another 10 to 12 minutes to reduce after adding the beef stock. I ended up with about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of sauce." —Diana Rattray

Dress Up Your Dinner With French Bordelaise Sauce (6)

A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

3/4 cup dry red wine
2 medium shallots, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups beef stock
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
In a small saucepan, place the red wine, shallots, thyme, and bay leaf and set over medium heat.
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and continue to cook to reduce the contents to half of the original volume.
Add the beef stock to the pan and bring the mixture up to a boil again.
Using a tablespoon, skim and discard any foam that appears on top of the sauce.
Continue cooking the Bordelaise by another 50% or until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon—otherwise known as having anappe consistency. In total, the Bordelaise should have reduced by 75% of its original volume by now.
Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste. Use on grilled steak or slow-roasted beef and enjoy.

Tips

If you want to thicken the Bordelaise sauce, prepare a beurre manie with about 1 tablespoon of softened butter and 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour. Use your fingers or a fork to make a smooth paste. Place the strained sauce over medium-low heat. Add about 1 teaspoon to the sauce and whisk for about 1 minute. Repeat until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.

Recipe Variation

Bordelaise With Demi-Glace: Instead of beef stock, use 2 cups of demi-glace (homemade or made from store-bought concentrate). Demi-glace will make a slightly thicker sauce.

How to Make Bordelaise Sauce in Advance

If you are holding the sauce for later, lightly rub about 1 teaspoon of cold butter across the hot surface of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming. Alternatively, lay a piece of greaseproof parchment paper cut to the size of the pan onto the surface of the sauce.When ready to use, reheat it gently in a small saucepan.

How To Store and Freeze

Refrigerate bordelaise sauce in a covered, airtight container for up to 1 week.
For longer storage, freeze bordelaise sauce in airtight container for up to 3 months.
Reheat bordelaise sauce in a saucepan over low to medium-low heat until it heated through, or to at least 165 F.

What Is Nappe Consistency?

When making a sauce, the nappe (meaning "to coat") consistency refers to the point when the sauce has reached the desired texture and will coat the food evenly. To check, simply dip a tablespoon into the sauce and swirl it around. Lift the spoon and flip it over to look at the back. The sauce should have coated the spoon but if it quickly runs off, it is not yet thick enough and needs to cook longer.

Helpful Links

Demi-Glace: Brown Sauce Techniques
Sauce Recipes for Beef and Pork
Everything You Need To Know About Cooking With Wine
Dry Red Wines

The Five Basic Sauces

French Sauces
French Food
Vegetable Recipes

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
77	Calories
0g	Fat
8g	Carbs
3g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	77
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 322mg	14%
Total Carbohydrate 8g	3%
Dietary Fiber 1g	4%
Total Sugars 3g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 3mg	13%
Calcium 27mg	2%
Iron 1mg	6%
Potassium 387mg	8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

sauce
red wine reduction
french
family dinner

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