Chicken demi glace is a food that sounds super fancy, and it was originally a French cuisine – but it’s easy enough to make it yourself at home if you have a little patience. This sauce is a beautiful way to spice up roasted vegetables and meats, and give them a whole depth of flavor and color, so it’s well worth learning how to make it.
What is Chicken Demi Glace?
Chicken Demi Glace is a concentrated, rich sauce used predominantly in French cuisine. It’s prepared by roasting chicken bones and vegetables, then simmering them in water, wine, and herbs for several hours. The resulting liquid is reduced to a thick glaze that imparts a deep, savory flavor to dishes.
How To Make Chicken Demi Glace
For this recipe, you are going to need:
- Chicken wings: you can also use chicken bones, but either the wings or the bones will be crucial for this delicious sauce. You can’t make it without!
- Onions: these bring a rich wealth of flavor to the sauce, and are crucial in almost all good sauces.
- Carrots: carrots will further enrich the flavor, making this into a luxurious stock. They will also add plenty of nutrients.
- Leeks: like onions, these increase the taste and add an earthy undertone to the glace.
- Celery: along with the other vegetables, this creates a rich, complex sauce that is packed with nutrition.
- White wine: to add to the umami flavors of the meat, you need white wine that will make this sauce into a really delicious glaze.
- Bay leaves: many good sauces are made complete by the addition of bay leaves, which lend rich, complex notes to the meal. Like the other ingredients, these will be removed when you’ve finished cooking so they don’t spoil the smooth glaze.
Chicken Demi Glace Recipe
Course: SauceCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy2
servings10
minutes13
minutesHow do you make amazing chicken demi glace? We find out how to create this incredibly rich stock.
Ingredients
1 cup 1 carrots
¼ cup of celery
¼ cup of leeks
3 quarts 3 cold water
1 lb. 1 chicken wings
1 cup 1 white wine
1 1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon 1 salt
1 tablespoon 1 white peppercorns (or pepper to taste)
1 1 ½ cups of onions
Directions
- Add a small drop of oil to a non-stick pan and warm it over a medium heat. Wash and chop your celery, leeks, and carrots, and peel and chop the onions.
- Saute the vegetables over a medium heat, and then add the chicken wings or bones, and keep cooking. You want to get a really good mix of the flavors, so cook the ingredients thoroughly, and then add a splash of white wine, a little salt, and plenty of pepper.
- Continue cooking until the vegetables are soft and starting to break down, and the meat is thoroughly cooked and even starting to char in places (do not burn, however). Get everything nice, rich brown so all the flavors will have melded together.
- Add the fresh water to the pan, along with the bay leaves and pepper. Bring the pan up to a simmer and then reduce the heat and leave it simmering.
- You want the sauce to keep very gently bubbling without much movement, so keep the heat low, and simply cook it until the meat has become extremely tender and is dropping off the bones. This should take about 12 hours.
- Strain the sauce to remove the solids, and then put the liquid back on the stove and simmer it for another 30 minutes or so. The stock should start to thicken, and then you can turn it off and set it to cool.
- When the glace is completely cool, transfer it to an airtight container and place it in your fridge until you want to use it.
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Tips & Tricks
Now you’ve got the basics, let’s find out how to make this chicken demi glace recipe truly fantastic – because it can be done!
- Don’t rush the recipe. There is no way to make chicken demi glace quickly. To get that rich, meaty flavor, you need the long boiling time to break down the meat and draw out its nutrients and taste. This recipe requires patience.
- You can roast the vegetables and chicken in the oven to start this recipe off if you prefer. This should also work to give you a great flavor, and may let you be a little more hands-off at the start. Try both methods and see which gives you a better sauce!
- Add chicken demi glace to any other sauces that you want to enrich. Many people freeze or refrigerate this rich stock in ice cube trays, and then just add one or two of these to bigger sauces, as it is too rich on its own. You can use it for the base of any stew or soup, or to make gravy.
- Try adding some herbs while cooking to further enrich the glace’s flavor. In general, you won’t need them, but if there’s a herb you particularly love, sprinkle a little into the sauce while it is reducing and give your glace an extra flavorful inflection.
FAQs
Can I freeze chicken demi glace?
Yes, this should freeze fine. It’s best to put it into ice cube trays and then just get out what you want for each meal.
Can I make chicken demi glace more quickly?
A: Unfortunately, this recipe depends on the long, slow cooking times. If you try to rush it, it won’t work properly and will lack flavor.
How much should the sauce reduce?
A: It will depend a bit, but in general, the sauce will reduce by around three-fourths during its simmering time. Make sure you cook it for longer if you have added too much water; you want a really thick, rich glace.
Do I need all the different vegetables?
A: You will get more flavor if you use the right vegetables for your chicken demi glace. If you don’t have one of the ingredients, the recipe should still work reasonably well, but it is much better to have the correct vegetables. You can add others in if you would like to further enrich the flavors.
How do I strain the demi glace?
The best strainer is a piece of clean cloth. Cheesecloth is a good option, but any clean, fine mesh should work if you don’t have cheesecloth. Make sure the weave isn’t too tight for the liquid to pass through easily.
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Conclusion
Chicken demi glace may sound fancy, but it’s a beautiful way to enrich your foods with deep, meaty flavors, and it’s pretty easy to make – although it does take a while!
