I had the pleasure of working with many wise men and women throughout my life. In my day-to-day contact with my bosses and co-workers, they imparted bits of wisdom so intertwined in my personality that I draw from them often and unconsciously as I need them. Sometimes I don’t remember the situation in which they were spoken, but the lesson learned at that moment has stayed with me.
One of these sage sayings I find myself thinking of often, especially as I age, is from Judge Gary Mikell. Judge Mikell was just entering private practice when he joined the law firm I was working for. Very wise for his years, he once told me, “As people get older they boil down to their essence. All the facades and pretenses are stripped away, and what is left is their true personality.” I don’t remember the situation that prompted these words, but obviously we had been dealing with a really sweet or a bitter older person.
As I age, I understand what he was saying more and more, especially when working with the public. Sometimes I am appalled by the thrust of the “double-edged sword” we call a tongue that comes from an older and supposedly wiser adult (like me.) At other times, I am amazed at the honey that drips from an older, big, burly man and wonder how someone so kind has survived so long in this hectic and demanding world we live in. Then I remember the analogy of essence and realize I am dealing with the remainder of a life of simmering.
I hope when I reach my essence there is a sweet little old lady at the heart of me. I hope I don’t feel I am entitled to say the first thing that comes to my mind no matter who it offends. I hope the trials of my life will be the first thing that boils out of memory and what is left is the sweet, shiny memories of all the blessings God has graciously granted me. Our bodies are formed from dust, and to dust they will return, but our essence — our soul — will survive for eternity. And that brings to mind something my mother taught me about friends and a mate: It’s not the pretty paper on the outside that is important, it’s what’s on the inside that pleases or disappoints.
While making preserves this year, I thought of the essence lesson learned so long ago. The process of simmering a combination of peaches and sugar until they combine, reduce and create a syrupy consistency is just like the analogy of the lesson taught to me years ago. The end result, peach preserves, is nothing more than the condensed, intense essence of the peaches and sugar, like the sweet little old lady I want to be. On the other hand, if you reduce, say a cup of salty chicken broth to ½ cup, the essence or sauce that it produces will be salty and unpalatable, like the bitter old lady I don’t want to be.
Learning how to make a good reduction sauce can turn a mediocre piece of meat into a gourmet meal. Most of you have probably made a reduction sauce without even knowing that was what you were making. If you have removed cooked meat from a roasting or frying pan, then using a liquid such as broth or wine to deglaze it, allowing it to simmer until it is reduced by half, you’ve made a reduction sauce. This is what we call a pan gravy, but reduction sauce sounds much harder and gourmet.
If you don’t have pan drippings because you’ve grilled or braised your meat, you can still make a delicious reduction sauce. Any flavored liquid such as broth, wine or fruit juice with no sugar added, can make a scrumptious sauce. Orange juice, chicken broth and white wine when reduced will produce a delicious sauce for chicken or fish. I know everyone turns their nose up at prune juice, but when reduced it produces something similar to a plum sauce that is fantastic with pork. The quintessential red wine reduction or a reduced beef broth, will dress up a steak, even when using a less expensive cut of meat. A good reduction sauce can “cover a multitude of sins,” which is another one of those life lessons I learned along the way.
There are so many different ways to use reduction sauces that every cook should have his or her arsenal of them. And, most of them freeze well, so you can make them up when you have time and freeze them for the nights where time isn’t a commodity. Just pour your sauce into an ice cube tray and freeze. When ready to use, don’t defrost, just toss in the pan and let it melt.
So whether your moving through life, or simmering a pot on the stove, ponder from time to time what you will be when everything wears out, wrinkles up and simmers away all but the essence of your being.
BASIC PAN REDUCTION SAUCE
1 finely chopped shallot
½ cup wine (red for red meats – white for chicken and fish)
½ cup high quality, low sodium stock (chicken, beef or vegetable)
2 tablespoons of butter, softened
Salt and pepper to taste
Remove meat from pan or skillet. If there is an excess of fat in the pan, drain off all but 2 tablespoons. Be sure to leave those browned bits in the pan.
Place the pan on a burner and turn the heat up to medium high.
Add chopped shallot and the wine.
Stir to loosen the brown bits on the bottom of the pan and continue to cook and stir until the wine has reduced to about ½.
Add stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to about ½ cup.
Turn off the heat. Add the butter a little at a time whisking well after each addition.*
Taste for seasoning, adding salt and/or pepper if needed.
Pour over meat or create of puddle of sauce in the plate and place meat on top.
* This step makes your sauce bright and shiny
GRAPES & WINE REDUCTION
1 bottle of good red wine
4 cups red or black sweet seedless grapes
Wash and rinse grapes. In a medium sauce pan, add grapes and entire bottle of red wine. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a low simmering boil. Cook, stirring and smashing sides of grapes against the wall of the pan, until the wine and grapes have reduces to about 1 – 1 ½ cups of liquid (30-40 minutes). Strain mixture in a sieve or cheesecloth, mashing/squeezing grape skins to capture all juices. Cool and serve over vanilla ice cream, cheese cake or pound cake.
BOURBON CREAM SAUCE
This sauce is delicious over grilled pork chops or chicken and if you have a pot of mashed potatoes, be sure to put it on them too!
1 tablespoon butter
2 shallots diced fine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
¼ cup bourbon
1 cup low-sodium beef stock
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter. Add shallot and cook until tender. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Remove pan from heat, carefully add the bourbon and return the saucepan to the heat (watch out – it will probably flame up) Once the flame subsides, reduce the heat to medium and add the stock and cream. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to approximately 1/3 cup, about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your pan. Add the thyme. Taste for seasoning.