Recipe video above. This is a recipe for Vermouth Jus which I'm sharing as the sauce for Crispy Slow Roasted Pork Belly. A jus is an intensely-flavoured, meat stock reduction sauce favoured by fine dining French restaurants to serve alongside meats and fish. If you have homemade beef stock or chicken stock on hand, this is a deceptively easy sauce that will elevate any dish to fine dining levels!It must be made with either homemade beef stock. Store-bought stock or broth just won't work unfortunately.Makes: 100ml / 3.5 oz. It doesn't sound like much, but you only need 1 - 1.5 tbsp per serving because it is so strongly flavoured.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Course: Sauce
Cuisine: French, Western
Keyword: jus, vermouth jus
Servings: 4- 5
Calories: 109cal
Author: Nagi
Ingredients
2 tbsp/ 30gunsalted butter
1eschallot, thinly sliced (aka French onion. US: shallot, Note 1)
Melt butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Add eschalot and cook for 4 - 5 minutes, until softened and sweet. Do not allow to colour.
Add vermouth and turn the heat up to medium-high. Let it simmer, scraping the base of the pan to dissolve any fond (stuck caramelised bits) into the liquid, until the liquid is almost totally evaporated. The alcohol cooks out during this step.
Add beef stock and let it simmer for 6 to 7 minutes until it reduces by 3/4 (exact time will differ depending on stove strength and pan size).
Add cream and simmer for a further 4 minutes or until it changes from a pale cream colour to a medium brown colour.
Season with salt and pepper, and taste. If it tastes a bit thin, continue to reduce.
Strain sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. If you have much more than 100ml / 3.5 oz jus once strained, then return to pan and simmer on low for a bit longer. (Be sure to use a rubber spatula so you don't waste a drop!).
Serving:
Jus is an intensely-flavoured sauce and so is used sparingly (allow 1.5 tbsp - 2 tbsp max per serve). Restaurants will typically serve it already poured with the meat, rather than a jug for people to serve themselves. Drizzle it on the plate around or on protein using a spoon (pan seared or roast slices). See in post for some ideas, including how I plated up the Crispy Pork Belly slices using this jus.
Notes
1. Eschalot – Also known as French onions, and are called “shallots” in the US. They look like baby onions, but have purple-skinned flesh. Not to be confused with what some people in Australia call “shallots”.2. Vermouth – A fortified wine infused with botanicals, commonly associated with martinis! You must use a dry vermouth. Sweet vermouth will make the sauce far too sweet. I use Cinzano brand, which costs $17 from Dan Murphys. Vermouth adds subtle botanical flavours into the sauce and the extra complexity you can only get from cooking with wines.3. Homemade beef stock – Unfortunately this recipe won't work with mass-produced, store-bought stock. It lacks the richness that gelatine extracted from the bones and connective tissues, needed to naturally thicken the jus when reduced. Flavour quality is also paramount when used in such concentrations as a jus. Store-bought stock also has salt in it, so the jus becomes way too salty when heavily reduced.You can however also use homemade chicken stock if it's rich in gelatin (if it is, it will jellify in the fridge)4. Salt – If you only have table salt, just use the smallest pinch. Table salt grains are much finer than cooking/kosher salt so 1/8 tsp of table salt = more than 1/8 tsp cooking/kosher salt.5. Storage – This will keep in the fridge for 4 to 5 days, or freeze for months. Do not waste a drop of this liquid gold! :)