No. 400

Clear half Glaze

Demi-Glace Claire

This demi-glaze must not be confused with demi-glaze sauce. The demi-glaze is not a sauce but simply good, clarified gelatinous gravy reduced to half the consistency of a glaze; which means only slightly thickened; it must be bright, clear, and succulent. Before taking it from the fire mix in with it a spoonful of Madeira wine for each two quarts of liquid.

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a component, not a dish: a clear, lightly reduced stock that Ranhofer used to moisten sauces, gloss garnishes and finish braises. The whole point is body without opacity, so everything depends on how you handle the reduction.

What "half glaze" means hereA glaze (glace) is stock reduced until it is syrupy and sets firm when cold. This is reduced only half that far, to the point where it coats a spoon thinly and sets to a soft jelly in the refrigerator, not a rubbery block. Stop well before it looks like a sauce.
Not demi-glace sauceRanhofer is warning against the confusion that persists today. Modern demi-glace usually means Espagnole (a roux-thickened brown sauce) reduced with stock. This has no roux and no tomato: it is clear stock and nothing else.
Start with a gelatinous stock"Gelatinous" is doing the work. Use a brown veal or beef stock built on knuckle, shin and split veal bones so it sets solidly when chilled. Reducing a thin, collagen-poor stock only concentrates salt and gives you a flat liquid that will never coat anything.
Clarifying"Clarified" in this book means a raft: lean minced beef and lightly beaten egg white whisked into cold stock, brought slowly to a bare tremble, then left undisturbed and ladled off through a cloth. Boiling once the raft has set will cloud it again, which defeats the recipe.
Salt lastSeason nothing before the reduction. Cutting a stock by half doubles the salt; taste and adjust only after the liquid has reached the consistency you want.
Skim the fat completelyFat is what makes a reduced stock look dull rather than bright. Chill the stock and lift the cap before reducing, then skim again as it works down.
The MadeiraA spoonful to two quarts, stirred in at the very end just before the pan comes off the fire, is roughly a tablespoon per 2 quarts, or under half a teaspoon per cup. It is an aromatic finish, not a flavour base; boiling it away wastes it. Use a dry Sercial or Verdelho rather than a sweet cooking Madeira.
Yield and keepingRefrigerated under its own jelly it keeps four or five days; frozen in ice-cube trays it keeps for months, and a cube or two is the usual working quantity.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summation of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its chapter on stocks and glazes is French practice in the Carême line transplanted to an American kitchen. Stocks were understood in grades according to how far they had been reduced, up to a glace de viande stiff enough to slice, and a large restaurant kitchen kept several on hand at once. The clear version here belongs to the older tradition of thickening by gelatin and reduction rather than by flour, which is why Ranhofer bothers to distinguish it from the roux-based demi-glace sauce that shared its name even then.