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Pan sauce

hairyotter_273859

Don't know if this is the correct place for this thread, but I need some schooling.

What made my pan sauce break? (I'm not sure I'm using that term correctly, novice here) Made a couple sous vide steaks last night, seared with some butter, removed from pan, burner temp set at med high, added some wine, reduced, added beef stock or broth don't recall, aromatics, reduced, turned down heat from med high to a simmer. Everything looked nice and clear was a little weak in flavor... so I thought, now what can I do to kick this up a bit?

Now I'm heading down the rabbit hole, should have left things alone.

I normally don't add the sous vide liquid from the bag because it mucks things up... So I did it anyways. Hmmm

I also added a little more butter, 1/2 tsp. My sauce went from beautiful silky goodness to cloudy oily madness.

Is it my technique? Is there protein or some sort of cow humor in the sous vide bag that's causing the problem? Maybe the extra butter at the end broke the sauce? Is it ok to use the sous vide bag contents? Nothing was added to the sous vide bag not even salt. Just the steak then vacuumed and sealed.

And how do you repair a sauce? Break out the stick blender? Start over?

So many questions... any help would be deeply appreciated, thank you-

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Comments

artstype

might be myoglobin from the meat bag that is breaking/clotting.

wolfiegirl

I can't believe of all people you would mess up a pan sauce. But don't feel bad. I've done it before too....and yep, it's always with the juices from the bag. If I want to use the juices, I start with them first and build on them rather than pouring them into an otherwise (I won't say perfect) good sauce. Or it could be (but probably wasn't) the addition of the knob of butter at the end while the pan was still on the heat. My money is on the juices from the bag though.

I've never tried to boat motor a broken sauce so if it happens again, give it a shot. I mean, at that point you've got nothing to loose and more to gain, eh!?

fisher23

Boat motor (stick blender) and a cold knob of butter usually pulls it back together. Also, for a broken hollandaise, a tsp of cool water and the boat motor will pull it back together.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

A trick with the bag liquid is to boil it first then strain it into the sauce. This will remove most of the stuff that makes the sauce look broken.

wolfiegirl

Ya know, I never thought to use the boat motor to whisk a hollandaise. Good idea!!

Brandon_Byrd_40557

This. A thousand times, this.

And pop it in a blender with some butter if it breaks.

Jen_Flores_403035

Always finish your sauce with butter last. If you boil the butter, the oil will separate from the milk solids. If you already have a lot of butter to start with (from searing) then pour most of it off before you start your pan sauce. Add wine first to deglaze and reduce by half, then your jus, then finish with butter (on low or no heat).

wolfiegirl

You might be right.....but.....the sound of a whirring blender screams defeat/failure.

Sigh

hairyotter_273859

Thank you all very much.

What I learned:

Butter at end off heat, don't boil butter pour off if necessary

Boil and strain sous vide liquid, beware the myoglobin

Worst case scenario motor boat / blenderize, add a little cold butter or cold water if necessary.

You guys are great!

tshewman

The proteins from the bag will often coagulate and split the remainder of the sauce. It's helpful sometimes to strain the bag juices, or quickly heat only the juices and strain them and use the strained liquid with the remaining ingredients (wine garlic butter etc).

hairyotter_273859

That's very helpful, thank you

Tim_Sutherland_52834

But at least the blender drowns out your screams, sobs, and cursing as you get the sauce together.