Charcutière Sauce

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 09/16/21
Charcutière Sauce
Philippe Desnerck / Getty Images
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Total: 30 mins
Servings: 8 servings
Yield: 1 quart
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
177 Calories
10g Fat
11g Carbs
7g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 177
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 10g 13%
Saturated Fat 6g 30%
Cholesterol 24mg 8%
Sodium 644mg 28%
Total Carbohydrate 11g 4%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 4g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 2mg 10%
Calcium 44mg 3%
Iron 2mg 10%
Potassium 651mg 14%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

The Charcutière sauce is a finishing sauce that originated in France and is made with onions, mustard, white wine, and chopped cornichons, then simmered in a basic demi-glace. Like any glace recipe, it does require some straining in the process. Made in around 30 minutes, this sauce is an ideal accompaniment for grilled pork, and other meat dishes.

Use it to impress your family and guests with your culinary skills. This sauce just adds so much to any meat—especially pork—that you use it with. This recipe is easy to scale down and cut in half if you don't need as much.

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Ingredients

  • 1 quart demi-glace

  • 1/2 cup chopped onions

  • 2 tablespoons butter

  • 1 cup white wine

  • 2 teaspoons dry mustard

  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar

  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

  • 1/4 cup chopped cornichons, for garnish

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and lemon juice, and stir until sugar is dissolved.​

  3. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt butter and cook onions until soft and translucent.​

  4. Add wine, heat until liquid boils, lower heat a bit, and continue simmering until the liquid has reduced by two-thirds.​

  5. Add demi-glace, then lower heat to a simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes.​

  6. Strain through a mesh strainer. Add mustard and sugar-lemon mixture.

  7. Garnish with chopped cornichons and serve right away.

Tip

  • If you cook your meat in a large skillet, plan to prepare the sauce using the same skillet. Whatever you do, don't clean or wipe the skillet in between, as the juices from the cooked meat have carmelized and will provide an even more enhanced flavor and color to the sauce. 

What Is a Demi-Glace?

A demi-glace is half brown stock combined with half brown sauce, which is then, once again, reduced by half. Demi-glace is the root of making many other kinds of sauces, including mushroom sauce, port wine sauce, or a red wine sauce. It can be used to amplify the flavor of soup, stews, and stir-fries also. 


The process to make demi-glace can be quite intense and extensive, taking as long as eight hours to make. On the plus side, it does freeze quite beautifully, so you can always have some on hand. There is an easier way to making this sauce, which we provide you with our shortcut demi-glace recipe.

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