Creamy Mushroom Sauce
London, United Kingdom · Voir toutes les recettes
Aperçu
Mushrooms cooked with onion, garlic and thyme, deglazed with white wine and finished with cream. No country is claimed. It is a European sauce, French in construction, and it goes on almost anything savoury. Two steps in the method are doing real work and both are easy to rush. The first is cooking the mushrooms until they have released their juices. Mushrooms are around ninety per cent water, and until that water has come out and evaporated they are steaming rather than browning. Pushing past that point is what gives them a concentrated, meaty flavour instead of a pale, squeaky one, and it is the difference between a good mushroom sauce and a bland one. The second is deglazing. The browned residue left on the pan is where a great deal of the flavour has gone, and wine poured in while the pan is hot dissolves it back into the sauce. Cooking the wine almost to dryness before the stock and cream go in concentrates it and drives off the raw alcohol taste. The sauce contains white wine, and while most of the alcohol cooks off, it is worth flagging for anyone avoiding it entirely. The source's nutritional discussion of mushrooms has not been carried across.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Cook the onion in the butter until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
- 2
Put in the mushrooms with salt and pepper and cook until they have released their juices and the liquid has cooked away. Do not rush this, until the water is out, mushrooms steam rather than brown.
- 3
Mix in the garlic and thyme and cook for about a minute, until fragrant.
- 4
Pour in the wine to deglaze, scraping the browned bits off the base of the pan, and cook until the wine has almost evaporated.
- 5
Pour in the chicken broth and the cream and cook gently for 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.
- 6
To thicken further, mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water or broth and work it into the sauce a little at a time until it reaches the consistency you want. You may not need it all.
- 7
Cook for a further minute.
- 8
Season with the parsley, salt and pepper and serve.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Nympha Nzeribe- Cook the mushrooms past the point where they release their water. That is where the flavour is, and stopping early is the most common mistake.
- Do not crowd the pan. Mushrooms piled up steam each other and never brown.
- Deglaze properly. The browned residue on the pan base is flavour, and the wine is there to dissolve it back in.
- Cook the wine almost dry before the cream goes in, or the sauce tastes raw and sharp.
- Add the cornstarch slurry gradually. It thickens quickly and an over-thickened sauce is hard to loosen.
- It contains white wine, the alcohol mostly cooks off, but it is there.
Questions fréquentes
Why do mushrooms need to release their water first?
Because they are around ninety per cent water, and until that water has come out and evaporated they are effectively steaming in their own juices rather than browning. Browning is where the concentrated, savoury, almost meaty flavour comes from. Stopping while there is still liquid in the pan is the most common reason a mushroom sauce tastes thin and pale, and it takes longer than people expect.
What does deglazing do?
It recovers flavour that has stuck to the pan. When mushrooms and onions brown, some of the browned material bonds to the base of the pan, and simply adding cream would leave it there. Pouring in wine while the pan is hot dissolves those browned bits back into the liquid, and scraping helps. Cooking the wine almost to dryness afterwards concentrates it and drives off the raw alcohol taste.
Can I make it without wine?
Yes. Use extra stock to deglaze, with a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar at the end to replace the acidity the wine provides. It will be slightly less complex but it works. Most of the alcohol cooks off during the reduction in any case, though the wine remains in the ingredient list, which matters for households that avoid it entirely.
What do I serve it with?
Almost anything savoury, steak, pork, chicken, meatballs, pasta or rice, which is more or less the list the source gives. It works particularly well over something plain that needs the sauce to carry it. It also makes a good base for other sauces, and thinned with more stock it becomes a mushroom soup. It does not keep especially well, as cream sauces separate on reheating.
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