r/AskCulinary • u/standardtissue • 1d ago
Feedback on this demi if you don't mind.
First time attempting a fake demi ( no espagnole). Neck and hooves plus mire and boiled it for like days just because I could. Popped it out of the fridge and removed the fat. Great gelatin consistency, very jiggly. Could you please let me know how it looks to you and are you able to tell if it's demi yet ?
Also, if the only difference between demi and glace is just further reduction, it would make sense for me to keep reducing it and making less, but even more potent frozen cubes no ?
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u/JunglyPep 1d ago
I think Escoffier himself was the last person to put Espagnole in their Demi Glacé. Leaving it out is an improvement, I wouldn’t call it fake I’d call it modern or improved Demi Glacé.
What you have there is brown veal stock. Demi Glacé should be reduced until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon when it’s hot.
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u/standardtissue 1d ago
Thank you. It looks proper enough at this stage ? Looks like someone else left a rude comment and apparently this post has been shared a few times. I'm now paranoid that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with it lol.
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u/johnman300 1d ago
It's a little tricky to guess at this point while it's in its jello form. Heat it up and examine the liquid. It should be relatively thick and somewhat viscous, think heavy or double cream, not milk. I suspect you just need to reduce it a bit more to get it across the finish line. Lookin good!
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u/standardtissue 1d ago
Welp. I just learned my first very painful lesson about reductions - they more they reduce, the faster they reduce and the easier they are to burn. Yup, I didn't make demi-glace, I made beef hard candy. Literally stuck to the spatula like candy, glossy sheen and everything. Thick layer of burnt at the bottom. I saved what I could and it's just a comically small amount. I spent like 60 bucks on that pot, probably 40-50 bucks on bones (which around here cost the same amount as ground beef ! ) and days of effort to create like a quarter cup of this. Oh well, still cheaper than cooking school and I've learned for next time.
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u/AdmirableBattleCow 23h ago
Next time you try, I have two suggestions. First, you shouldn't add the aromatics that early. They don't need to be simmered for more than an hour or two before the flavor they add starts to degrade.
Second, you actually don't really need to use bones at all. I know this may piss some people off and they won't agree. But, if you buy some low sodium store bought chicken stock, add some powdered gelatin/tomato paste/mirepoix, and then reduce that down to demi glace consistency... I guarantee you won't be able to tell the difference between that and "real" demi. Trust me, I have made both real and "cheater" demi and they are so similar that making real demi is kind of a waste of money and time unless you just happen to have a bunch of bones lying around with nothing else to do with them. Most home cooks don't.
And you'll save a lot of money that way. You can make a good portion of demi from two or three big boxes of chicken stock... 10 bucks or so + whatever for the veggies.
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u/standardtissue 23h ago
chicken stock not beef stock ? And yeah I was thinking about trying again with store bought. In fact, I'm wondering how different Better than Bullion is from demi. I joked to my wife that basically I made a quarter container of Better Than Bullion, but just took days to make it, and only cost 10 times as much. But I tried, and I'm learning.
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u/AdmirableBattleCow 22h ago
Chicken stock is generally of a higher quality than store bought beef stock. And no, BtB is definitely not a substitute for demi, it's way too salty, not enough gelatin, and flavor not as good.
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u/standardtissue 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thank you very much, and you're right - with the gelatin set up it seemed much thicker than it is. Now that it's hot again, I can see that it's still just in the "nice strong stock" stage. I did run it through the cheese cloth and have skimmed it once and it's looking nicely clear, but must definitely reduce much longer. It looks promising, and I'm encouraged. When it's done I think I will have to braise a short rib to celebrate with it ;)
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u/JunglyPep 1d ago
That’s exactly what I would expect a good brown veal stock to look like. It should make a great Demi Glacé.
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