Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Original recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon drippings from steak or 1 Tablespoon butter if you have no drippings
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• ¼ cup minced shallots or red onions
• 1 cup red wine of your choice
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme plus more for garnish
• 1 cup beef stock
• ¼ cup roughly chopped parsley leaves
• 2 Tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Reserve 1 Tablespoon steak drippings from your cooked steak in the pan over medium heat. If you haven't cooked a steak, melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a cast iron skillet. Then, add garlic and shallots and saute, stirring until tender, about 1 minute.
2. Add red wine, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and fresh thyme sprigs. Bring liquid to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.
3. Allow the wine mixture to reduce until thickened, approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Remove the thyme from the sauce and turn the heat to low. Whisk in 2 Tablespoons butter.

Notes

• A drinking wine rather than a cooking wine works best for red wine reduction sauce.
• If you are making this recipe and you do not have steak drippings, you can substitute 1 Tablespoon butter to melt in the pan before adding the garlic and shallots.
• When making a pan sauce, always monitor your heat. If the sauce breaks, it is likely because the smoking point of the fat was too high when the wine was added.
• If you notice the sauce starting to break, immediately remove from heat and begin to whisk vigorously.