Glossy French sauce of simmered red wine and shallots finished with cold butter for silky richness and bright acidity.
For best results, use a good-quality dry red wine you would drink—avoid cooking wines with added salt. The sauce reduces by half, concentrating wine acidity and shallot sweetness. Do not skip this step.
Serve immediately after finishing with butter; the sauce will not hold well if made more than 15 minutes ahead. Strain before mounting butter to ensure a silky, refined texture without visible solids.
Ingredients
Scale
Measurement units
- 1 ½ cups red wine (dry red wine such as Pinot Noir or Côtes du Rhône)
- 4 medium shallots
- ½ cup beef or chicken stock
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 black peppercorns
- 4 tbsp cold unsalted butter
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Ingredients
Scale
Measurement units
- 1 ½ cups red wine (dry red wine such as Pinot Noir or Côtes du Rhône)
- 4 medium shallots
- ½ cup beef or chicken stock
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 black peppercorns
- 4 tbsp cold unsalted butter
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Prepare aromatics
Mince 4 medium shallots into small, uniform pieces.
Gather 2 sprigs fresh thyme (2 sprigs), bay leaf, and black peppercorns.
Reduce red wine
Pour red wine (1 ½ cup) into a saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add minced shallots, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, and black peppercorns.
Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered until wine is reduced by half and shallots are very soft, about 12–15 minutes.
Equipment: saucepan
Add stock and continue simmering
Stir in 0.5 cup stock.
Simmer for 3–4 minutes to marry flavors.
Strain sauce
Remove from heat and pour sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean saucepan, pressing gently on solids to extract liquid; discard solids.
Equipment: saucepan, fine-mesh strainer
Mount with butter
Return strained sauce to low heat (do not boil).
Remove from heat and whisk in 4 tbsp cold cubed butter one piece at a time, whisking constantly until fully incorporated and sauce is glossy and silky.
Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Equipment: whisk
Serve
Pour warm sauce over steaks or other proteins immediately.
Before you cook
Cook notes
- • For best results, use a good-quality dry red wine you would drink—avoid cooking wines with added salt.
- • The sauce reduces by half, concentrating wine acidity and shallot sweetness. Do not skip this step.
- • Strain before mounting butter to ensure a silky, refined texture without visible solids.
- • Monter au beurre (mounting with butter) must happen off heat to prevent the sauce from breaking; add butter gradually while whisking.
- • Serve immediately after finishing with butter; the sauce will not hold well if made more than 15 minutes ahead.
- • If sauce breaks or becomes grainy, whisk in 1 tbsp cold water off heat to re-emulsify.
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