I'm making a red wine, garlic, onion, butter, oregano, sauce to go with steaks and......

K

karennoca

Well-known member
am reducing the sauce by half. It then calls for straining all the solids out of the sauce, returning to pan and adding the rest of the butter. My question is...what is the purpose of removing the solids? I rather like onion with steak. So it it only to serve a smooth sauce with the steak and no other reason?

 
Sounds like it's the only reason. I'm assuming you saute the garlic and onion before adding

the wine, etc. to reduce.

 
Yep, done the correct way...was just wondering about the reason to remove solids...

it tastes great right now, even without adding the extra butter and removing the solids. I will add the extra butter...just because...and to bring the sauce together. The onions are great too.

 
I agree it is the only reason. If you like texture, leave in the solids. But they will probably have

given up all their flavor so it would taste the same either way.

I would probably prefer the rustic effect of leaving the onions and herbs in.

 
Making food fancy...

As others said, the idea is to "refine" the sauce. By straining it, you refine it.

This all came about because

Smooth = elegant (requires more time, equipment, labor, signifying wealth).

Chunky = Rustic (peasant food).

I was in a class for creating healthier versions of fat-laden favorites. The instructor had an assistant from the local culinary academy, who of course is trained in the classic tradition.

The assistant was asked to prep some tomatoes for a dish, and she started off doing it as they do in school, peeling the tomato, deseeding, removing all of the jucies, and leaving just the actual tomato flesh to go into the recipe.

The instructor screamed: "What are you doing? You're killing the tomatoes!" She of course wanted all of those nutrients in her dish that the student was removing.

 
I do like the rustic side by leaving the solids in.....besides

at my age, I am learning to leave out steps that just require extra work, extra clean up. It was a beautiful dish.

 
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