Clay's Kitchen : Sauce and Stock Recipes

Sauce and Stock Recipes

Chasseur Sauce

Chasseur is French for hunter. It is a hunter-style brown sauce consisting of mushrooms, shallots, and white wine (sometimes tomatoes and parsley). It is most often served with game and other meats. Chasseur, or "Hunter Style" was meant for badly shot game or tough old birds. The birds were always cut up to remove lead shot or torn parts, and often cooked all day on the back of the range if they were old or tough. Originally the veggies used were ones hunters would find while they hunted. This can be scaled up.

It is thought that Chasseur sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623), Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s. He was a great protestant writer and called the protestant pope. It is said that he also invented Mornay Sauce, Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.^[1]

1 ½ quart demi glace
2 ½ pounds button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup shallots, brunoise ^[2]
olive oil, as needed
2 cups white wine
2 cups red wine
3 cups Roma tomato, seeded, peeled, cut into small dice
½ cup Italian flatleaf parsley, minced
kosher salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Sauté shallots and mushrooms in olive oil. Add both wines and reduce until almost dry. Add demi-glace and simmer for 15 minutes, skim the surface as needed. Add tomato and parsley, season as needed. If needed, thicken with arrowroot or thin with vegetable stock.

¹ From What's Cooking America, History of Sauces
² Brunoise is a method of food preparation in which the food item is first julienned and then turned 90° and diced again, producing cubes of a side length of about 3 mm on each side or less.

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