Looking for red-wine bacon sauce for steak

[Erik Saltwell]

Years ago I was at a restaurant in Sonoma, CA and had a delicious bacon sauce with Filet Mignon.  The sauce tasted much like a pan reduction sauce but with intense bacon flavor.  Does anyone have any tips on how to reproduce something like this?

[kayb]

I would get some GOOD bacon (Benton, Nueske's, Petit Jean, etc.) and dice it up and render it until it was quite crispy, then take it out and set it aside. Then I'd add a couple of anchovy filets to the skillet, smush those up, and add red wine. Let it reduce by about half, add about as much half as much beef stock as you did red wine, and let it reduce some more. If you want it thicker, you can dip out some sauce, whisk in a little cornstarch, and add it back.

 

[gfweb]

Wouldn't hurt to put some liquid smoke in there too

[Erik Saltwell]

Thanks!

[paulraphael]

You'll probably want to blanche the bacon first to pull out some of the sauce. 

 

The simplest thing, if you have some demi-glace or meat coulis, would be to simmer the bacon along with some shallots in the wine as you reduce it. Then add the glace and any finishing herbs.

 

If you do it with a stock reduction, it won't have as much flavor but can still be good. Make sure it's a good quality unsalted stock. Add to the wine reduction, reduce until the flavors are balanced, and then thicken. Arrowroot starch is an excellent thickener, and is made better by a pinch of xanthan gum.