Gordon Ramsay’s Red Wine Reduction

I love Filet Mignon. The tenderloin in general is just a wonderful cut of meat. One of my all time favorite sauces to have with it, is a red wine reduction. When it comes to food, I trust just about anything that Gordon Ramsay does, especially his steak sauces. Here’s how he prepares a red wine sauce that includes a secret ingredient I never thought to use – Balsamic Vinegar.

If you are in the mood for a different type of steak sauce, perhaps one that uses Cognac instead of red wine, check out my recipe for a Peppercorn Sauce!

Ingredients

1 medium sized shallot
3 medium sized garlic cloves
3 sprigs rosemary
1½ cups red wine
5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1½ cups beef stock or broth
4 tbsp butter
2 6oz filets

How to Prepare

The first thing we want to do is get all of the vegetables prepped and in place. We’re only working with a few so there isn’t too much to do. But we want them to be ready so we can start the sauce right as the steaks come off the skillet. To start, chop up one shallot. That should be plenty. If you are in the market for a good knife, check out William’s Sonoma’s Shun Hikari 8” Chef’s Knife! The size of the shallot dice doesn’t matter too much but I tend to think the smaller the better, but we’re going to fine strain this at the end so it really doesn’t make much of a difference. Then we want to pull out 3-4 cloves of garlic. I will use these not only for the steak but also with the sauce so just keep a few on hand ready to go. I am not going to dice these. We’re actually going to leave the garlic whole so we can microplane them into the sauce as it’s cooking. We’ll also want to make sure to have a few sprigs of rosemary on hand, that’s going to add an earthy flavor profile to the dish.

What Cut of Steak should you use?

You can use any cut of steak with this sauce, but of course, I always lean towards the tenderloin. Filet mignon is just a lovely cut. It’s lean cut, meaning it lacks fat, meaning it’s slightly less flavorful, which makes it a wonderful candidate for a sauce.

A good cut of steak doesn’t need to be loaded down with a ton of spices. In my opinion, salt and pepper is all they really need. I am going to generously season both sides of the filet with salt and pepper, making sure to really rub it in. When we sear this we want it to develop a nice flavorful crust. I’ll even coat the sides a little bit by just dabbing my board with the excess.

Searing the Steak

Heat up your skillet, add some olive oil. Make sure to bring that to temperature before throwing the steaks on. We want the oil glistening while just starting to smoke. Depending on the size of the steak we will cook these using two different methods. For steaks around 6 oz, we can get away with just using the skillet. If they were any thicker than this we would sear in the skillet, then transfer to oven to finish cooking.

After getting some nice color on these, flip. After the first flip, give it 4 minutes or so, then I’ll add a few knobs of butter followed by a crushed clove of garlic, and a sprig of rosemary. Try not to add these in too early otherwise they will just burn. I like to wait until the steaks are around 60-70% cooked before adding. Baste the steaks with all that flavorful butter. I like my steaks medium rare so once these hit 130-135F, I’ll take them off to rest.

Making the Red Wine Reduction

As soon as those steaks come off, dump out some of the cooked butter and add some fresh olive oil. Let that come back up to temperature and add the shallots. Then use a microplane for the garlic.

Adding garlic by this way is a wonderful way to optimize the flavor of the sauce. Make sure to constantly move them around in the pan so they don’t just turn to tar. After a few min of letting that cook, add a couple sprigs of rosemary and a few knobs of butter.

As soon as the butter has melted, it’s time to deglaze the pan with red wine. I am using a Cabernet Sauvignon here, but any red will work though. Ill add about 400ml or roughly a cup and a half. Make sure to scrape up all those bits of garlic and shallot that become carmelized on the bottom of the pan. Those bit are going to add tons of flavor to the sauce. I am just going to reduce this for about 8-10 min – you’ll be able to see how much thicker and darker it becomes the longer you cook it.

The Secret Ingredient

Now for the secret ingredient, and it’s nothing wildly out of the ordinary but I never really thought to use it for a reduction sauce – balsamic vinegar. Its rich flavor is really going to add another level of complexity to the sauce. Lastly, add 400ml or about a cup and a half of beef stock. Now as carmy from the bear would say – reduce, reduce, reduce. Let this simmer for about 15 min or so, or until it reduces by about half and it passes the streak test – more on that in a few. If you unfamiliar with the process of reducing, it’s rather simple. Were essentially boiling away some of the liquid. That allows us to maximize flavor while minimizing some of the volume of the sauce. We’re just accentuating and highlighting the flavor of the wine and vinegar here.

The Streak Test

Now for the streak test, take your spoon and scrape the bottom of the pan, if it leaves a streak, then turn down the heat to low and add a few more knobs of butter. Stir that in until fully melted and it’s time to fine strain. You don’t have to strain btw, you can leave in all the chunks if you prefer. Personally, I just like to have a nice, smooth sauce that looks beautiful on a plate but the sauce is just as good when it’s not strained. I’ll try to get as much sauce out of this as I can, leaving a little behind as possible. And here we are. The last thing to do is add a couple more knobs of butter to really give the sauce a nice, silky finish. Go back to your steak that has been resting patiently and slice in half to make sure it’s cooked to your preference.

Time to Plate

Now we just plate. Like I mentioned, this is one of my favorite steak sauces. Defiantly in my top 5, which also includes a classic bernaise, chimichurri, marrow butter, so this is definitely up there. You’ll find that its tangy, sweet, rich, and overall a perfect complement to this buttery cut of beef. Looking for a different way to prepare beef? Check out my recipe for Braised Short Rib Ravioli!