This Is The Key To Turning Red Wine Into The Perfect Pan Sauce

A good pan sauce is unforgettable, and it can also be perfect when you use red wine to make it. There's a key, however, to turning red wine into the perfect pan sauce. According to the Executive Chef of Steak 954, Matthew Kreider, that key is love. And, of course, a good red wine reduction. Reducing alcohol is the key to effortlessly elevate wine sauce, after all. Kreider elaborated, "I always put 'love' in my pan to start. This is usually a mixture of thyme, garlic, and shallots. Reduce all the alcohol flavor from the red wine, but try to reduce to a dry pan."

Once the pan is dry, however, Kreider suggests adding another ingredient to soak up all the flavors from the reduction. He stated, "If you whisk in some butter slowly on medium heat, you can make a luxurious feeling and tasting sauce with not much else!"

After you've cooked up the sauce, it's time to pair it with your protein of choice, be it steak or mushrooms. If it's the latter, be sure to use pinot noir to make the sauce, as that is the best type of red wine to use for mushroom sauce. And since merlot and cabernet sauvignon are the best red wines to marinate beef with, reduce either of the two to make the perfect pan sauce for your next beef dish. 

There's room for interpretation when it comes to Matthew Kreider's tip for adding "love" to the pan to make the perfect red wine pan sauce. While he suggest to add herbs and aromatics like thyme, garlic, and shallots to the pan, you can also try using onions, ginger, sage, and rosemary. 

And let's say you don't completely reduce the red wine to a dry pan. You can booze up your next batch of compound butter with red wine. Simply process the cooled reduction with chopped butter in a food processor. Shape and store as compound butter to use to smear over your proteins to add flavor and richness. 

You can also melt the boozy compound butter in a pan to make a quick red wine pan sauce. So, whether you're reducing red wine to the very last drop in a pan or incorporating it into a luxurious compound butter, there's no limit to the richness and depth you can add to your meaty and vegetable dishes.