Spare Spoons Kitchen
Madeira Pan Sauce
for ham or beef
A glossy amber pan sauce — real Madeira reduced with shallot and stock, then finished with cold butter until it shines and clings. It builds right in the pan while a ham steak or a beef tenderloin rests, and it's ready by the time the meat is.
Ingredients
Method
Cook's notes
Made for a quick ham-steak dinner — it's just as good over seared beef tenderloin, filet mignon, pork chops, or roast chicken. Any mild, savory meat that likes a rich, winey sauce.
Use real Madeira, not “cooking Madeira.” A medium-dry Rainwater (Broadbent Rainwater is widely sold, around $18) or a dry Sercial is what you want — find it in the fortified-wine section near the sherry and port. Skip the supermarket bottles labeled “cooking Madeira” (like Holland House); they're salted and flat. It keeps for months after opening, so one bottle covers many dinners.
Go easy on the salt. Ham and Madeira both bring salt to the party — taste the finished sauce before you add any.
For a classic sauce Madère, brown 100 g of sliced cremini mushrooms with the shallot before the wine goes in.
Julia's creamy version: stir 2–3 tablespoons of heavy cream in with the stock for a softer, ivory sauce — lovely over ham.
Want it thicker? Whisk in a slurry of ½ tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp cold water while it simmers, then finish with the butter.
Don't let it break. Cold butter whisked in off the heat is what makes it glossy; boiling it after the butter goes in can turn it greasy.
Easier, if you like
- No time to reduce stock? Melt a tub of More Than Gourmet Classic French Demi-Glace Gold (1.5 oz, in the sauce or soup aisle at Kroger, Whole Foods, and Albertsons, about $4) into the reduced Madeira instead of the stock — it's concentrated roasted veal-and-beef stock, so you get the deep restaurant flavor in one step. Reduce to taste and finish with the butter.
Gluten-free; easy vegetarian and dairy-free
Gluten-free: naturally — just use a gluten-free stock (wine, including Madeira, is typically gluten-free).
Vegetarian: use a rich vegetable or mushroom stock and spoon it over seared mushrooms, roasted cauliflower, or lentil steaks.
Dairy-free: finish with a spoon of olive oil instead of the cold butter — a little less glossy, still very good.
No Madeira? A dry sherry (like a fino or amontillado) is the closest stand-in; Marsala works too, but it's sweeter, so leave out any tomato paste and taste as you go.