Dark basic sauce / gravy

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 2 kg bones or meat from beef, game or poultry
• Oil, for frying
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 onions
• 3 large carrots
• 100 g celery
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 liter red wine
• 3 liters of water
• peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours

Wash the bones/meat if necessary and chop them into walnut-sized pieces. Place them in a large roasting pan with oil and roast them well in the oven (approx. 2 hours). Alternatively, beef shanks or larger bones can be roasted whole in the oven at 160°C fan-assisted oven for 2 hours. Then cut the vegetables into walnut-sized pieces and add them, roasting for a good 30 minutes. Add the tomato paste and roast them lightly. Deglaze the pan several times with red wine, boiling down again and again. Add the water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam with a ladle and reduce the heat. Only now add the spices and simmer gently with the lid on for a few hours until the ingredients are thoroughly cooked. If you have to interrupt the process due to time constraints, simply refrigerate the stock, e.g., leave it outside overnight in winter with the lid tightly closed, and continue cooking the stock the next day. To maintain a good consistency and concentrate the flavor, continue simmering uncovered at the end of the cooking process. Once the bones and meat are thoroughly cooked, strain the jus through a coarse sieve. Then reduce the sauce again by half, strain it through a fine sieve, and pour it into hot preserving jars. Yields approximately 1 to 1 1/2 liters. The jus in the preserving jar will keep in the refrigerator for about three months (closed) and at least six months frozen. Don’t be surprised, the sauce will set in the refrigerator but dissolve again when warmed. This dark basic sauce is the perfect sauce base for meat dishes.