duxelles

Duxelles, a basic French preparation, can be used as a garnish, stuffing, or sauce. The ingredients of duxelles include mushroom, onion, and shallot. These are finely chopped and sautéed in butter.

Duxelles is traditionally used in egg or veal dishes. But, it is versatile and can be used with anything from chicken to pork.

Instructions for making a basic duxelles:

• Chop mushrooms, onions, and shallots
• Heat a pan to medium-high heat
• Melt butter in pan, be careful not to brown the butter
• Add onions and shallots to pan, sauté until they have some colour.
• Add the mushrooms and cook until au sec. (The mushrooms will release liquid that will evapourate as they cook.)

Now what?

How to turn duxelles into a sauce:

• Deglaze the pan with wine or the appropriate stock*
• Reduce the liquid to demi sec (about half).
• Add some cream. Let simmer. (To cut down on the fat content, half and half will work as well)
• Add some fresh herbs. (ie. parsley, tarragon, chivechervil, rosemary, or basil.) Let simmer.
• If the sauce seems loose, a beurre manié may be used as a thickener.

Using duxelles as a stuffing is quite easy. Use a small knife to cut a hole in one end of a chicken breast, veal or pork chop. The hole should be at least the depth of the knife. Insert two fingers and widen the hole. Using the same two fingers push the duxelles in.

Duxelles can be enhanced by the addition of several ingredients. These ingredients have flavour complementary to mushrooms and onions.

• Garlic can be added to the chopped ingredients.
• Add fresh fines herbes when using duxelles as a sauce
• Cream can be added to a duxelles based sauce
• White wine can be added after the mushrooms' liquid has evapourated. Reduce the wine to au sec. Wine makes duxelles an excellent stuffing.
• Experiment with different ingredients. For example, use different wines. Marsala is a great wine commonly used with chicken. (See chicken marsala.)

*Stock selection is very important. It is wise to choose a stock that will compliment your main ingredient. When using beef, use a beef stock; chicken, chicken stock; etc.