Rich Madeira Sauce

This Madeira sauce with rich umami undertones is a delicious sauce recipe to add to your cooking portfolio. It elevates a roast dinner and tastes incredible with so many dishes and I love how this easy sauce recipe can be adapted in so many ways to suit you. It works with red meat and chicken recipes too so is a great all-rounder, you'll love it!

One of the best ways to add flavor to sauces and risotto is to use the liquid from rehydrating dried mushrooms. It adds the most deliciously rich depth to the jus and will completely level up your dinner. In this luxury Madeira wine sauce, we use the liquid from rehydrating porcini mushrooms which gives the most deliciously rich umami undertones.

We don't actually put the dried porcini mushrooms into the sauce, we rehydrate porcini mushrooms and then use the liquid as part of the sauce base. It gives that rich porcini flavor but means we can use the porcini mushrooms for other recipes, like a pork wellington or mushroom quiche.

Jump to:

• What is Madeira?
• Which stock to use for Madeira jus? 
• How to make homemade stock for sauces 
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Madeira sauce recipe
• Serving suggestions and variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• FAQ
• Recipe Card

What is Madeira?

Madeira is a fortified wine from the Portuguese islands of Madeira. It is strong and sweet in flavor and is often used as a dessert wine or digestif after dinner. Madeira wine adds a rich sweetness to sauces that work well for beef and other red meat like pork or lamb or with mushroom-based dishes. Madeira is a red wine, so this sauce works perfectly as a red wine jus for lamb dishes like this lamp rump roast.

Which stock to use for Madeira jus? 

Use the corresponding meat stock for the dish you are serving the Madeira wine sauce with. For example, if serving this porcini mushroom Madeira sauce with steak, use beef stock. If you do not have different stocks readily available, use chicken or vegetable stock. Here are some helpful notes on which stock can be used for what:

• Chicken stock has a mild but deliciously savory flavor and can be used for all soups, stews, and sauces.
• Vegetable stock can also be used for all dishes and is suitable for those on plant-based diets. 
• Beef stock has a heavier, deeper, and richer flavor and is best used for red meat dishes like steak or beef stews and can also work with venison-based dishes. 
• Game stock has a strong gamey flavor so it is best only matched with game dishes.
• Fish or shellfish stock has a very light and delicate yet fishy flavor so is best for seafood dishes only. This champagne sauce for seafood is a great one to make.
• Lamb stock has a very strong lamb flavor so is recommended for use only in lamb dishes.

How to make homemade stock for sauces 

Stock is made by boiling meat or fish bones (or shellfish shells like crab shells) with water, vegetables like onion, celery, carrot, and herbs like rosemary or thyme. If making meat stock we boil the bones, vegetables, and herbs for several hours depending on the animal, but for fish stock, only 30 minutes to an hour is needed. You can use cooked or uncooked bones, and the better quality of the bones the better the stock will be.

The best stocks go really solid and gelatinous when chilled due to all the collagen in the bones.  If there is meat on the bones as well when you boil them, you will be making a broth rather than a stock, and the two are often used interchangeably in cooking.

If you are vegetarian and want to make vegetable stock, simply omit the bones and just use vegetables and herbs with water.  I like to add old Parmesan rinds too to add umami flavor! Do not use vegetables from the brassica family like broccoli in vegetable stock as they can make it taste bitter.

Jump to:

• What is Madeira?
• Which stock to use for Madeira jus? 
• How to make homemade stock for sauces 
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Madeira sauce recipe
• Serving suggestions and variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• FAQ
• Recipe Card

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this easy Madeira sauce recipe.

Beef stock

• Beef bones: Use high-quality, raw bones for meat stock.
• Water: Tap water is fine!
• Onion: I use yellow or white onions, but you can use red onion if you prefer.
• Celery: Celery adds flavor to the stock.
• Carrot: Similarly, carrots add flavor and depth to the stock as well as added nutrition.
• Bay leaves: You can use fresh or dried Bay leaves. Bay leaves are a cooking staple, it is a good idea to grow a Bay tree in your garden if you can so that you have an endless supply!
• Parsley: Parsley is a great all-round herb
• Salt and pepper: Salt is a flavor enhancer and pepper is a spice, and they work perfectly together to elevate any dish.

Alternatively, you can use a store-bought stock for this Madeira wine sauce recipe.

Madeira sauce ingredients

• Madeira wine: You can buy Madeira wine in larger grocery stores, online, or in liquor stores.
• Dried porcini mushrooms: If you cannot find dried porcini mushrooms, dried wild mushrooms will be fine.
• Shallot: Shallots have a lighter, sweet taste than onions so are perfect for sauce recipes.
• Unsalted butter: Always use good quality unsalted butter in cooking to control the level of salt.
• Fresh or dried thyme: If using dried thyme, use half the amount of fresh thyme.
• Heavy cream (optional): If using cream in this sauce, get a high-quality heavy cream (or double cream)
• Salt and pepper

See the recipe card for the full instructions and quantities.

Instructions

Beef stock

1. Prepare a large saucepan big enough for all the bones to be covered by the liquid. 
2. Place the beef bones into the saucepan with all of the other stock ingredients.
3. Pour in the water, bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hours. Add more water as and when necessary.
4. Remove from the heat and strain the beef stock through a sieve covered in a piece of muslin cloth into a large bowl or jug. Wait for it to settle and skim off any fatty residue from the top. 

Madeira sauce recipe

1. Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in boiled water for 15 minutes and then strain and reserve the water.
2. Finely dice the shallot.
3. Sautee the shallot in butter in a saucepan over medium heat until softened.
4. Pour in the Madeira wine and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the volume by a third.
5. Pour in the Porcini mushroom water and beef stock, add the thyme and bring back to a boil and reduce down by half.
6. Season the Madeira sauce at this stage with salt and pepper. 
7. Sieve the Madeira jus to remove the shallot, return to the pan, and heat gently to bring the temperature back up to just below the simmering point.
8. Turn the heat off and whisk a few extra cubes of cold butter into the Madeira sauce to get a smooth and glossy finish.

Top tip: If adding cream and making a Madeira cream sauce, add it at the end and bring it back to a simmer for 5 more minutes.

Serving suggestions and variations

A decadent and rich Madeira sauce is perfect if you're looking for a sauce to serve with winter food. You can also stir in heavy cream at the last minute to turn it into a Madeira cream sauce.

You can also add sauteed mushrooms to add more texture and added mushroom flavor.

And if you don't have Maderia wine to make sauce, you can use Port instead for an equally rich and decadent Madeira jus. Normal red wine will work as well, although the flavors won't be as intense and less sweet.

Equipment

You only need a few bits of equipment to make this rich Madeira sauce. All you need is a saucepan, a sieve and a measuring jug. That's it!

And a good set of knives will always do you well, I use Robert Welch knives which are of fantastic quality and value.

Storage

Store leftover rich Madeira sauce in an airtight container in the fridge and consume within 2-3 days. reheat thoroughly before use. You can also freeze Madeira jus easily in a large ice cube tray to create personal-size portions for use at a later date or in Tupperware.

FAQ

Other recipes to try

Recipe Card