Au Jus Recipe | Easy Sauce Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is Aju sauce made of? ›

Au jus is a thinner sauce than gravy, based on the combination of meat drippings, beef broth, and optional flavorings like soy or Worcestershire sauce. You won't see thickeners like cornstarch, flour, or arrowroot starch in this sauce usually because it's intended to stay much thinner.

Ingredients. MALTODEXTRIN, FOOD STARCH, HYDROLYZED SOY AND CORN PROTEIN, SALT, BEEF STOCK, ONION POWDER, BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, PALM OIL, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF GARLIC POWDER, SOYBEAN OIL, CARAMEL COLOR, YEAST EXTRACT, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SPICES, XANTHAN GUM, SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE), NATURAL FLAVORS.

Although au jus is not intended to be gravy, you can thicken the sauce by melting 1 tablespoon of butter in a microwave-safe bowl, adding 1 tablespoon of flour, and whisking these together. Then, add about 2 tablespoons of the prepared au jus sauce to the butter-flour mixture.

Au jus mix is typically made from a roast, then condensed. Beef gravy mix is made from a roast and thickened with cornstarch. But, you can substitute a beef gravy mix or dry onion soup mix if you don't have au jus mix.

Jus is a specific type of sauce, made from meat juice that has typically been derived from a roast. It's thus typically served as an accompaniment to meat, especially roast beef, which is then known as beef "au jus".

Like gravy, jus (pronounced zhoo) starts with the drippings from cooked meat. Unlike gravy, however, it is not thickened with flour; instead, the liquid is reduced until it reaches the desired consistency, which is usually thinner than gravy.

Au jus is basically a concentrated version of drippings, whereas gravy is the same thing, only it gets thickened using a roux or another type of thickening agent. In terms of flavor, the difference lies with the cook's personal preference for herbs and spices, which dictate how the meat drippings are seasoned.

Can you use brown gravy instead of au jus? Yes! A 1 ounce packet of brown gravy mix can be used in place of the au jus mix. The flavor may be slightly different because there is a different amount of sodium and a different seasoning base, but it shouldn't change the recipe much and it will still be delicious!

Much like French food, which relies on a roux for a perfect bechamel sauce or beef bourguignon and involves butter cooked with flour, Chinese and Cantonese cuisines use cornstarch to thicken sauces. However, it's predominantly added at the end of the cooking process rather than at the start.

Cornstarch: One of the most defining features of Chinese brown sauce is its thickness. You can achieve that great sauce texture by using a flurry made of cornstarch and water. Adjust to fit your desired thickness.

What does au jus gravy taste like? ›

Au jus has a rich, savory flavor that is derived from the natural juices of the meat. The taste of au jus can vary depending on the type of meat it is made from and the spices and herbs used to season it. For example, beef au jus has a rich, beefy flavor with a hint of sweetness from the natural juices of the meat.

The phrase au jus literally means "with the juice" in French. In cooking and dining, it refers specifically to the "juices" that are released when you cook a piece of meat.

red wine vinegar and grape juice are usually good subs. I think perhaps cranberry juice would work too in a pinch. But grape juice and/or red wine vinegar are what I'd go with.

Traditionally, stocks have the flavour and gelatinous collagen-y thickness that comes from cooking bones. Broth was cooked not with bones but with the meat itself. While a jus is a sauce made from the pan drippings, usually from a roast. This simple distinction I learned from Thomas Keller.

Au just sits somewhere between a broth and gravy. It is more intensely flavorful than broth thanks to the drippings, and it is not a standard gravy because it is far too thin. Instead, au jus is a concentration of beef juices that is just thick enough to lightly coat the meat.

Beef broth is made by simmering beef bones, mirepoix (typically onion, carrots, and celery), hearty herbs, and spices in water, to extract flavor into the liquid. Au jus is basically beefed up beef broth. Amplify the savory flavor of beef broth by simmering it with drippings from roast beef (double beef flavor).

The main difference is that au jus is thin and light sauce, while gravy is substantially thicker thanks to roux. Both can be delicious sauces to serve with your favorite meat dishes, but au jus offers a lighter option that complements the beef rather than coating it.