Red Wine Jus

Name: Red Wine Jus
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 serves
Ingredients: 200g Beef Shin or Chuck; 1 tsp Neutral Oil; 15g Unsalted Butter; 1 Shallot; 2-3 Garlic Cloves (whole); 1 tsp Tomato Paste; 500ml Medium Bodied Red Wine; 2-3 Thyme Sprigs; 400ml Beef Stock; 1/2 tsp Powdered Gelatine; 1/2–2 tsp Cherry Balsamic Vinegar; Steak Resting Juices; Salt and Black Pepper

I love a good red wine jus with my steak, and I think I have created a winner with this one.

John DrummondWritten 2 July 2017

Sliced duck breast on a platter with cherries, a dark jus being spooned over — Photographed in JD’s kitchen

Prep10min

Cook50min

All up1hr

Serves6

LevelEasy

Revised in October 2026: browned beef and real stock for body, a cold-butter finish, and the cherry balsamic added at the end so its fruit isn’t boiled away. The revised version hasn’t been cooked yet. The step photographs are AI-generated, made to look like my kitchen, to show what each stage should look like; they aren’t photos of me cooking it. In a hurry, skip the beef and start at the shallot — about 45 minutes. For the Next Level, make the stock: roast 1kg beef bones with a carrot, an onion and a stick of celery until deep brown, cover with water, simmer 4 hours, strain and reduce by half.

AI reviewed by Grok, Codex & Claude

The method

Seven moves.

Beef, Brown
Oil in a heavy saucepan over a medium-high heat. Brown the beef hard in one layer, 8–10 minutes — deep brown, not grey. Lift it out; keep the fat.
Shallot, Soften
Medium heat. The 15g butter, then the shallot for 3–4 minutes until lightly golden. Garlic for 30 seconds, tomato paste for 60.
Wine, Reduce
Wine and thyme in, the beef back in, and scrape the bottom. Simmer uncovered to about 250ml.
Stock, Reduce
Stock in. A lively simmer, never a hard boil, until the sauce coats the end of your wooden stirring spoon — about 200ml. Stir near the end; catching is bitterness.
Strain
Strain out the beef and herbs, pressing lightly. Using carton stock? Bloom the gelatine in a tablespoon of cold water while the stock reduces, then stir it into the hot strained sauce now. Homemade stock that set to jelly doesn’t need it.
Finish
Off the heat. Half a teaspoon of cherry balsamic, taste, more only if you want it — 2 teaspoons at most. Beat in the cold butter a piece at a time. Resting juices in. Pepper, and salt only if a spoonful on the steak tastes flat.
Serve
Serve immediately, or cover and keep warm — never simmering — until required.