Au jus is French for "with [its own] juice"; jus is the juice itself. In American cuisine, the term is mostly used to refer to a light sauce for beef recipes, which may be served with the food or placed on the side for dipping. In French cuisine, jus is a natural way to enhance the flavour of dishes, mainly chicken, veal and lamb. [1]
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Ingredients and preparation
Jus means the natural juices given off by the food. [1] To prepare a natural jus, the cook may simply skim off the fat from the juices left after cooking and bring the remaining meat stock and water to a boil. Jus can be frozen for up to two weeks. Often prepared in the United States is a seasoned sauce with several additional flavourings. American au jus recipes often use soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, white or brown sugar, garlic, onion, or other ingredients to make something more like a gravy. So-called jus is sometimes prepared separately, rather than being produced naturally by the food being cooked. An example could be a beef jus made by reducing beef stock to a concentrated form, to accompany a meat dish. A powdered product described as jus is also sold, and is rubbed into the meat before cooking or added afterwards. Powdered forms generally use a combination of salt, dried onion, and sometimes sugar as primary flavoring agents. [2] Sometimes au jus is used as a form of seasoning for beef dip sandwiches. Sometimes prepared with onion powder, brown sugar, garlic, cloves, nutmeg, and habanero chili oil.
Linguistic use
"Au jus" is often, erroneously, used to mean "broth" (jus) instead of "with broth". This widespread phenomenon yields grammatically interesting sentences such as "All of our French Dip sandwiches are served on a specially baked French roll, dipped in our au jus."[3]
References
- ^ "Justin Quek: Passion & Inspiration", Justin Quek with Tan Su-Lyn, Bon Vivant Publishing Pte Ltd, 2006, Page 30
