Decorate Your Holiday Bird With This Two-Ingredient Sauce
Steaks are often cooked with compound oil, but poultry deserves a special oil. Once the festive bird is sliced and served, it all happens on its own – it’s left to speak for itself and rely on what is hopefully a fantastic cooking method. For a suggestion that complements (or saves) any poultry option, serve your guests with poultry boned in roasted sage and salted brown butter, an ultra-simple sauce with tons of flavor.
Gravy can be great, but not everyone likes a thick, gooey sauce. On the part of the cook, it is easy to spoil, and sometimes it may lack flavor. Plus, all that churning, making the sauce, and waiting for drips from the pan. I’m already tired. This fried sage butter sauce is quick to make and incredibly flavorful. The sage is fragrant but softer than the raw twig, and the toasted butter is in a league of its own. It’s nutty, with toasty notes combined with almost caramel tones, and of course it’s still a salty butter. You can make it in a matter of days, and it boasts such intense flavors that you only need a small spoonful per serving. If you’re worried about how dry your turkey or chicken can get after frying, this butter sauce is an easy way to spice them up with a little moisture just before serving. As an added benefit, it’s even good chilled as a spreadable option for buns (which is a big bonus given that cold sauce wiggles make me feel insecure at best).
Start by melting and browning a piece of salted butter in a small saucepan or saucepan over medium heat. If you only have unsalted butter, adding ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt at the end is fine. The butter will be pale yellow, it will bubble and foam, and you will start to see milk solids settle to the bottom of the pan. Shake or stir occasionally. As soon as you notice the lather turning a light brown hue, toss in a handful of fresh sage leaves. Add the sage so that each leaf begins to fry evenly. Turn them as needed to cook them through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. The sage will curl up and become brittle. Don’t worry if they break; that’s the plan anyway. Butter browns in about five to seven minutes, and sage toasts in about one to two minutes; giving you 95% ready sauce in less than 10 minutes. Quite good.
For now, you have options. You can pour this oil into a serving dish and leave the sage whole or almost whole. If you want more sage in each spoon but want to see recognizable sage chunks, break up the roasted sage by hand with a spoon in a measuring bowl or small bowl and serve. For maximum coverage in each scoop, let the oil cool for 5-10 minutes. Pour the butter sauce into a measuring cup and use an immersion blender to blend three or four times. This will be enough to break the sage into small pieces. This is my preferred presentation because I love it when bits of sage seep into every crevice of my roast. Lay out the roast slices and serve. Any leftover sauce can be poured into a small jar and placed on the table as a condiment for guests to serve as they wish.
This sauce is absolutely insane for turkey, chicken, duck, or whatever poultry you’re working with, but I’d be irresponsible if I didn’t mention how good it is for beef and pork as well. Besides meat, be sure to consider tossing roasted pumpkins in as soon as they come out of the oven. This recipe can be doubled or tripled. One stick of butter will make a little less than half a cup of butter sauce. Store leftover sauce covered in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Roasted sage in salted brown oil
Ingredients:
- 1 pack of salted butter
- A handful of sage leaves (about 20-30)
Cut a piece of butter into small pieces and place in a saucepan or medium sized saucepan. Melt butter over medium heat and stir occasionally. Let the butter continue to cook until it begins to brown. Add the sage leaves to the oil and stir for one to two minutes until all of the sage is curled and crispy. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it sit for five to ten minutes. Break the sage into medium or small pieces, as you like. Sprinkle over meat, toss with vegetables, or serve as a condiment to food in a small bowl or jar.