Sauce Class – Now Serving Blood Orange Gastrique Sauce

Sunday is my day off, so I got the chance to make dinner. I bought some blood orange vinegar from Fox and Obel and have been dying to try it. I really encourage you to try different flavors of vinegars and olive oils, little nuances of flavor can really take your favorite dish to the next level.

A gastrique is defined as a sauce that starts with a caramel, deglazed with acid. This sauce goes wonderfully with duck but I made it with pork last night and loved the results.

Caramel, is easy to make, it’s a simple combination of sugar and water. Now I am not talking about gooey candy caramel, this is liquid mixture. Let’s get started.

Blood Orange Gastrique
Served with Pork Chops, Risotto and Sauteed Zucchini and Squash
Serves 4


½ cup sugar
as needed water
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup blood orange vinegar*
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread

In a medium sauce pan, place sugar and enough water to make sugar like wet sand.
Heat sugar on medium heat until sugar mixture is the color of honey.
Remove pan from heat and add white wine and blood orange vinegar, stir continuously.
Place back on heat and reduce mixture by ½, while stirring.
Add chicken stock and reduce until nappe.
Nappe is when you can take a spoon and coat it with the sauce, run your finger thru it and if the sauce holds it’s shape, you are there.
Add Earth Balance Soy Free Butter Spread and swirl into sauce until incorporated.
The term for adding the “butter” or Earth balance is Mount au beurre in French cooking.

* Another way to get the same flavor is use 1 teaspoon of zest from your favorite citrus fruit and replace the blood orange vinegar with a cider vinegar.

I served the gastrique with sautéed pork chops seasoned with salt and pepper, risotto and sautéed zucchini and squash with onions and garlic.

The only bad part about this recipe is I don’t have any leftovers… Enjoy!