Grilled Mushrooms with Chasseur Sauce

Chef Harrison was most recently the Executive Chef at Brasserie Brixton in Denver. Now, he's in the kitchen at Alma Fonda Fine, a 1 star MICHELIN restaurant in Denver.

Grilled Chanterelle and Maitake Mushrooms with Chasseur Sauce

Chef Harrison Porter

Chef Harrison cooked this on a Konro grill with binchotan charcoal stacked right up to the grate. So that means we were cooking at pretty high heat. If you are replicating this on the stove or another type of grill, this is going to be some high heat cooking. That’s one reason we used a cast iron skillet for the sauce, because it gives a nice distribution of heat through the skillet. 

What is Chassuer Sauce (Sauce Chasseur)? 

It’s a French “hunter’s” sauce that has mushrooms in it. This sauce is served frequently with rabbit. It’s good on beef too. It might sound weird, but Chef Harrison Porter says it’s great on fish too. The demi-glace and the mushrooms give it a lot of body and umami.

What is Demi-Glace?

Demi-Glace is made from a stock that is usually made with veal bones. You just continually reduce the stock and the flavor concentrates and the collagen in the bones comes out and gives an intense flavor and texture. It will give any sauce a really nice body and will coat your tongue a little bit (in a different way than butter does). In a restaurant, it takes about 3 days to make demi-glace. 

Where Can I Buy Demi-Glace?

Unless you want to make your own demi-glace (good luck to you), you might have trouble finding demi-glace in stores. It’s most likely going to be in the same sections and stocks and broths in your grocery store. Believe it or not, the only place I was able to find it in a store was Williams Sonoma. They have a grass-fed beef demi-glace, chicken demi-glace, and a veal demi-glace. 

Ingredients List

For the grilled mushrooms: 

  • A few fresh chanterelle mushrooms

  • A few fresh maitake mushrooms

  • Kosher salt

  • 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

  • 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 

  • Oil

For the chasseur sauce:

  • A few chanterelle mushrooms, thinly sliced

    A few black trumpet mushrooms

    A few maitake mushroom pieces

    2 tablespoons Minced shallot

    1/4 cup white wine. 

    1.5 cups of beef stock

    1 roma tomato

    3 tablespoons of demi-glace (we used veal demi)

    1 tablespoon cognac (a few splashes)

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter

    1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

    1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon

Chef Harrison Porter

Prep:

For the chasseur sauce:

  • Reduce beef stock down to 3/4 of a cup. You can skip this step, but the flavor of the chasseur sauce will be muted. 

  • Concasse the tomato. Char the roma tomato on a gas burner, in a skillet, or under your boiler. Once most of the skin is charred, transfer the tomato to a bowl of water with ice in it. After a few minutes, remove the tomato and peel and discard the skin. Slice the tomato into quarters. Remove the seeds and the core and then dice the remaining tomato flesh. 

For the grilled mushrooms:

  • Chanterelles: Cut the woody stem end off, then slice the chanterelle mushrooms in half lengthwise. Lightly score the cut side of each mushroom half.

  • Maitakes: Cut the woody stem end off. Keep the maitake mushrooms in large “meaty” pieces. This obviously keeps the mushroom into large pieces that are easy to manipulate – they won’t fall apart – while cooking. It also gives the dish a more “meaty” component. 

  • Prepare grill (if grilling)

  • Mix the tamari or soy sauce and the Worcestershire sauce together in a small bowl.  This is our “magic sauce.” This is going to give the mushrooms a really nice and meaty flavor. 

How to Make Grilled Mushrooms with Chasseur Sauce

Step 1

Season the mushrooms with salt and drizzle with oil. Then use a brush to brush on some of the magic sauce. Add the mushrooms to your hot grill or skillet. Make sure you place the chanterelles cut-side down. Rotate the mushrooms as needed, and brush frequently with the magic sauce. Mushrooms are about 80% water, and char is good. Just don’t burn them.  When you remove the mushrooms from the grill or skillet, brush them one final time with the magic sauce. 

Step 2

Meanwhile, start the chasseur sauce. Heat up a skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and then add the mushrooms. Stir to coat the mushrooms in the oil and then season with a pinch of salt. After a few minutes add the minced shallot and season with another pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Remember to stir frequently so that nothing burns. Once the shallots are soft, add the white wine and about 1/2 cup of reduced beef stock* and stir to deglaze. Once the alcohol has cooked out (this should be about a minute or so. You can always breathe in the steam coming off of the sauce, and if alcohol vapors are present you will know it.)

Step 3

Add the concassed tomato and stir. Now add the demi-glace. Stir well to incorporate. Then add a few splashes of cognac. Stir well. Add the butter and incorporate. If the sauce is a little too thick, add a little beef stock to thin it out. Add the herbs. Stir and then taste. Adjust seasoning to your liking. 

Step 4

To plate, lay down two spoonfuls of the chasseur sauce. Top with the grilled mushrooms. Then top the grilled mushrooms with a little more chasseur sauce.