Diable

Espagnole over a fierce reduction of white wine, shallot and cracked pepper. Named for the heat, which comes from pepper and not from chilli.

400 ml — brown stock

150 ml — dry white wine

50 g — shallot

8 g — cracked black pepper

20 ml — white wine vinegar

30 g — butter

5 g — salt

Crush the pepper coarsely and reduce it with the shallot, wine and vinegar until almost dry. Ground pepper turns acrid here; cracked pepper stays clean.

Add the espagnole, simmer fifteen minutes and strain. The pepper has given everything it has by then; leaving it in only adds grit.

Mount with cold butter off the heat. Serve it with anything grilled over coals — the sauce is built to sit next to char, not next to poaching.