A mixed-mushroom cream sauce with real depth: dried porcini for the bass notes, fresh mushrooms browned hard for the top. Steak's earthiest companion.
What you need
Ingredients
Servings
4
15 g
🍄 Dried Porcini ›
soaked in 150 ml hot water
200 g
🍄 Cremini Mushrooms ›
sliced
100 g
🍄 Oyster Mushrooms ›
torn
1
🧅 Shallot ›
minced
2 cloves
🧄 Garlic ›
80 ml
🥂 White Wine ›
200 ml
🥛 Heavy Cream ›
2 tbsp
🧈 Butter ›
2 sprigs
🌿 Thyme ›
Add all to shopping list
Mise en place
Before you start
15m
Prep
20m
Cook
35m
Total
—
Serves
Yield: About 400 ml
Equipment
Small saucepan
Whisk
Prep checklist
Dried Porcini — soaked in 150 ml hot water
Cremini Mushrooms — sliced
Oyster Mushrooms — torn
Shallot — minced
3 steps
Method
1
Soak the porcini in hot water 15 minutes. Lift them out (keep the liquid!) and chop.
💡
The soaking liquid is free mushroom stock. Pour it in later, leaving the last gritty spoonful behind.
2
Brown the fresh mushrooms hard in butter — space, high heat, patience — 6–8 minutes; add shallot, garlic, porcini, and thyme for 2 more.
Learn the technique ›
3
Deglaze with wine; add the strained soaking liquid and reduce by half, 3 minutes. Add cream and simmer to coating thickness, 4–5 minutes. Season generously.
From the chef
Notes
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Airtight jar in the fridge, 3–5 days. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of starch-thickened sauces to stop a skin forming.
Freezing
Most sauces freeze 2–3 months; freeze in ice-cube trays for single portions. Emulsified butter/egg sauces don't freeze — they break on thawing.
Reheating
Reheat gently over low heat, whisking; butter- and egg-based sauces split when boiled. Loosen with a spoonful of warm water or stock.
Make ahead
Most sauces keep 3–5 days refrigerated and freeze in ice-cube trays for instant single portions. Emulsified butter sauces are best made within the hour.