Minor's Beef Au Jus Concentrate, 16 oz

Au jus is simply the beef's own juice, thin and unthickened, served alongside a roast rather than poured over it thickened into gravy. It is what makes a French dip a French dip, and what belongs in the little cup next to a slice of prime rib. Minor's, the foodservice line from Nestle Professional, sells it as a concentrated paste, so the jar lives in the refrigerator and gets drawn on a spoonful at a time.

Standard dilution is 1 1/4 teaspoons of concentrate to a cup of water, or a tablespoon plus two teaspoons per quart. A 16 oz jar carries about 300 quarter-teaspoon servings, which works out near 75 cups of finished jus.

Beyond the dipping bowl, cooks use it the way a restaurant line does: stirred into pan drippings to stretch them, brushed onto a roast partway through, spooned into a braise or a pot of onions, or worked into ground beef and mushrooms when a dish needs more beef than the beef is giving.