au jus

1 8.5

Meat that is served with its own natural juices or thin gravy

adjective
/oʊ ʒu/

: con jugo

Bill, that's like asking if I enjoy being roasted alive and basted in au jus while a cranberry stuffing is crammed up me.
beef au jus

Examples

The roast beef was perfectly tender and served au jus for extra flavor.
For dinner, we enjoyed a hearty prime rib served au jus alongside vegetables.
They're good, though, particularly the Philly steak, which is filled with Angus beef and vegetables and served with an au jus sauce.

Blog text (17)
The chef recommends serving the brisket au jus to enhance its natural taste.

Surface Forms

au jus positive

Morphology

au + jus

The phrase is compositional: 'au' (a French preposition meaning 'with' or 'in') combined with 'jus' (meat juices/gravy) yields the literal sense 'with juice'. Although borrowed from French, the preposition + noun structure directly conveys the meaning, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer 'served with its natural juices'.

Etymology

Au jus comes from French: au means 'with' and jus means 'juice', so it literally says 'with juice'. Cooks serve meat au jus with its own thin juices or gravy for dipping or to keep it moist, so today it means 'served with its natural juices or gravy'.