Sauces

• Sauce - is a thickened liquid that is flavored or seasoned to enhance the flavor of the food that it is to accompany
• Sauce - can be sweet, sour, spicy, or savory; may be added to the food to become part of the main dish or used as an accompaniment to the food being prepared
• Sauces - add a variety of features to food such as:

  • complimenting or enhancing flavors
  • succulence
  • attractive appearance
  • additional texture
• A sauce enhances the flavor
• The sauce-like white sauce adds creaminess to firm and dry food thus giving moistness to the food.
• Sauces like mint sauce, and apple sauce with roast pork help in digestion
• The sauce adds color to the food
• Sauce served as an accompaniment, sometimes gives contrasting taste to another food
• Sauce enhances the nutritional value of the dish
• The sauce gives tartness and contrasts / balances a bland food

  Ex: Devil sauce served with eggs gives appealing tartness
• Sauce makes food more plateable
• Thickening agents:

  • Cornstarch
  • Flour
  • Yolk / cream
• Cornstarch - is a flour; it is the endosperm of corn kernels that have been dried and ground (same way that wheat flour is made)
• in England, cornstarch is called cornflour
• Cornstarch - frequently used in Asian cooking and a clear sheen is typical of sauces thickened with cornstarch
• Flour - The traditional roux is equal amounts of flour and fat (butter) cooked together
• The length of time that the flour is cooked depends on the color of the sauce being made
• If cooked for a short time, the roux has little color for white sauces
• If flour is cooked longer, the flour browns and results in darker sauce
• Yolk or cream - added as finishing agents at the end of cooking
• Yolk or cream - the product is never boiled when liaison is added or it would curdle
• Yolk or cream - added to thicken delicate cream or veloute sauces or cream soups
• Mother sauce - "Grand Sauces"
• Mother sauce - five most basic sauces that every cook should master
• Antonin Careme - founding father of "grand cuisine"
• Antonin Careme - came up with the methodology in the early 1800s by which hundreds of sauces would be categorized under five mother sauces
• There are infinite possibilities for variations since the sauces are all based on a few basic formulas
• Mother sauce:

  • Bechamel
  • Brown (demi-glace) or Espagnole
  • Veloute
  • Red or tomato sauce
  • Emulsions
• Bechamel - Sauces that are made with milk and pale roux
• Bechamel - Common sauces in this group include: Creme Mornay and Soubise
• Brown (demi-glace) or Espagnole - Sauces that are brown stock-based such as Brown sauces
• Brown (demi-glace) or Espagnole - Common sauces in this group include: bordelaise, chasseur, chateaubriand, diable, diane, estragon, mayonnaise, madere, madiera, zingara
• Veloute - Sauces that are made with white stock and roux
• Veloute - common sauce in this include: allemande, ravigote, supreme, white bordelaise
• Red or tomato sauce - Tomato-based sauces
• Red or tomato sauces - common sauces in this include: spaghetti sauce, marinara, wide variety of tomato sauces
• Emulsions - sauces that are emulsified such as hollandaise, mayonnaise