MOTHER SAUCE

Sauces play an important part of all cuisine. Sauces originally came about to mask the unpleasantness of food back when refrigeration was nonexistent. But today sauces have a much more "happy" place on our plate. A sauce is liquid or sometimes semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods.Sauces are not to be consumed alone, they are accompaniments to dishes. Sauces add flavor to dishes, add moisture to drier foods, and they add nutrients. The number of sauces in the world are endless. As long as chefs continue create amazing dishes, amazing sauces will be born. Although there is an endless aray of sauces, there are only five "Mother" sauces. Of these five sauces, any sauce can be created with a few modifications.

Béchamel

The Béchamel sauce is also reffered to as a basic white sauce. This sauce is great for making cheese based sauces. This sauce is very easy to make and is the absolute best for making a great Mac & Cheese. Here's the general idea on how to make this sauce. I will not give exact measurements so that you may adjust it to the amount you see fit.

1. In sauce pan add milk and and onion cloute
2. Allow milk and onion to simmer
3. While milk simmers. begin to make a light or blanc roux ***Important*** Remember it is easier to thin a sauce than to thicken so it is ok if you make too much roux.
4. Remove milk from the heat and remove the onion from the milk.
5. Begin to temper milk into roux wile wisking briskly.
6. Bring sauce to a boil than a simmer
7. Season with white pepper and salt to taste.

   

   
   

Velouté

The Velouté sauce is a white sauce using stock and is great sauce for meat. This is very easy to make. The key is when using this sauce you want to pair it with the same meat as the stock you are using.So remember beef with beef, chicken with chicken and fish with fish.

1. Make your roux
2. Slowly add your stock while whisking briskly.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Simmer
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Espagnole

The Espagnole sauce is a brown sauce. This sauce is widely used in cajun/creole cooking. Make a nice brown roux.

1. In a sauce pan brown your mirepoix with tomato sauce
2. Once mirepoix is nice and brown you will add you stock
3. Add stock to roux while whisking briskly

4. Add Sachet d'epices:* 3 or 4 parsley stems, chopped * 1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves * 1 bay leaf * 1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns * 1 clove garlic, crushed * The above ingredients are placed into a 4" square of cheesecloth and tied into a sack.

5. Simmer for about 1 hour, and skim the surface if necessary.

6. Strain

Hollandaise

Hollandaise is a sauce made with an emulsion of egg yolks and fat.It is generally used with vegetables, fish and egg dishes, such as the classic Eggs Benedict.

Ingrediants

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Salt

1. Vigorously whisk, the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl until the mixture is thickened.

2. Place the bowl over a saucepan or barely simmering water. Whisk rapidly, be careful not to let the mixture get too hot or the eggs will scramble.
3. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. ***IMPORTANT*** do not add butter to rapidly or you will ruin the sauce and have to start over.

4. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt.

5. Serve warm.

Tomato

The Tomato sauce isa great sauce to make in large volume. It freezes well and can be used on various dishes

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

1 diced onion

4 minced garlic cloves

3-ounces extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons dried, crushed thyme or use fresh (double up if your using fresh)

2 (28-ounce) cans of crushed tomatoes

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, but not brown

2. Add the thyme cook 5 minutes
3. Add the tomatoes.
4. Bring to a boil
5. Simmer stirring occasionally
6. Salt and peper to taste

Make sauces and be happy

There you have it the five"Mother" sauces! These sauces are just the foundation to all the sauces you can create. have fun with it and tweek them here and there to your own liking. Cooking is supposed to be fun and an adventure. Before you go off start making your sauces here are a few tips.

• It is always easier to thin a sauce than to thicken it once all ingredients are combined
• Do not rush through the Hollandaise, if you do all your hard work wil go down the drain
• When using a double boiler make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl and the water is at a low simmer not boil.
• Never let a sauce boil after the egg yolks are added as the sauce may curdle.

British cusine

Gravy is a traditional sauce used on roast dinner, which (traditionally) comprises roastpotatoes, roast meat, boiled vegetables and optional Yorkshire puddings. The sole survivor of the medieval bread-thickened sauces, bread sauce is one of the oldest sauces in British cooking, flavored with spices brought in during the first returns of the spice missions across the globe and thickened with dried bread. Apple sauce, mint sauce and horseradish sauce are also used on meat (pork, lamb and beef respectively). Salad cream is sometimes used on salads. Ketchup (also called red sauce in some parts of Britain) and brown sauce are used on more fast-food type dishes. Strong Englishmustard (as well as French or American mustard) are also used on various foods, as is Worcestershire sauce, the successor to the fermented and highly flavored ancient Romanfish sauce garum. Custard is a popular dessert sauce. Some of these sauce traditions

Italian cuisine

Most popular Italian sauces are intended for pasta and there are a wide variety of them, because each one comes from a different region of Italy. The majority of them are red sauces such as siciliana from Sicily, pescatora, napoletana and pizzaiola from Naples, amatriciana and arrabbiata from Rome, ragù from Bologna; true pesto is a green sauce based on basil, traditional in Genoa. Many of them are based on olive oil and garlic. When Italians cookpasta al forno (baked pasta) they often add besciamella (Béchamel sauce) to the basic sauce, only to give mildness to the recipe. In recent times white sauces, with cream, are growing in popularity: among them alfredo is not really Italian, but typical of Italo-Americans. In northern Italy there are popular sauces served with mixed boiled meat such asbolognese. In Italy other kinds of sauces exist such as salsa rossa a tomato sauce a little hot;salsa verde based on parsley; and mostarda, syruped fruits flavored with mustard.

vinaigrette recipe

An essential skill involved in salad mastery is the making of vinaigrettes. This is an emulsion of vinegar and salad oil, which is given flavor through a blend of herbs and spices, as well as other ingredients. It is typically served as salad dressing, although it can also be utilized as a sauce for some dishes. Most vinaigrette recipes require the addition of three parts of oil at room temperature to a single part of vinegar. This is done through the use of a whisk, and is continued until the mixture turns into an emulsion and the appearance of a creamy sauce. A blender can also be used for this purpose. To add flavor, salt, pepper, and herbs are added to the mix. Depending the type of vinaigrette and vinaigrette recipe, olive oil and wine vinegar are added, or in some cases, mustard, egg yolk, or even honey. The last three elements keep the acid and the oil in the emulsion. Another variety called balsamic vinaigrette which involves the use of seasonings like chopped onion and olive oil, added into balsamic vinegar. To vary the taste, different types of vinegar may be used. In fact, some vinaigrettes make use of alcohol instead, such as champagne or sherry. There are also unique additives that can be utilizes, such as cherries, or garlic. In France, anchovies, truffles, egg white, sugar, or lemons are commonly used. Blue cheese is also a popular ingredient. It is also possible to give the vinaigrette an Oriental twist by combining rice wine vinegar, ginger, honey, and sesame oil. The great thing about making these special dressings is there is no end to possible combinations. By adding or subtracting just a few distinctive ingredients, it could characterize a certain cuisine and cater to any person’s unique taste preferences. As previously stated, vinaigrettes are not limited to salad dressing purposes. They can also be used as flavorful sauce for various meat, fish or vegetable dishes, or even as a marinade. Vinaigrettes are also popular because of their health benefits. They may contain olive oil, which provides a dose of healthy monounsaturated fats, a great contributor in minimizing heart disease and an antioxidant as well. The presence of vinegar helps to control the blood sugar, replaces fats and sodium with more healthy elements, and increases the body’s ability to absorb minerals. VinaigretteRecipe.com offers traditional vinaigrette recipes and the most popular and delicious variations. Because of all the different possibilities, creative cooks enjoy experimenting with making vinaigrettes. Not only do they produce delicious and tasty dressings and sauces, they are fun to make as well. The simple mixture of a good wine vinegar, good olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh green herbs in season is a brilliant start to a great vinaigrette recipe, but only the beginning. Dozens of vinaigrette recipes are a click away. ingredients : 2 tbsp wine vinegar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 6-8 tbspn virgin olive oil 1tbsp mustard 1 clove, chopped onion 1tsp taragon 1tsp parsley The ratio of olive oil to vinegar is 2 or 3 to one - (some do this in a mixing jar with a tight cover, make double or triple the quantity and keep the extra for other salads. Make sure to increase other ingredients in proportion). Shake well. Measure vinegar/balsamic vinegar into mixing bowl. Add optional mustard, minced garlic or ginger, salt and pepper and stir well. Add the olive oil and mix well again. Try different combinations and ratios to best suit your taste. VARIATION: you can add minced shallots and/or parsley - the French serve this with some meats and fish.