isa fluid dressing for meat, poultry, fish, desserts and other culinary preparations.
-- Sauces enhance the flavor and appearance of the food they accompany. They may also addnutritional value.
A sauce may present contrast in flavor, color and consistency. It should not, however, prevail over the food with which it is associated. It should be so pre- pared that it forms a part of the food it accompanies. In most cases a sauce should be of proper consistency to flow readily and provide a coating for the food but not thick or heavy enough to saturate the food or cause difficulty in digestion. A sauce must not mask or cover the flavor of a dish. Poor meat or poultry cannot be disguised by a sauce.
It is essential that the seasoning be correct so that the food product will not be flavorless or excessively flavored. Seasoning is an art learned only through experience, and extreme care must be exercised in the use of spices and herbs until this knowledge is mastered.
Many sauces are derived from the same basic stocks that are used in soup making. Sauce stocks are often reduced in volume by boiling to increase their strength.
Categories of Sauces
There are thousands of sauces varying in name and content. They fall into two basic categories: warm sauces and cold sauces.
The warm sauces comprise the largest group and are served with all types of food. The cold sauces are served with both hot or cold food andare served with both hot and cold food and include various butter preparations that are often associated with shellfish.
The warm sauces are derived from a few leading sauces that are used as a basis for nearly all others. The leading sauces are sometimes referred to as mother sauces. Sauces that are derived from them are termed small sauces.
The leading sauces are:
1) Espagnole or Brown or 2) Bechamel 3) Tomato Sauce 4) Veloute (chicken or Cream fish)
5) Hollandaise
Espagnole or Brown Sauce is made from brown stock and brown roux and is used extensively in the preparation of all types of meat and poultry dishes.
Bechamel or Cream Sauce, while originally prepared from veal stock, is a term now used interchangeably with cream sauce. It is derived from milk and/or cream with the addition of white roux. This sauce is used with all types of vegetables and creamed dishes, including soups, fish, poultry, dairy and macaroni products. While white sauce is made of roux and milk, the term cream sauce is often used interchangeably.
Tomato Sauce is prepared from tomato products, white stock, seasonings and roux. It is used with various meat, poultry, fish, vegetable, and macaroni dishes. It is also used for producing other products with a tomato character.
Veloute Sauce may be either chicken, veal or fish, although chicken is the usual ingredient. A veloute is derived from stock with the addition of light roux and is associated with the product from which it is derived. Fish veloute is specifically derived from a fumet (an essence or rich fish stock or court bouillon in which fish has been cooked). The term fumet is also used for reduced stocks derived from game.
Hollandaise Sauce Although hollandaise is not a basic sauce as such, it is included here
because many of the drawn butter sauces are prepared in the same manner. Other sauces are derived from hollandaise, and it is used in combination with various culinary preparations to obtain a variety if sauces popular in fine eating establishments.
Hollandaise and its derivatives must be handled with extreme caution. Because of their high butter and egg content, these sauces must never be ex- posed to high heat because they will curdle. The temperature at which they must beheld (not over 180°F.) is a natural and prolific breeding ground for bacteria which thrive and multiply best under these conditions. These sauces should be made only in very small quantities and shou1d not be held over from one meal to another. Maximum retention time should not exceed 1½hr. Practice proper sanitation procedures and avoid danger of food poisoning.
Stainless steel cookware must be used for preparation of hollandaise sauce, as aluminum
discolors eggs. Hollandaise and its derivatives are often used with fish, vegetables and eggs.
Meat Glaze or glace de viande is a ge1atinous reduction of brown stock. This quality is due to the gelatinous content of the bones used in preparing brown stock. It is used to strengthentileflavor and consistency of sauces and other culinary preparations. It is also used to coat special dishes before serving, to improve their flavor and appearance.
Meat glaze is made by reducing brown stock in a large saucepan or pot on the range. The stock should be allowed to simmer slowly and then be transferred to smaller sauce pans or pots as it reduces. The pot should be selected to hold the amount of stock used. At each change it should be carefully strained.
Each successive reduction will become heavier in consistency. The heat should be reduced as the product becomes heavier so that It will not burn. If heavy-bottom pots are available, their use is recommended.
When sufficiently reduced, the glaze should be thick enough to coat a spoon. It should be cooled
and stored for future use and should be tightly covered to prevent dehydration or drying out. It may
be kept for an indefinite period without spoilage. When small amounts are made, it does not require refrigeration.
It should now become clear why salt is not used in preparing stock. As the liquid is reduced by evaporation, its salt content remains the same and the finished product would be disagreeable to taste.
Demi-Glace Sauce is obtained by reducing a combination of equal quantities of espagnole and brown stock to half. It is used with small brown sauces.
Thickening Agents Roux (pronounced roo) is a thickening agent used in making sauces,
soups and gravies. It is composed of flour and fat, such as b.l1tter, margarine, shortening,
chicken fat, oil or rendered meat drippings and cooked.
The fat is used in a liquid state and mixed with flour in a definite ratio, usually equal proportions by weight. The ratio will vary at times as flour is not always the same, and different fats have different absorption qualities. There are minor exceptions to this ratio, notably in the preparation of cream soups. Bread flour is preferred for the preparation of roux.
Types of Roux There are two main types of roux: pale or light roux for use in light or white
sauces and brown roux for preparing brown sauces. The degree to which roux is cooked depends upon its intended use. White roux requires only enough cooking to remove the taste of raw starch. Brown roux requires more cooking to obtain the brown color which also imparts some flavor.
The type of roux and intensity of the heat will further determine the cooking time. It may be cooked in a heavy pan on top of the range or baked in a slow oven. Frequent stirring will prevent scorching and burning. Hot cooked roux should be the consistency of moist sand and have a somewhat nutty odor.
Roux is a stock item that is often prepared and kept on hand for general use. Properly prepared roux has excellent keeping qualities and does not require refrigeration if not prepared too far in advance.
Cooking Roux In proper preparation, roux must be cooked prior to its introduction in a sauce, soup or gravy. This eliminates an uncooked or raw flour-starch flavor that often accompanies products made with uncooked roux.
If a product is finished to the desired consistency with raw roux and placed in the steamtable or
bain marie, it will continue to cook under the influence of heat. As the roux cooks in the product,
it alters the consistency, often thickening the product to a point requiring dilution which results in
a less pronounced and often weakened flavor.
Roux may also be overcooked. Starch undergoes a breakdown when exposed to high or
prolonged heat. This is particularly true when brown roux is made. Brown sauces may occasionally thin down when exposed to prolonged time in the steamtable because of the breakdown of the flour starch in the roux. Generally speaking, 5 to 15 minutes should be sufficient cooking time for most roux. Proper cooking procedures will result in products of uniform and lasting consistency with smooth velvety texture.
Smooth sauces and gravies may be obtained when roux and liquid are of different temperatures. The cool roux may be combined with hot stock or cool stock may be combined with hot roux. This procedure may be followed when time is not an important factor and when sufficiently heavy sauce pans are available in whichproducts may undergo prolonged cooking and extremes of temperature without scorching. The process requires time for the roux and liquid to equalize temperatures and to reach the boiling point.
The sauce must be stirred constantly with a wire whip and brought to a boil to fully incorporate the ingredients, to kill bacteria and to produce a smooth velvety texture. The longer cooking process exposes the sauce to danger of scorching and burning if thin pans are used and the product is not stirred continuously.
When Time Is Short If time is an important factor and sauce pans of a suitable nature are not available an equally smooth sauce may be obtained when both roux and liquid are hot, providing the necessary pre- cautions are taken. The stock must be added to the roux in small quantities, stirring with a wire whip to smoothness before additional stock is incorporated. In reverse, small quantities of roux may be added to boiling liquid if the same precautions are taken. The advantage of this method is that the full thicker power of the roux is immediately obtained.
In either method, care must be taken that roux does not settle in rounded areas of a pan that not easily reached by a whip.
Flavor While thickening is one of its main functions, the roux is also in a great part responsible for the ultimate flavor of a finished product. In frying sautéing, fats and oils are often selected because their delicate flavor-olive oil in Italian cooking, nut oil in Chinese cooking. This is also true in the preparation of roux.
The type of fat or oil selected must relate intended use. Chicken fat, although relatively bland in character, has a flavor of its own and greatly enhances the flavor of chicken veloute, fricassee sauce and cream sauce. (Chicken fat is also used extensively in Jewish cooking.) Sausage fats have a strong and definite flavor and are not in general use. However, sausage fat is excellent for preparing countrygravy to be served with sausage. Butter and margarine are recommended for general use.
It is necessary here to differentiate gravies from sauces by the definition that all gravies
are derived from meat or poultry juices extracted in dry heat methods of cookery. The
predominant flavor of a gravy should be the same as the meat from which it is made.
The roux used in the thickening of gravies should be derived, at least in part, from the
meat or poultry, with which it is associated. Fat drippings are used in preparing the roux
in many instances,
each separate gravy being thickened with its own roux, prepared specifically for the
particular purpose-turkey- fat roux for turkey gravy, pork-fat roux for pork gravy, etc.
Cornstarch is a thickening agent which, when mixed with water, juice or stock and
subjected to heat, provides a glossy semi-clear finish to a product. It is used extensively
in preparing many sweet sauces served with meats and poultry and in the preparation of
some dessert sauces. It is also used in Chinese cookery.
Cornstarch should be blended smooth in an adequate amount of cold liquid and added to
boiling or near boiling liquid, stirring or beating to prevent lumping and scorching. A corn-
starch solution may be added to cold liquids and then heated, but this method is most often used with dairy products and in baking. Cornstarch mixes most easily when the dry is added to the wet.
When uncooked, cornstarch sauces will appear cloudy and opaque, but they become clear and glossy when cooked. Cornstarch sauces, like all other sauces and gravies, excluding those containing butter and eggs, should be brought to a boil before removing from heat.
Whitewash Another thickening agent that is some~ times used is called whitewash. It is
composed of flour and water and resembles whitewash in color and consistency. It adds
nothing beneficial beyond thickening, as its flavor can be no different than its ingredients.
Its general use is not recommended.
Beurre Manie (pronounced burr-mahnyay), or manie butter, is used for q quick thickening
agent in some of the small sauces. Four ounces of softened butter is mixed with 3 oz. of
sifted flour and kneaded until well combined. It is pinched off in tiny balls about the size of
a pea and dropped into near boiling sauce and mixed smooth. The sauce to which the
butter is added should boil only long enough to cook the flour and eliminate what might
otherwise be a disagreeable raw flavor. If the sauce boils too long or too vigorously, it will
break or separate.
Liaison (pronounced lee-ay-zohn) is a mixture of cream and beaten egg yolks that isadded to soups and sauces to improve color, increase flavor, improve texture and bind them together. The finished product must be held under 1800 F. or the eggs will curdle.
For this reason a liaison is usually added at the last minute to reduce the possibility of
the eggs curdling. Part of a soup or sauce is whipped into a liaison gradually until all of the mixture is incorporated. By adding a small portion of hot sauce or soup to the cold liaison, the temperature of the eggs is not in- creased too markedly at one time. If the 1iaison is to be added to the soup or stock, the product must be sufficiently cooled to prevent curdling of the eggs.
A rule of thumb ratio is three parts of cream to one part of eggs by weight. Weight measurement is more accurate than volume. As this form of liaison is expensive, its use is prohibitive in many operations. It is used primarily in establishments where menu prices are above average and most items are cooked to order.
To incorporate liaison:
Remove sauce from heat.
1.Correct seasoning and strain if necessary.
2.Combine beaten egg yolks and cream.
3.Whip small amounts of sauce into liaison gradually until certain that eggs will not curdle.
4. Incorporate liaison-sauce mixture with balance of sauce.
5. Hold for service.
Raw Potatoes are sometimes used as a thickening agent in puree soups and are cooked with legumes. The starch from the potatoes is the major thickening factor. Potato starch settles to the bottom of a soup crock if it stands for long periods of time. A small amount of roux is often added to prevent this separation.
Other Thickening Agents Oatmeal, rice and other farinaceous or mealy products are sometimes used as thickening agents. Fresh bread crumbs or raspings are also employed in white sauces such as horseradish sauce.
Arrowroot, which has an action much like that of cornstarch, but produces a clearer finished product, was much in use years ago but is seldom used today. Newer products have been introduced, particularly in the baking area that produce the same results at considerably less expense.