SAUCES

INTRODUCTION: Sauces can add a wide variety of flavors to meats, vegetables, soups, salads, pasta, fruits, ice cream—almost anything your can think of. Think of a sauce as a liquid (milk, cream, chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable stock) thickened and flavored with ingredients like sautéed onions, garlic, tomatoes, vinegar, mustard, or other ingredients, and seasoned with herbs, spices, salt and pepper.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: To become familiar with several different sauces and how they add flavor to foods.

Questions

  1. Using cookbooks or other resources, identify four recipes that have a béchamel sauce as part of the recipe.
  2. On what other foods would pesto be good?

Quick and Easy Salsa

1 tablespoon fresh jalapeno pepper, finely minced (use gloves to do this)

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves(cut off the stems)

2 tablespoons minced green onion

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 cans (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes, including juice

¼ tsp. teaspoon salt

1. Place the jalapeno pepper, cilantro, onion, garlic, water, and lime juice in food processor fitted with steel blade. Blend on low about 15 seconds, or until everything is well chopped and combined.

2. Add the tomatoes and salt. Pulse briefly to chop, but not puree the tomatoes. Serve.

Yield: About 3 cups

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 3/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces
2 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat, bring the cream just to a boil then add the brown sugar and stir just until it dissolves.
  2. Add small pieces of butter until mix until completely melted, then stir in the chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted, about 3-4 minutes.
  3. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt and vanilla extract; blend until well incorporated.
  4. Let cool for 15 minutes; it will thicken as it cools. Serve over nonfat vanilla yogurt.

Strawberry Sauce

4 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed

1 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

  1. Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Taste and add more sugar, if needed.
  2. Serve over nonfat vanilla yogurt.

Pesto

1 lb box whole grain spaghetti

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

  1. Follow the cooking instructions on the whole grain spaghetti box (cook the whole box).
  2. Combine the basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth.
  3. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese. Serve over cooked spaghetti.

Thai Chicken Skewers with Satay Sauce

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated gingerroot

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons water

¾ cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter

4 green onions with tops, cut into 1-inch pieces

  1. Adjust the rack level so the skewers will be 3-4 inches from the broiler when cooked on the broiler pan. Turn the broiler on “high.”
  2. Soak 6 (10- to 12 inch) bamboo skewers 20 minutes in cold water to prevent them from burning; drain.
  3. Cut chicken crosswise into 3/8-inch wide strips; place in shallow glass dish. (It will be easier to cut the chicken if it is very slightly frozen.)
  4. Combine soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, gingerroot and red pepper flakes in small bowl. Reserve 3 tablespoons mixture; cover and refrigerate. Add water to remaining mixture. Pour over chicken; toss coat well. Cover; marinate in refrigerator for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Meanwhile, for peanut sauce, combine coconut milk, 3 tablespoons reserved soy sauce mixture and peanut butter in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 2 to 4 minutes or until sauce thickens. Keep warm.
  6. Drain chicken; discard marinade. Weave 3 to 4 chicken strips accordion-style onto each skewer, alternating with green onion pieces. Brush chicken and onions with reserved marinade. Discard remaining marinade.
  7. Place skewers on broiler pan which has been sprayed with vegetable oil spray. Broil skewers under broiler until chicken reaches at least 165 °F internal temperature (about 6-8 minutes), turning the skewers over halfway through broiling time. Pour the reserved peanut sauce (from #4) over skewers and serve.

Blender Hollandaise Sauce on Steamed Asparagus

1 lb fresh asparagus, woody parts removed

3 egg yolks

2 tbsp lemon juice

¼ tsp salt

Dash cayenne pepper

½ cup butter

  1. Steam the asparagus over boiling water until tender-crisp.
  2. While the asparagus is steaming, put egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne in a blender jar. Heat butter in a small pan just until bubbly. Do not burn
  3. Cover blender jar and whirl at high speed for 2-3 seconds. Remove center section of the cover and pour in hot butter in thin, steady stream. It will take about 30 seconds to pour in the butter and thicken the sauce. Pour over steamed asparagus and serve.

Cheesy Béchamel Sauce on Stir-fried Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower, broken/cut up into bite-size flowerets

2 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

1 ¼ cups 2% milk

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp all –purpose flour

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

dash ground nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

Dash white pepper

  1. Place a heat safe platter or large serving bowl in a 200° F oven.
  2. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower and stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes, being certain to expose all sides of the florets to the hot skillet. The cauliflower should be tender but still pleasantly crunchy (“tender-crisp”).
  3. Transfer the cauliflower to thewarmed platter or shallow serving bowl
  4. Heat the milk over a medium setting in a small saucepan until almost boiling. Remove from the heat.
  5. Meanwhile, in another medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat (don’t let it darken or burn). Add the flour and whisk constantly for 2 minutes. The mixture should reach a thick paste consistency. (This is a roux.)
  6. Gradually add the hot milk while continuing to whisk the mixture vigorously. When the sauce is blended smooth, reduce the heat and simmer 3-4 minutes, whisking frequently. The sauce should be very thick.
  7. Remove from the heat. Add the cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is melted.
  8. Pour over the cauliflower and serve.

Teacher’s Notes:

  • Salsa is the Spanish word for “sauce.”
  • “Pesto” comes from an Italian word meaning “to pound or crush” which refers to the original way pesto was made—with a mortar and pestle.
  • Satay Sauce is from Southeast Asia, primarily Thailand. The sauce in this recipe is not necessarily authentic, but it’s close and uses ingredients easily found in most grocery stores.
  • Classic French cuisine includes the “Five Mother Sauces”: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomate (good video on making béchamel at How to make béchamel sauce - YouTube; Epicurious has other good videos on how to make the other mother sauces on YouTube)
  • Béchamel (You’ll need to explain this sauce and show the video at the link above in order for students to answer one of the questions.)

Béchamel is probably the simplest of the mother sauces because it doesn't require making stock. If you have milk, flour and butter, you can make a very basic béchamel.
Béchamel is made by thickening hot milk with a simple white roux (flour and fat, usually butter, cooked together). The sauce is then flavored with onion, cloves and nutmeg and simmered until it is creamy and velvety smooth. Béchamel is the basis for some of the most common white sauces, cream sauces and cheese-based sauces. Velouté

Velouté is another relatively simple mother sauce. Velouté sauce is made by thickening white stock (chicken, fish, or veal) with roux (and then simmering it for a while.

  • Espagnole

The Espagnole Sauce, also sometimes called Brown Sauce, is a slightly more complex mother sauce. Espagnole is made by thickeningbrown stock(beef or lamb) with roux. Eespagnole is made with tomato purée andmirepoix(celery, onions, carrots) for deeper color and flavor. Moreover, brown stock itself is made from bones that have first been roasted to add color and flavor.

  • Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise is unlike the mother sauces mentioned so far, but it is really just a liquid and a thickening agent, plus lemon juice. Hollandaise is a tangy, buttery sauce made by slowly whiskingclarified butterinto warm egg yolks. The liquid here is the clarified butter and the thickening agent is the egg yolks.

  • Tomate Sauce

The fifth mother sauce is the classic Tomate Sauce. This sauce resembles the traditional tomato sauce that might used on pasta and pizza, but it's got much more flavor and requires a few more steps to make. First salt pork is cooked to melt the fat out then aromatic vegetables are sautéed in the melted fat. Tomatoes, stock and a ham bone are added, and simmered in the oven for a couple of hours. Traditionally, the sauce tomate is thickened with a roux, but the tomatoes themselves are usually enough to thicken the sauce.

  • Some people say that béchamel and white sauces are the same thing, others disagree!Here’s a recipe for a reduced fat white sauce:

WHITE SAUCE

Type / Milk / Flour / Fat / Salt

Thin1 cup1 Tablespoon1 Tablespoon¼ tsp

Medium1 cup2 Tablespoons2 Tablespoons¼ tsp

Thick1 cup3 Tablespoons3 Tablespoons ½ tsp

Very Thick1 cup4 Tablespoons4 tablespoons½ tsp

  1. Blend the flour and salt with 1/4 cup cold milk. Stir until all lumps of flour have been separated.
  2. Add the remaining milk. Stir thoroughly.
  3. Place the mixture in a saucepan over direct heat:. Stir constantly until the mixture boils: boil 1 minute.
  4. As the mixture boils, add approximately half the indicated amount of fat for type of sauce being prepared: stir thoroughly until the fat is blended into the sauce.*

*Fat may be omitted entirely if desired. This method is not recommended when thefull amount of fat is to be used since it is extremely difficult to emulsify the full amount of fat.

Sources:

Cooking for Dummies by Miller, Rama, and Adamson. Wiley Publishing. 2011

Five Mother Sauces of Classical Cuisine