Sauces & Classification

Introduction to Continental CuisineIntroduction to Continental Cuisine

A sauce may be defined as a flavourful liquid, usually thickened, that is used to season, flavour, and enhance other foods.

A sauce adds the following qualities to foods:

•Moistness

•Appearance (colour and shine)

•Flavour Interest and appetite appeal

•Richness

Composition of sauces -

The major sauces are made of three key points .

•A liquid, the body of the sauce

•A thickening agent

•Additional seasoning and flavouring ingredients

A liquid ingredient provides the body or base of most sauces. Most classic sauces are built on one of five liquids or bases

•White stock (chicken, veal, or fish)—for velouté sauces

•Brown stock—for brown sauce or espagnole (ess pahn yohl)

•Milk—for béchamel

•Tomato plus stock / neutral stock —for tomato sauce

• Clarified butter—for hollandaise

•Salad oil – for mayonnaise

Importance of Sauces

•Enhances flavours.

•Some sauces help in digestion.

•It gives moistness to the food.

•Adds colour to the food.

•Served as an accompaniment, sometimes gives a contrast taste to another food.

•Enhance nutritional value of the dish.

Characteristics of a good sauce

• A distinctive texture

• Body and strength

• Balance

• Flavour and aroma

• Texture and finesse

• Nutrition value

• Consistency

• Seasoning

• Right temperature

• Compliment the main dish

Mother Sauces

Bechamel Sauce :

•Bechamel sauce is named after Louis de Bechamel.

•It is prepared with white roux and mildly flavoured with onion.

•The basic ration of this sauce is as simple as – 1:1:10. which means 1 part of butter, one part of flour and ten parts of milk.

•Flavouring ingredients would be – onion, cloves, bay leaf and nutmeg.

Derivatives:

•Mornay: grated cheese and egg yolks

•Soubise: with chopped onions and passed

•Onion: with chopped onions and not strained

•Parsley: with chopped parsley

•Cream: cream, milk, and yoghurt

Veloute or blond sauce:

•It is a basic blond. It is prepared from blond (light brown) roux and white stock.

•Veloute its name from the type of stock used, e.g. fish stock and blond roux – Fish veloute. Chicken stock and blond roux – Chicken veloute

Derivatives:

•Supreme: subtle flavour of mushrooms with liaison.

•Cardinal: scarlet -shellfish stock, lobster coulis and truffles

•Bonne Femme: mushrooms and cream

•Ivoire: supreme with a meat glaze

•Allemande: supreme with nutmeg

•Aurore: supreme with tomato puree

Espagnole or brown sauce:

•Brown sauce is made from brown roux and brown stock, or glaze of brown stock. It is one of the most widely used basic or mother sauces.

•Demi-glaze is a derivative of brown stock and is widely used for the preparation of other brown sauce derivatives.

Derivatives:

•Robert: The King Of Naples-mustard, onions, vinegar & demi glace.

•Bordelaise: Demi-glace with red wine.

•Chasseur: shallots, mushrooms, parsley, red wine and demi glace.

•Diable/Deviled: cayenne pepper, red wine, shallots and demi-glace.

Tomato sauce

•Tomato sauce is basically pureed sauce made of tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil and few herbs.

•In classic preparation the tomatoes are de-skinned, de-seeded and chopped then cooked along with other ingredients.

•Then its pureed to fine texture and cooked till the required consistency my mixing of veg stock.

Derivatives:

•Bretonne - Tomato sauce + sautéed chopped onion + white wine reduced, strained + butter + chopped parsley.

•Tomato Chaudfroid - Tomato sauce + aspic jelly.

•Provencale - Thin tomato sauce + sautéed sliced mushroom + chopped + parsley + garlic + tomato concasse + sugar.

•Portugaise - Tomato sauce + white wine + tomato concasse + garlic.

•Italienne - Tomato sauce + demi glaze + chopped shallots + mushrooms + lean ham + fine herbs.

•Barbecue - Tomato sauce + ketchup + vinegar + sugar.

Hollandaise or yellow sauce:

•It is a warm yellow and rich sauce. It contains a high percentage of fat and egg yolks. Hollandaise is served over grilled or baked fish, vegetables and eggs

•Here, the butter is clarified and then added to the egg yolk n beaten till right consistency.

•Flavouring ingredients are – reduced vinegar with shallots, pepper and bay leaf.

Derivatives:

•Figaro: tomato puree and celery

•Grimod: saffron

•Maltaise: orange juice and orange rind

•Noisette: nutty brown butter

•Béarnaise: chopped tarragon

•Choron: Béarnaise with tomato puree

•Rachel: Béarnaise with artichoke hearts

•Rubens: Béarnaise with anchovy and shrimps

•Veron: Béarnaise with anchovy and spinach puree

Mayonnaise or cold yellow sauce:

•Mayonnaise is a basic cold sauce. It is used as a salad dressing and as an accompaniment.

•It has a wide variety of uses, particularly in hors d’oeuvres and salads.

•It is a rich sauce, as it is thickened with egg yolk and has a high percentage of fat.

Derivatives:

•Aioli: garlic and mustard

•Gribiche: capers, tarragon, chives, vinegar & hard boiled eggs

•Tartare: capers, gherkins, parsley & hard boiled eggs

•Remoulade: tartare sauce with Anchovy.

Proprietary sauces :

•Sauces which can only be purchased from the market and cannot be reproduced in the kitchen, for the fact that its recipe is hidden and safeguarded by the patented family or company.

•These sauce are procured locally or imported, have unique taste and are multipurpose in use.

Compound Butter:

•Compound butters are made by softening raw butter and mixing it with various flavouring ingredients. The mixture is then rolled into a cylinder in waxed paper.

•Compound butters have two main uses:

•Slices of the firm butter are placed on hot grilled items at service time.The butter melts over the item and sauces it.

•Small portions are swirled into sauces to finish them and give them a desired flavour.