Sauces

Sauces are a critical component of good cooking. A sauce is some form of liquid that is thickened through mixing with a roux and then heating. That is usually a meat or vegetable stock. Two major thickeners are flour and corn starch.

Types of Sauce

 * Brown Sauce
 * White Sauce
 * Coulis (Tomato or other vegetable sauce)
 * Hollandaise (ie - egg thickened sauce)

Roux
Roux is a mixture of hot melted butter and flour. The usual proportion of butter to flour is 1 to 1 or 2 to 1(usually a little more butter than flour). A cube of butter (2 tablespoons) and a tablespoon of flour will be enough roux to make a sauce for a meal for two.

How to do it:

 * Heat the butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Swish it so it doesn't clarify.
 * Once the butter is melted add the flour, whisk to mix the flour and butter.
 * White roux: cook until the mixture foams - stir to prevent sticking to saucepan.
 * Brown roux: cook and keep from burning on bottom until the foam in mixture goes golden and there's a nutty odor.


 * Now you can add your cold or warm stock. Once the sauce starts to bubble it will start to thicken. Check for desired thickness with the back of a spoon (does it run or does it hold). Sauce will thicken more so stop before just the right thickness.

Starch Slurry
A tablespoon of pure starch (eg cornstarch) mixed in with a close amount of water can be added to a hot stock to thicken it.

Once the slurry/stock mixture starts to bubble it will start to thicken. Stop cooking before the desired thickness.

Things to add to a sauce at the end

 * A few drips of white vineger or something sour like brown mustard.
 * Salt to taste
 * Pepper to taste