A Sauc Study

t

variations,
can add wonder
`ls.
to your

ANNABEL COHEN
Special to the Jewish News

A

TN

1/5

2001

80

recent unofficial poll
revealed that not many
people know the difference
between Hollandaise and
Bearnaise. Sauces that is.
In fact, when it comes to beurre
blanc, they just come up blank.
Sauces can make a meal. After all,
isn't the dressing what makes a salad
great? And nothing enhances plain
old veggies like a wonderful, savory,
saucy accompaniment. Done right, a
sauce will bring out flavors from
meats and fowl.
According to The Food Lover's
Companion (Barron s), before there
was such a thing as refrigeration,
sauces had ulterior motives. Their rai-
son d'etre was to disguise the flavor of
spoiled or spoiling foods, mostly meat
and fish.
It's only fair to say that sauces have
taken up entire cooking tomes. Rather
than try to fit an entire cooking-school
semester in a single page, a quick histo-
ry and recipes can get you started on
learning this culinary art form.

Holland. Bolognese means in
The prime
Marie Antoine Careme was
the style of Bologna, Italy.
known in France as the king of ingredients:
Butter,
eggs,
Other sauces are named for
chefs and the chef of kings. He
milk,
salt,
towns, regions or the inventor.
cooked for all the swank folk
pepper
and
As
you read sauce recipes, the
of Europe and Russia in the
words "roux" and "reduction"
late 1700s through the middle flour.
or "reduce" will also pop up.
1800s and was the father of
Roux and reductions are ways used to
what's known as classic French cook-
thicken sauces.
ing. He practically invented sauce.
A roux is a mixture of fat (butter,
He described "mother sauces."
oil
or other) and flour, usually of
From these, he reasoned, hundreds of
equal
proportions. Flour is stirred
other sauces could be concocted.
into
melted
fat and cooked, stirring
The sauces, which include
constantly, until it reaches various
Espagnole, velouti, Hollandaise, and
stages of "browned." White sauces
bechamel, can take on a myriad of
may contain roux that is not browned
alter egos with the simple addition of
at all, where brown sauces, such as
just one or two ingredients such as
Espagnole, contain roux that's been
herbs, eggs, capers, spices, tomato
cooked longer or until quite brown.
paste, fruit juice, mustard, wine or
Another way to thicken sauces is to
cream.
add
beurre manii, made by "knead-
In addition to these add-ins, sauces
ing" together equal amounts of butter
can be changed by altering the origi-
and flour. This is then added to liquid
nal ingredients, such as substituting
and the sauce is whisked until
red wine for white wine and lime for
smooth.
lemon. Along with a butter sauce
A reduction is basically evapora-
called beurre blanc, mayonnaise and
tion of liquid. As the liquid evapo-
vinaigrette, these seven sauces can
rates, the sauce begins to thicken and
change the way you cook forever.
flavors intensify:
Sauce names can be quite fascinat-
A note about sauces. A saucepan is
ing. Hollandaise means in the style of

best for making them. Though it can
be used for many cooking needs, a
saucepan usually comes with a tight-fit
Ling lid so that heat and steam may be
trapped inside for sauces that need not
be reduced or thickened after cooking.
Secondly, saucepans usually have on
long handle rather than two handles.
That's so one hand is left free to stir or
whisk the sauce while the other holds
the pan firmly on the heat or off the
heat to avoid scalding or burning.
Many recipes call for a heavy
saucepan. In general, it will distribute
heat more evenly than a thin pan,
thus avoiding burning or uneven
cooking.
Many extol the virtues of certain
saucepan materials. While pans range
from cheap aluminum to very heavy
cast iron, the best materials are com-
monly thought to be copper, stainless
steel and enameled cast iron or steel.
That's not to say that a good sauce can
come from a bad pan, and vice versa.
Now that the weather is officially
"cold" and more time will be spent
indoors, it's a good time to head for
the kitchen and whip up a sauce or
two. Not only will you be mastering
techniques that will broaden your
cooking repertoire, you'll be able to
discern and decipher a menu withou
asking the wait staff (who most likel
don't know either) what the heck a
mornay sauce is.

Making Basic Sauces

Learn to make these basic sauces an l
)
you can make any of the other sauce
listed as well. Any good French cook
book will give the extra ingredients
needed to make the variations. Ther
are recipes here where substitutions
will be required to make the recipes
kosher.
Mother sauce 1: Velouti Velouti i
a velvety white sauce made by addin
hot liquid, usually broth, to a blend
mixture of flour and butter and cool
ing until smooth.
Some variations: Allemande,
Supreme, Bercy, Vin Blanc, Demi-
Glace, Diable, Diplomat.
Mother sauce 2: Espagnole
Espagnole is a basic brown sauce
made with meat broth or stock,
onions, celery, butter and herbs whi
have been browned and combined
with a cooked butter and flour corn