Sweet and Savoury Sauces
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On Sauces - Sweet and Savoury
The perfect accompaniment to many dishes, sauces are also a wonderful way to jazz up your leftovers - even to present them as special dishes.
A basic sauce is not difficult to make at all, all you need is butter (or margarine), flour and milk. It's what you do to the sauce beyond that which will make the difference.
At one time, people blamed Mrs Beeton, of the early cookbook fame, for the blandness of English cooking. This is the perception because she rarely advised in her recipes on the herbs, spices etc which could be added to dishes. But in her time, she lived from 1836 - 1865, there would have been herbs and spices in most dishes.
The truth is that herbs and spices were to be added according to the tastes of the cook and whatever happened to be available in the locality / season.
Unlike Isabella Beeton, I will not assume that you are familiar with herbs and spices and will make some suggestions as to which can be used in recipes BUT pop along to your nearest deli or healthfood store, wherever they are selling fresh or dried herbs (preferably NOT pre-pulverised in those convenient, expensive little jars) and ask questions about their uses.
Never be afraid to ask for advice or suggestions, most people are only too happy to help and the majority of healthfood stores are run by folks who are keen and knowledgeable about healthy eating.
Get Inventive
Isabella Beeton gives something like 200 recipes for sauces but I will give you just a very few basic sauces on which you can then build your own variations.Eventually, this lens will be associated with a number of recipe idea lenses, mainly aimed at using up leftover food.
The reasoning behind this seperate lens is that it will prevent me from repeating myself at length, giving the same instructions in each lens as I go along. Even so, this lens alone will hopefully give you some ideas for new dishes you can invent.
Yes, invent. According to what you have in your cupboards at the time, with a basic sauce you can adapt for use with almost any dish, you are perfectly capable of inventing your own recipes - and don't forget to give them a name, even if it is just "Mum's Special Stew", and write them down in a notebook.
Better still, make your own Squidoo lens for your recipes so all of us can try them :-)
Quantities and Ingredients
I'm not someone who deals in exact measures, particularly when it comes to using up leftovers. The amounts of any ingredients will depend very much on what you are using up and on your own personal preferences for the thickness of a sauce.
Quantities are not critical in most recipes, proportions are more important. Getting the balance of flavours and nutrition right is a matter of experiment, your idea of 'perfect' and mine will not be the same.
Adding a sauce is not only a good way to blend together various food items, it can also bulk up what is available and help it go further in making a filling meal.
Quantities are not critical in most recipes, proportions are more important. Getting the balance of flavours and nutrition right is a matter of experiment, your idea of 'perfect' and mine will not be the same.
Adding a sauce is not only a good way to blend together various food items, it can also bulk up what is available and help it go further in making a filling meal.
Basic White Sauce for Meats and Vegetables
You need butter (or margarine), flour - plain white flour is best but at a push, any kind of flour will do - and milk.We can get to adding seasonings etc later.
Take a small saucepan and put a knob of butter in it, gently heat it until the butter is liquid and clarifies (you'll see the butter go clear). Remove the pan from the heat and sift a heaped desertspoonful of flour so that there are no lumps in it.
Add the sifted flour bit by bit to the clarified butter, stirring all the time and then return the pan to a lowish heat to cook the flour. Keep stirring during this process so that the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, as you stir, you'll see the nature of the mixture changing in the pan. It only takes a few minutes to cook the flour, once done, remove the pan from the heat and keep stirring for a couple more minutes as the bottom of the pan will still be very hot and otherwise it could cause the mixture to stick.
It is at this point (cooking the flour) that you can add herbs, spices, mustard, whatever you like to flavour the sauce with. You can also add a little salt (if you must) and pepper. Fresh herbs will be better added after the flour has been cooked.
Now take your milk. Little by little, add it to the flour and butter mixture, stirring all the time to ensure that the resulting sauce is smooth and lumpless (if it goes lumpy you can usually save it by zapping it with an electric hand whisk so don't panic).
Once you have blended the milk into the mixture - approximately half a pint with the quantities I've suggested above but you may like your sauce thicker or more fluid, it's fun finding out - return the pan to the heat and slowly bring the mixture to the boil, stirring all the time.
You'll find that as the sauce heats up, it starts to thicken. At any point, if you think it is getting too thick, you can add a little more milk.
Add fresh herbs towards the end of the process.
Congratulations, you've just made white sauce - or whatever fancy name you want to christen it.
White sauce will form a skin on top if left to cool. You can avoid this by placing tinfoil or clingfilm directly on top of the sauce once it is heated. Ideally it should be served immediately but this will let you keep it to one side while finishing the rest of your dinner preparations.
Sauce boats
Pimp My Sauce
The basic white sauce can be adapted in so many ways, you are really only limited by your imagination.
If you want to make it richer, use fresh cream.
If you want to make it a cheese sauce, add well grated cheese to the blended mixture before you return to the heat to thicken.
If you have some chicken leftover, chop it finely and add to the sauce (as above with the cheese) and give it a fancy French name, by the way, this one is great with fries.
If you like mushrooms, fry them in the butter and then drain them off using the butter as directed above to cook the flour. Return the mushrooms to the mix before heating - as above. This one is brilliant on toast.
If you are serving boiled ham with potatoes and, say, broccoli or cauliflower, add a spoonful of mustard to the mix.
If you are serving the sauce with fish, try adding a little fresh dill.
You can add parsley, mint, paprika ... anything you like really ... to alter the flavour of this sauce as without something added it can be a little bland.
If you want to make it richer, use fresh cream.
If you want to make it a cheese sauce, add well grated cheese to the blended mixture before you return to the heat to thicken.
If you have some chicken leftover, chop it finely and add to the sauce (as above with the cheese) and give it a fancy French name, by the way, this one is great with fries.
If you like mushrooms, fry them in the butter and then drain them off using the butter as directed above to cook the flour. Return the mushrooms to the mix before heating - as above. This one is brilliant on toast.
If you are serving boiled ham with potatoes and, say, broccoli or cauliflower, add a spoonful of mustard to the mix.
If you are serving the sauce with fish, try adding a little fresh dill.
You can add parsley, mint, paprika ... anything you like really ... to alter the flavour of this sauce as without something added it can be a little bland.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
When I lived in Edinburgh (30 years ago), I used to frequent a Chinese supermarket. Not one simply run by a Chinese person, this supermarket stocked all manner of delicious food from China along with traditional herbs, spices, wines etc. It was a real delight to shop there.There was a very elderly lady who would often be at the checkout and one day I plucked up the courage to ask her what was the best way to make sweet and sour sauce.
Without hesitation she said - tomato ketchup, brown sauce, demerara sugar and vinegar.
Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. These were not only not the type of products the store stocked, it was not at all the kind of list of ingredients I expected.
But I tried it and it works very well.
I use Heinz tomato ketchup, HP sauce and a distilled malt vinegar.
Take roughly equal amounts of the four main ingredients, ketchup, brown sauce, vinegar and sugar, and a very small amount of stock (or water) and have them ready at hand in seperate small dishes (if you have no small dishes then you can mix them but don't store excess mixture as it can seperate), and have a small amount of stock or water handy.
You don't need a huge amount for this as the flavours are quite strong once blended together.
Normally, I will stir fry some veg or meat, whatever I have, and add the sauce ingredients (sugar last before the stock/water) at the end of the cooking, stirring constantly while allowing it to cook just for a minute or so longer to infuse the veg/meat with the sauce. Add a little stock or water to reach the required consistency of the sauce.
If you wish to have this as a pour over sauce, then first mix all the ingredients, except for the sugar, in a pan and heat gently. Add the sugar once the mixture is thoroughly warm and stir continuously in order to prevent the sugar sticking and burning to the bottom of the pan.
Once it is hot, decant it to a sauceboat and serve.
Of course, you can add some additional flavours to this if you like, for example you could introduce a hint of apple with cider vinegar.
Sweet Sauces - Arrowroot
Arrowroot is a wonderful thing and can be used instead of cornflour, simply substiute arrowroot in the quantities you would normally use in your recipe.Mix the arrowroot with a little water to form a paste and then add more water to thin this and heat gently,stirring all the time.
It is colourless and has no flavour of its own. This makes it perfect for thickening sauces of every kind, not just sweet sauces, and it can be used as a glaze ... add honey and lavish on a ham, for example.
For a sweet sauce, mix the arrowroot - I usually use a couple of teaspoons of arrowroot to a cup of water - using just a very small amount of liquid to mix first to a paste, then thin this with more liquid. Add the remaining liquid, adding any spices, herbs or other flavourings (perhaps a little honey to sweeten if required) to this before bringing to the boil over a gentle heat, stirring all the time.
As soon as it comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir as the sauce thickens.
Be careful not to overboil the mixture as this can cause it to liquefy and lose its thickening properties.
Some sauces you will want to have thick, others you will want of easy pouring consistency. Simply add a little more or less liquid to the mix, according to your preferences.
Arrowroot will also make a very good pudding and is very gentle on the stomach. When my children were little and had an upset tummy I would make them chocolate pudding, using arrowroot as the thickener for the milk chocolate mix and honey to sweeten, it always went down easily and stayed down perfectly. It has a calming effect on the digestive system.
You can make a sauce of any flavour using arrowroot. Juices of any fruits will combine with it, you can use it to thicken gravies, soups, anything at all. You can make it up with water, juice, stock or milk. It is suitable for vegetarians - but always check the ingredients on any pack you buy.
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Do you have any tips to share?
If you regularly use up leftovers and have some tips to share on how a sauce can bring it all together, please share your advice here to benefit others.
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JaguarJulie Sep 14, 2010 @ 6:15 am | delete
- No tips to share, I love to experiment and I would be heavy on the savoury!
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