sauces and thickening agent

Sauces:       

Sauces are liquid or semi liquid mixtures. A keen sense of smell, delicate sense of taste, a light, strong hand for the blending- all contribute to a perfect sauce. It provides moisture, colour & shine to food.

Importance of sauces in food preparation: 

1.      Enhances flavours.

2.      Some sauces help in digestion e.g. mint sauce.

3.      It gives moistness to the food e.g. white sauce.

4.      Adds colour to the food e.g. tomato sauce.

5.      Served as an accompaniment e.g. cranberry sauce with roast turkey.

6.      Enhances nutritional value of the dish.

7.      Dresses and compliments food.

8.      Gives tartness and contrast or balances bland food.

9.      The holding temperature for warm emulsion sauce is 30 to 37deg C .

10.  A liaison thickens at 80 to 88 degree C.

11.  4 L of sauce yield 80 portions.

12.  The service temperature of hot sauce is 85 degree C.

Types of sauces:

Basically there are two types of sauces

1: proprietary sauces

2: contemporary sauces

Proprietary sauces: these sauces are made in factories ,there recipes are hidden that is why they maintain same qualities in terms of flavour aroma colour and consistency.

Examples are- Worcestershire sauce, HP sauce tabaseo sauce.

Contemporary sauce:  contemporary sauces are those sauces  can be made in the kitchen ,there recipes are not hidden that is why there taste colour consistency may vary a bit. There are three types of contemporary sauces-

1- mother sauces or basic sauces.

2- butter sauces

3- A class of there own

Mother sauces: these are the main basic sauces , from which all the other sauces are derived addition of various ingredient to these basic sauces creates an array of sauces which accompany various dishes, giving them there identity.

The following are the basic six mother sauces:

1- béchamel or white sauce- béchamel sauce is named after Louis de  béchamel, it is prepared with white roux and mildely flavoured with onion.

2- veloute sauce: it is a basic blond sauce. It is prepared from blond (light brown) roux and stock. Veloute gets its name type of stock used

 for example: fish stock and blond roux will make fish veloute , Chicken stock and blond roux will make chicken veloute.

3-  Brown or Espagnole sauce:  brown sauces made from brown roux and brown stock or glaze of brown stock. It is one of the most widely use basic or mother sauces.

Demi glaze is derivative of brown sauce it is prepared by mixing  1 litre of brown sauce and 1 litre of brown stock reduced to half (1 litre)

4- hollandaise sauce(dutch sauce): it is warm yellow and rich sauce it contain a high percentage of fat and egg yolk .it is an emulsion of butter lemon juice and egg yolk.

NOTE : If hollandaise turns or curdles or is too thick , beat in a little hot water , a little at a  time. If too thin , add a tea spoon of lemon juice to a table spoon of the sauce in a warm bowl and whisk until it is thick . then add the remaining mixture at a a time, whisking all the time. If this method does not rectified the same , then in a clean bowl add egg yolk, a few drops of hot vinegar and whisk while adding the curdled hollandaise.

5: tomato sauce: it is red kitchen sauce and has some piquancy . tomato sauce is more commonly associated with Italian cusine.

6. mayonnaise:  it is basic cold sauce ,it is used as a salad dressing and as an accompaniment it has a wide variety of uses ,it is a rich sauce as it is thickend with egg yolk and has a high percentage of fat.

NOTE:  If mayonnaise sauce turns or curdles

,1. take a clean bowl, add boiling water or vinegar and gradually whisk in the curdled sauce.

2. place an egg yolk and gradually whisk in the curdled sauce.

3. if a small quatity of mayonnaise is to be rectified , then put mustard powder in a clean bowl and add in, drop by drop, whisking the curdled mayonnaise.

Butter sauces: they are serve  melted in liquid form or has hard butter sauces. Butter is mixed with different ingredient, set and cut in fancy shapes and served with food items the other name for butter sauces is compound butter.

A class of their own: these sauces are have an individuality of their own in terms of colour, flavour. Consistency and style of preparation. they blend with food items ,they accompany or give them a contrasting sharpness . various types of sauces are

Apple sauce, Mint sauce, Cranberry sauce.

Derivatives:

basic sauce	white	brown	tomato	mayonnaise	hollandaise	fish veloute	chicken veloue	meat veloute
color	white	brown	red	light yellow	yellow	blond	blond	blond
1	cheese	chasseur	barbecue	tartare	maltaise	shrim	caper	Chivry
2	cream	robert	provencale	cocktail	foyot	vin	berci	Ivory
3	parsley	diable	portugaise	vincent	choron	diplomat	aurore	Supreme
4	mustard	demi glaze	italienne	verte	bearnaise	normande	curry	ravigote

Thickening agent:

1:  beurre manie( manie butter) – equal quantity of refined flour and butter are kneaded together and very little quantity is added at a time to the boiling liquid and stirred well to form a smooth consistency.

2: roux-  equal quantity of refined flour and butter cooked together it is cooked to various degree , mainly white blond or brown. While preparinf the sauce, boiling liquid should never be added to a hot roux as it may render it lumpy a cold liquid to a hot roux or a hot liquid to a cold roux result in smooth texture.

3- startch- arrowroot, corn flour , fecule( potato flour) , tapioca are used to thicken the sauce. A paste should be made of cold liquid and startch and when stirred into boiling liquid and allowed to boil till the startch is cooked. A slurry is a  liquid or semi liquid  mixture of startch and cold liquid.

4:  liaison- yolks of eggs and cream mixture  is called liaison. It is added as a finishing agent at the end of cooking . the product is never boiled after the liaison has been added else it would curdled.

5: blood- it is usually used for game cooking . it thickend the sauce and gives a particular flavour .