The Principals of Sauce Making

June 10, 2020

Sauces add flavor, texture, moistness, viscosity, and eye appeal to a dish. They help pull together the various elements of a plate and make it whole. Sauces add contrasting or complimentary favors and colors to a plate thereby keeping the dish interesting. Here is a graphic that I found about different types of traditional sauces.

From the grande and secondary sauces, small sauces or derivatives, along with pan sauces, are prepared by incorporating any combination of ingredients. Most small sauces are based on the principle of reduction, or cooking down various liquids with aromatics, wine, and herbs, to meld, concentrate, and balance the flavor.

As I was researching, I found that the traditional Bechamel sauce can be varied many different ways to make new sauces. I plan to try this with my students on Friday to see just how easy or difficult it could actually be.

Happy Learning and Cooking,

Tracy