Sauces

Sauces are hot or cold products that serve to monitor, enhance, disguise or even identify a food.


In the old kitchen brigades had a chef specializing in the art of making sauces - the maitre d 'saucier - a function that tends to disappear with new cooking techniques and the current market reality.

Auguste Escoffier, AMAZING French chef, divided the sauces according to their temperature and consistency, classifying them as basic and derived. Currently we can separate them as follows:


According to its composition:

     Basic sauces, derivatives and semiderivados;
     Emulsified sauces;
     Special sauces;
     Contemporary sauces.


According to the temperature:

     Hot or cold


Or:

     Dark base;
     Base clear;
     Emulsified (hot and cold);
     Special liquids;
     contemporary;
     Compound butters;
     Sauces sweets (confectionery)

Basic Sauces
Are those that serve as base for other sauces, besides being used as an accompaniment or additional cooking.

They are considered the basic sauces:basic sauce demi-Gace, velouté, béchamel and tomato.
Some chains also include hollandaise and mayonnaise.
 
They divided the basic sauces into four groups and their subdivisions so will be easier for understand.

- Sauces dark base: Spagnole, demi-glace.
- Sauces clear basis: béchamel, velouté.
- Emulsified sauces: mayonnaise; hollandaise, vinaigrette.
- Tomato sauce
 
Dark Base Sauces

Spagnole: or brown sauce, is traditionally made of a rich meat stock, a mirepoix of browned vegetables (most often a mixture of diced onion, carrots and celery), a nicely browned roux, herbs and sometimes tomato paste.

Demi-glace sauce: the demi-glace is nothing more than the reduction in quantities of dark background and Spagnole sauce. It should be bright, translucent, dark brown and firm texture without being slimy.
Some sauces are derived from the demi-glace use it as a basis and vary according to what is added.


White Base Sauces

Bechamel: the classic white sauce, was named after its inventor, Louis XIV's steward Louis de Béchamel. The king of all sauces, it is often referred to as a cream sauce because of its appearance and is probably used most frequently in all types of dishes. Made by stirring milk into a butter-flour roux, the thickness of the sauce depends on the proportion of flour and butter to milk. The proportions for a thin sauce would be 1 tablespoon each of butter and flour per 1 cup of milk; a medium sauce would use 2 tablespoons each of butter and flour; a thick sauce, 3 tablespoons each.

Velouté: is a stock-based white sauce. It can be made from chicken, veal or fish stock. Enrichments such as egg yolks or cream are sometimes also added.


Emulsified sauces

Are those resulting from an emulsion - the process whereby two liquids are antagonistic in their molecular structure, for example water and oil are dispersed in tiny particles incorporated temporarily or permanently.

The emulsion is temporary when they do not stand for too long: vinaigrette.
It is a permanent element when added emulsifier - egg yolk - which gives it stability:  mayonnaise.


Mayonnaise: is a thick, creamy dressing that's an emulsion of vegetable oil, egg yolks, lemon juice or vinegar and seasonings. It is widely used as a spread, a dressing and as a sauce. It's also used as the base for such mixtures as Tartar Sauce, Thousand Island Dressing, Aïoli, and Remoulade.

Hollandaise: is made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice, usually in a double boiler to prevent overheating, and served warm. It is generally used to embellish vegetables, fish and egg dishes, such as the classic Eggs Benedict.

Vinagrette: is a sauce made of a simple blend of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper (usually 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar). More elaborate variations can include any combination of spices, herbs, shallots, onions, mustard, etc. It is generally used to dress salad greens and other cold vegetable, meat or fish dishes.


SECRETS FOR SUCCESS :

Constantly stir roux-thickened sauces while cooking to prevent lumps. If you must leave the sauce for a few seconds, set the pan off the heat during that time.

If a roux-thickened sauce develops a few lumps, beat them out with a rotary beater or wire whisk. As a last resort, strain sauce with sieve to remove lumps.

Cook egg-thickened sauces over low heat, or cook these sauces in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. Always temper (warm) the egg yolks before adding them to the sauce by first stirring in a little of the hot sauce mixture into them. Then add to the remainder of the sauce mixture. Never let a sauce boil after the egg yolks are added as the sauce may curdle.

Don't let water boil in the bottom of the double boiler if you use it to make egg-thickened sauces. Also, be sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the pan holding the sauce.

Sfirra

Sfiha is a small baked pie originally from Syria and Lebanon!
It is found in other Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Israel and Iraq, in Brazil and Argentina aswell,  was taken by Arab immigrants (Syrian-Lebanese) and became extremely popular.


In Brazil, there is a fast food, very famous, specializing in sfirras!

There are different recipes for sfirra. The traditional way is always made with bread dough, baked in the oven, with toppings that can be beef, mutton, cheese, yoghurt and seasoned vegetables.

The best I have ever tasted was made by a grandmother's friend! A Lebanese lady, amazing cook!
That's her dough recipe!

For the dough:

½ kg of flour
1 teaspoon of bread dry yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon (coffee) of sugar
100 ml of oil
200 ml of milk (I used low fat)
1 egg
cornmeal to open 

How to Make:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Mix well until a uniform dough and let it rest for 30 minutes covered with a damp cloth.

Open small balls leaving the edge a little thicker than the center.

Spread the filling and took it to the oven. 

No need to grease the baking sheet, just spread a little cornmeal before you bake.

For the Filling:

250g minced beef
1/2 tomatoes peeled and seeded
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of zattar
1 teaspoon of tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
salt
chopped mint

Mix all, put in a sieve and let it drip by half an hour.
Done!



After opening the sfirras, put the filling (raw).
Bake in medium oven, 180 degrees for 25 minutes (until gold).

Enjoy!!!

Have a question or a request?
Leave a comment!
:-)


 

Bouquet Garni

Bouquet garni is a mixture of French herbs!

They are a set of herbs that, combined, enhance the flavor of
stews, soups or stocks.

There are two versions - a dry version and a fresh version.

To dry herbs, make a sachet with a piece of gauze and tie with a cotton thread.

What do you collect and the amount depends on income and the volume to be prepared.

The classic bouquet garni leads parsley, bay leaf and thyme.

Other good combinations are:
parsley, bay leaves and rosemary;
Parsley, bay leaves and green onions,
parsley, bay leaves, chives and thyme;
parsley, bay leaf, thyme and celery,
parsley, thyme and majerona, parsley, bay leaf and oregano,
celery, bay leaves, thyme and leek;
celery, bay leaves, thyme, garlic and rosemary, sage, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, sage and dill.

 But never forget that cooking is experiment, try, discovery! Cooking is intuitive!

***Images for illustration purposes only (from google)

Onion Pique and Onion Cloute

Onion Pique and Onion Cloute are traditional French culinary techniques.

They are used to add flavour in stocks and sauces without adding color or textures!

For example in a bechamel sauce. Instead of using a chopped onion that will leave pieces (doesn't matter the size) in your sauce, you can use an onion pique or cloute!

There are some versions saying That onion cloute are onion, bay leave and cloves. CLOUTÉ are the French word that means spiked.

Therefore, in traditional French cooking, onion Cloute (oignon Cloute) is the combination of an onion and cloves tacked to the onion.

An onion pique (oignon pique in French) is attaches one or more bay leaves to an onion by pushing whole cloves through the leaves into the onion (like thumb tacks).

Where would you use an onion pique or an onion cloute?

Onion piques and coutes are traditionally used in bechamel sauce, although you sometimes find them in other very traditional French recipes.

Why would you use an onion pique?

Attaching the bay leaf to the onion with the cloves makes it easier to take all three of them out of your dish once they’ve been infused and are no longer needed.  Other than that, there’s no culinary reason why you couldn’t just throw all three ingredients into the pot separately.

First Recipe... Enjoy!

I could not start the blog with another recipe ...
This recipe is popular, practical, easy, quick, delicious and always cause a great impression!
Could be served as an entree or main!

As an entree you can serve with plain white rice (Jasmine) or Italian bread; as a main, my suggestion is white rice and green salad!



I'm talking about Creamy Garlic Prawns!

Follow the recipe and I can assure that your guests (and you) will be really impressed!

Ingredients

500g Prawn tails
30g Butter
3 or 4 Garlic cloves
30ml White wine
10g Chopped parsley
200ml Cream
Salt and Pepper

Method

Heat the butter in a heavy based pan.
Add the prawns and crushed garlic, and sautée until the prawns are turning pink.
Add the white wine. Reduce for 1/2 minutes.
REMOVE the prawns.
Add the cream, seasoning with salt and pepper and allow it to simmer.
In approximately 3/4 minutes add your praws and simmer for more 1 minute.
Sprinkle parsley and serve immediately!

Secrets for success: 

Always, use quality ingredients.
For this recipe, use medium to large prawns.
Remove the prawns and set them aside to avoid overcooking them.
Reduce the sauce by allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes or so, until it thickens.
Return the prawns to the pan to reheat them.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if required.


Hope you enjoy and have an amazing meal!!!

Let's talk about food!

From my kitchen to yours!
In this space I intend to give tips, recipes, suggestions to make your life easier in the kitchen!