The Science of Making

Sauces

A sauce is a hot or cold flavoured liquid seasoning that is served with food.

Sauces are pourable pleasures that make the nutritious delicious.

The French say England has 3 sauces and 360 religions while France has 3 religions and 360 sauces.

French CuisineThe eminence of French cuisine is due directly

to the influence of sauces after the French revolution.

Sauces enabled the unemployed cooks to offer their poorer customers tasty dishes flavoured by oil based sauces made from cheap materials.

Key words for a sauceA sauce must provide flavour

It should have pleasing thickness/consistency to allow flavour to linger on food & in mouth

Key words are Flavour & Thickness or Consistency

Sauce Flavour = StocksA sauce must have concentrated flavour

because it is consumed in small amountsFlavour is best obtained from stocks.Meat & vegetable stocks are the foundation

of many sauces; they are infused water which can be adjusted to any strength.

Stock’s Three Components1- Major flavour ingredients: Bones & meat

for meat stocks or vegetables for vegi stocks

2- Water or pre-prepared stock

3- Herbs, spices & mirepoix to add aromatic flavour

Meat StocksUse small amount of meat to convey

umami taste and bones with plenty of connective tissues to give stock body by converting the inedible collagen to gelatine.

Savoury/Umami TasteUmami taste is generated by proteins or amino acids

like glutamates found in beef, lamb, parmesan cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms…etc.

Anchovies intensify umami/savoury flavour of glutamate many times because they have Inosinate. (Worcester sauce & Maggi liquid seasoning)

CollagenCollagen consists of three protein chains twisted around each other in the form of a triple helix.

Collagen is slowly converted to gelatine between 70oC and 80oC , hence many hours of simmering.

Cuts of Beef

Meat Stock1-Blanch bones & meat. (cold water to remove scum?)

2-Brown meat, bones & mirepoix for about 30 minutes. (for brown stock only), then deglaze

3-Boil then simmer for ~ 3hours. (Pressure cooker: 1hr)

4-Add the mirepoix, herbs and spices during the last

hour? Finally strain (White Stock- Don’t brown)

Vegetable StockSimmer the vegetables in water for about an hour.Use sweet vegetables like celery, onions, leeks and carrots.

Leeks are good because they give the stock body.Mushrooms lend stocks a savoury/umami quality. Maggi?Sweating the finely chopped vegetables in oil first before

simmering brings out their flavour because the increased surface area enhances the extraction of their aroma chemicals which are soluble in oil.

Strain

Fats & OilsFat & oil are important components of

many saucesThey lend viscosity and cause sauces to

linger on food and in mouth.They make foods feel smooth and

creamy.

Atoms react with each other through their electrons in such a way that each atom acquires the same electronic configuration of its nearest inert gas in the periodic table. Neon, with its 8 outer electrons, is the nearest inert gas to carbon.

Carbon atom has four electrons in its outer shell. It needs four more to form stable molecules

Carbon bonds with four atoms by sharing

one electron with each to form saturated bonds as in methane. Saturated bond is represented by a dash (-)

Carbon can also form double, Unsaturated, bonds by sharing 2 electrons with another carbon. Now, the carbon atom is bonded to three atoms. The unsaturated bonds, represented by =, are shorter than the saturated bonds.

Life is carbon based because of the carbon atom’s ability to bond with itself and many other atoms like oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, fluorine, bromine…etc.

Fats & OilsOrganic Acid + Alcohol Ester + Water

Fats/oils are tri-esters of glycerine, hence triglycerides

Glycerine =

TriglyceridesGlycerine + 3Acids Triglyceride + 3Water

Glycerine + 3Acids Fat/oil + 3Water

Omega Acid & Trans Fat

Trans Fato Trans Fats pack as solids because of their

linear chains

o We have enzymes for Cis Fats only o Trans Fats (synthetic/partially

hydrogenated) stay longer as solids in blood Heart attack & Stroke??

Oil Polyunsaturated

Monounsat

Saturated

Safflower 72% 19% 9%

Sunflower 75% 13% 12%

Grape seed

71% 17% 12%

Corn/Soya 59% 24% 17%

Sesame 45% 42% 13%

Rape-Canola

39% 54% 7%

Olive 8% 75% 17%

Butter 4% 30% 55%

Coconut 3% 6% 91%

Palm 2% 13% 85%

Glucose

Corn Syrup has free Fructose-GlucoseMuscle cells store glucose as glycogen. (animal starch)Liver cells store some glucose as glycogen and convert

some to fat. When you consume high-fructose corn syrup (~ 60%

free fructose & 40% free glucose), much of the glucose in it is burnt or converted to glycogen.

But the fructose is processed almost totally in the liver

which converts it into fat.

The Five Mother SaucesA sauce is a flavoured and thickened liquid

Sauces are classified according to the liquids and thickening agents used in their preparations.

Mother Sauce Liquid Thickener Espagnole Meat stock Brown roux

Velouté Chicken/fish stock Blond roux

Béchamel Milk (no stock) White roux  Hollandaise/Mayo Lemon, vinegar, Butter/oil with egg yolk

water

Tomato Water, stock Flour, Tomato puree, reduction

Water Based SaucesWater is the basic ingredient of nearly all foods, stocks and sauces.

Giving a sauce the right consistency means making it less watery by dispersing thickening agents.

Thickening agents are obstructing agents, they stop the water from flowing freely.

Three Basic Ways of Thickening Water

1- Adding solids, like flour, suspended in water (slurries) or fat (Roux and Beurre Manie).2- Forming stable oil in water emulsions. 3- Reduction – Used to make gravies. Became very popular in UK during 1980s.

Flour-Starch

Many sauces owe their consistency to flour which is a mixture of starch & protein (corn flour = starch)

Starch molecules are long chains of thousands of glucose molecules linked together in linear chains

called amylose or branched compact chains called amylopectin.

The linear chains are better thickening agents because they sweep through a larger volume of liquid and are more likely to collide with others.

Starch GelationStarch molecules are packed inside starch granules.In 50°C- 80°C range (Gelation Range) starch

granules absorb lots of water, swell up many times their original size and begin to leak amylose.

Linear amylose molecules interact with each other to form a 3D fishnet that traps water.

Therefore, if we add dry flour to a hot liquid we may get lumps!

Four Ways for Incorporating Starch

into Sauces1- Slurries2- Beurre Manie3- Sautéing: Maillard reaction4- Roux

Slurries – First MethodDisperse starch granules in cold water

before they encounter high temperature.The separated starch granules gelate and

release linear amylose in the hot liquid.It is better to thicken sauce with cold slurry

before serving because thickening breaks down after extended cooking. (Corn Flour!)

Roux and Beurre Manie?? Water and oil are insoluble in each other.

10% of plain flour consists of proteins that combine with water to form sticky clumps of the oil repellent gluten.

If we add just flour to the oil-water mixture, we end up with sticky and soft lumps wallowing in a pool of liquid grease.

How They Work Mixing the flour with the oil/fat first, covers each grain of flour with a water repellent coating.

Water can’t be absorbed by flour to form gluten or cause gelation and the flour grains become widely dispersed in water.

Thus, we persuaded the flavoured oil and the water to mix together homogenously by using the flour as the carrier of the oil.

Beurre Manie – Second MethodIt is a paste of equal weights of flour and

butter.Butter melts and releases the greased starch

granules whose swelling and gelation is retarded by the water repelling grease.

It should be used as a last minute resort; good redeemer of thin sauces.

Sautéing - Third MethodDust meat with flour before sautéing.

Large surface area coated with flourFlour is coated with meat & sautéing

fat Sautéing causes the Maillard reaction

Roux- Fourth MethodExcellent thickening/flavouring agent for milk and

vegetable or meat stocks.Flour cooked in butter fat where the butter to flour

ratio by weight is 1:1. The thickening ratio is ~ 10-7 parts of liquid to one

part of roux.Avoid lumps: FOLLOW COLD TO HOT RULE???

RouxThere are three kinds of rouxa- Whiteb- Blondc- Brown- Use vegetable oil or lard

& plain flour

White RouxWhisk flour into melted butter followed by

gently heating the mixture for about 60-90 sec.

It is an excellent thickener of soups & milkBéchamel sauce: Versatile sauce prepared by

thickening flavoured milk with white roux.

Béchamel SauceSimplest sauce because it doesn't require stock.

Can be infused with many flavours.It is the base sauce for creamy soups, creamy

pasta, potato salad, cheese sauce, mustard sauce, cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese. Lasagne, moussaka, fish-pie…etc.

Blond Roux Prep

o Melt the butter over medium to low heat. o Then whisk in the flour and cook the resulting mixture

for about 4-5 minutes until the flour turns into a pale straw colour.

oLard produces a roux with a nicer flavour?oBlond roux is generally used in the preparation of

velouté sauces.

oVelouté is a velvety sauce which is basically a thickened poultry, veal or fish stock.

o There are two types of veloutéo A-Classic Type:- Prepared by stirring hot stock into

cold blond roux. Derived Sauces: Curry (curry powder, coconut milk, cream), Supreme

(double cream), Allemande (egg yolk & cream), Fish sauce (white wine & double cream)…etc.o B -Modern Type:- Reduce a mixture of wine, sautéed

aromatic vegetables, stock and double cream and simmer until reduced by < 1/3.

Brown RouxUse oil or clarified butter & plain flour.

Gently heat flour – oil mixture for 20 – 30 minutes until mixture is brown (dextrin).

Adds flavour to gravies, meat dishes, Cajun dishes.

Not a good thickener.

Tea Break

Thickening with Fat/Oil Emulsions Emulsion can only be made from two liquids that don’t dissolve in each other with the help of emulsifiers.

Oil-in-water emulsion is a dispersion of oil in water.

Dispersed, but stabilized, oil droplets act as the thickeners of the continuous water phase.

How do you prepare a stable emulsion? Add ingredients in the right order.Begin with the continuous phase mixed with an emulsifier,

then SLOWLY whisk in the dispersed phase in order to emulsify the formed fine droplets.

The three basic emulsion sauces are Mayonnaise: Oil-in-Water Hollandaise: Oil-in-Water Vinaigrette : Water-in-Oil

Mayonnaise: Oil-in-WaterMayonnaise is a sauce in which a large

number of oil droplets are separated by sheets of water.

It is prepared by whisking an egg yolk with a teaspoon of water while slowly adding about cupful of vegetable oil, preferably olive oil.

Egg yolk contains an emulsifier called lecithin.

How It Works?Whisking generates millions of oil droplets.

Egg yolk contains an emulsifier called lecithin.Lecithin is a molecule with a head that has an

affinity to water (hydrophilic- water loving but oil hating) and a tail which has an affinity to oil (hydrophobic- water hating but oil loving).

How It WorksLecithin molecules coat each oil droplet by burying

their oil loving tails in it while their water loving heads repel other oil droplets from coalescing with the one attached to their oil loving tails.

Thus, the oil droplets are persuaded to stay dispersed in the water phase.

Emulsifiers/StabilizersLarge proteins obstruct oil droplets

and act as stabilizers- Casein in milk, proteins in tomato puree.

Pulverised plant tissue and gum as in mustard and tomato puree.

Large molecules like starch act as stabilizers of emulsions.

If there is too much oil and not enough water, the emulsion will break and the oil droplets will merge with each.

Oil : Water ~ 3 : 1

A broken mayo can be reconstituted by whisking egg yolk or water into it.

Hollandaise: Oil-in-WaterHollandaise is a sauces like mayo except that

hot butter is used instead of oil; it is emulsified butter sauces. (Hot Mayo?)

It is made by slowly whisking clarified butter into warm egg yolk, usually flavoured with lemon juice or vinegar/wine, salt and pepper

Hollandaiseo You flavour the vinegar/lemon/wine by reducing it with a mixture consisting of flavours that pair well with butter such as the following ingredients- peppercorn, mace, bay leaf, chopped spring onions, tarragon, mint and other herbs; add the salt during the reduction to make sure it dissolves.

o Since it is a warm sauce it should be served with hot food, unlike mayonnaise which is normally served with cold dishes.

Important Factor Heat egg yolk to below 70°C (~ 170°F)

Egg yolk is 16% protein, 26% fat and 9% lecithinHeating yolk with acid minimizes its curdling; yolk can be heated to ~ 90°C (~195°F)??????

Finished sauce should be kept at ~ 60°CCan be turned into many sauces by changing an ingredient

Classic Hollandaise sauce pairs well with white fish, boiled eggs, boiled asparagus and broccoli.

Béarnaise sauce goes very well with fillet steaks or chicken. If mint is used instead of tarragon the resulting sauce, called Paloise, pairs well with lamb.

Rescue curdled sauce by whisking into gently heated egg yolk.

Vinaigrette: Water-in-Oilo The basic vinaigrette is prepared by mixing about ¼

cup of say red wine vinegar with salt & pepper then whisking the mixture into about 3/4 cup of olive oil containing mustard powder/Dijon.

o Mustard helps to form a water-in-oil emulsion as well

as add flavour. Lettuce should be dry!!o You can also flavour the basic mixture with

honey/sugar, herbs, garlic, lemons…etc

Thickening by Reduction: Gravies?A range of flavoursome sauces/gravies that don’t include the use of starch or egg yolks can be prepared by deglazing followed by reduction.

Deglazing: Meat is first sautéed/roasted in a pan.Meat is removed and wine/stock is added to pan to

sop up and dissolve the crusty and caramelized bits.The mixture is then simmered until it reduces to the

desired consistency.Finally, it is flavoured and enriched

Enriching SaucesThickeners tend to reduce flavour intensityEnhance sauces by adding splash of port or Madeira

or a teaspoon of mustard or red-current jelly.Sauces are generally enriched, off the heat, by adding

a knob of butter??Sharp flavours can be improved by the addition of

cream. Double cream should be used??

Enriching with Butter

Butter is a convertible emulsion which makes it so useful for enriching sauces.

To convert butter to cream we must melt butter in small amount

of water; water must be the continuous phase. The fat molecules will be surrounded by the emulsifiers in the

butter’s water which will merge with the cooking water.Because there aren’t many emulsifiers the fat droplet coating is

fragile and will leak oil about 60oC (140oF). Don’t reheat

Incorporate one volume of butter to 3 volume of liquid off the heat.

Beurre BlancThis sauce, which is traditionally served with fish, was discovered in the 19th century by accident, when a French chef forgot to include egg yolk while preparing béarnaise sauce.

It is a hot sauce based on wine and vinegar reduced

with shallots and finished by whisking cold butter into it.Beurre blanc will separate at about 58oC.

MilkMilk is a liquid that contains fat globules (~4%), protein bundles and sugar (lactose)

Milk has two basic groups of proteins, caseins and whey (4:1), which are resistant to heat but are distinguished by their sensitivities to acidsCaseins coagulate into solid mass in acidic solutions while the

whey proteins stay suspended in solutionThe fat globules are kept apart by phospholipid membranes

(emulsifiers) and proteins (stabilizers)

Why Double Cream?Casein proteins & cream are stable to boiling

temperatures.However, casein is sensitive to acidity.Many pan sauces contain acidic wines used for

deglazing.

Use double creams since they contain little casein because of their high fat content.

Asian Sauces/Casseroles

Full bodied stew is produced by long simmering of chunks of browned meat, on marrow bones, in a base sauce.

Vegetables are added when meat is nearly ready and then cooked until both are tender.

Base sauce: Fry chopped onions, garlic, (ginger for Indian) together

with spices (cumin and coriander with others). Water and chopped tomatoes are then added and

mixture simmered for 20 minutes. Finally mixture may be blitzed.

Sauce ThickenersMid-East: Tomato puree, lentils, flour

Indian: Coconut cream, chickpeas flour and yogurt, chickpea flour or flour, lentils

Reduction: Remove meat and reduce stew, add meat and serve.

Taste of many casseroles improve overnight as flavours mature & permeate ingredients

The End

Béchamel Based Sauceso Mornay Sauce: Whip three egg yolks in 50ml double cream and

mix with about 120g of Béchamel sauce. Allow the mixture to bubble for about one minute and shower with 100g of grated cheddar. Pair with poached egg or vegetables.

o Soubise Sauce: Fry chopped onions in 30g melted butter for about 5 minutes. Blitz the cooked onions with a blender. Add the Béchamel sauce and bring the mixture to boil over low heat. Pass the sauce through a fine-meshed sieve into a saucepan and mix with 150ml double cream and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Lovely with roast chicken.

Velouté Based Sauces Allemande sauce: Thicken a veal velouté with a liaison of egg yolk and double cream; the sauce should be served immediately to stop the yolk from coagulating. Best with poached eggs or chicken as well as fish when fish stock is used in preparing the velouté.

Supreme Sauce: The sauce is made from a velouté made with chicken stock reduced with cream. Some use white wine and others use a liaison of egg yolk and double cream. Best with roast pork/chicken