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 CHEF'S
CORNER |
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Information for amateur &
professional cooks.
So you want to know about.............? |
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HOW TO
CREATE BASIC SAUCES :(scroll down)
Demi Glace : Espagnol : Basic Brown Stock : Au Poivre : Wild
Mushroom : Bordelaise : Chasseur : Madeira : Marsala : Red Wine with
Mustard/Thyme : Veloute : Mustard Vinaigrette : Pesto : Bechamel :
Bolognaise : Bernaise : Classic Cheese : Carbonara : Remoulade :
Mornay : Caesar Salad : Hollandaise : Alfredo : Sauce Tartare ;
Madras Curry Sauce ; Marie Rose Sauce ; Satay Sauce |
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Classic Sauces |
Use |
Details/Ingredients |
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Demi-Glace |
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Yield: 1 gallon
1 gallon Espagnole sauce, hot
1 gallon brown stock, hot
1 bouquet garni In a stock pot, combine the Espagnole
sauce, brown stock and bouquet garni, together, over medium-high
heat. Bring up to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and a simmer
until the liquid reduces by half, about 1 1/2 hours. Skim the liquid
occasionally, for impurities. Season with salt and pepper. Strain
through a China Cap or tightly meshed strainer. |
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Espangnol |
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1 gallon brown stock, hot
1 1/2 cups brown roux
1/4 cup bacon fat
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup tomato puree
1 bouquet garni In a stock pot, whisk the hot stock
into the roux. In a large sauté pan, heat the bacon fat. Add
the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until
wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir the tomato puree into the vegetables
and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato/vegetable mixture to the stock/roux
mixture. Add the bouquet garni and continue to simmer, skimming as
needed. Season with salt and pepper.
Simmer the sauce for about 45 minutes. Strain the
sauce through a China cap or tightly meshed strainer. |
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Basic Brown Stock |
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8 pounds veal marrow bones sawed into 2-inch pieces
6 pounds beef marrow bones sawed into 2-inch pieces
16 ounces tomato paste
4 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped carrot
2 cups chopped celery
4 cups dry red wine
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper
16 quarts of water
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the bones in
a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour. Remove the bones from the oven
and brush with the tomato paste.
In a mixing bowl, combine the onions, carrots, and
celery together. Lay the vegetables over the bones and return to the
oven. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat.
Place the roasting pan on the stove and deglaze the
pan with the red wine, using a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of
the pan for browned particles. Put everything into a large stockpot.
Add the bouquet garni and season with salt.
Add the water. Bring the liquid up to a boil and
reduce to a simmer. Simmer the stock for 4 hours, skimming regularly.
Remove from the heat and strain through a China cap or tightly meshed strainer.
Yield: about 2 gallons |
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Au Poivre (Peppercorn) |
A powerful brown sauce made with crushed peppercorns
that is served with steaks, chops, & roasts. |
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 oz. Butter (1/4 stick)
1 Tb. Cracked black (or green) peppercorn
1/2 cup red wine (Use a good table wine)
8 fl. oz. demi-glace *
2 Tb. finely chopped parsley
Pepper to taste
*1 1/2 oz of Demi-Glace Gold reconstituted in 8 fluid
ounce of hot water.
Melt butter in a sauce pan and sauté shallots
for approx. 2 minutes (until transparent). Add peppercorns and red
wine, and reduce to an essence (approx. 2-3 minutes).
Add the demi-glace and stir with a whisk until glace
is dissolved. Add water and simmer until the sauce is thick enough to
coat a spoon.
Blend in chopped parsley and serve over broiled
steaks. Sauce is best over strip steaks (approx. 8-12 oz.) with all
fat trimmed. Steaks can be either pan fried, broiled, or grilled,
whatever your preference.
The amount of peppercorn may be varied to suit your
personal taste |
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Wild Mushroom Sauce |
A simple mushroom sauce to serve on steaks, chops,
& sautéed chicken. |
Makes 3-4 servings
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots 2 oz. Butter (1/2 stick)
8-10 oz. sliced fresh wild mushrooms or standard white
mushrooms if you can't find them.
1/2 cup red wine (Use a good table wine)
1 1/2 oz Demi-Glace Gold
8 fl. oz. Hot water
Freshly Ground Pepper
1 oz of reconstituted Dried Wild Mushrooms can be substituted
Melt butter in a sauce pan and sauté shallots
briefly. Add all mushrooms and sauté until transparent
(approx. 3 minutes). Add red wine and reduce for approx. 2-3 minutes
(to an essence).
Add Demi-Glace Gold and stir with a whisk until
demi-glace is dissolved. Add water and simmer for approx. 5-6 minutes
(until sauce has thickened).
Serve over beef, veal or chicken.
Sauce is excellent over most grilled meats, such as,
veal or beef medallions, chicken breasts, etc.
Mushroom varieties noted are suggestions, substitute
based on local availability or preference. A standard mushroom sauce
can be prepared by substituting all wild mushrooms for the typical
grocery store variety. |
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Bordelaise |
A French sauce made with brown stock, shallots, bone
marrow, and herbs. Sauce is excellent over most cuts of grilled or
roast beef, especially whole roasted beef tenderloin. |
Serves approx. 4
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 oz. butter (1/4 stick)
4 oz. diced beef bone marrow (or butter)
1/4 Tsp. cracked black peppercorn
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 cup red wine (Use a good table wine)
1 cup Demi-Glace
Melt butter in a sauce pan and sauté shallots
for approx. 2 minutes (until transparent). Add red wine and reduce
for approx. 2-3 minutes (to an essence). Add thyme and peppercorns
and reduce further for approx. 2-3 minutes (until almost no liquid remains).
Add Demi-Glace and simmer for approx. 5-6 minutes
(until sauce begins to thicken).
In a separate pan, simmer diced bone marrow in water
for 3-4 minutes. Drain water and add diced marrow to sauce and simmer
for approx. 2 minutes. Serve over tournedo, beef tenderloin steaks,
or rump steaks. |
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Chasseur |
A classic brown sauce consisting of mushrooms,
shallots, and wine served on game and other meats. |
Serves approximately 6
1/2 cup diced bacon (approx. 4 slices diced)
6 oz. quartered mushrooms (approx. 1 cup) or 1 oz. of
reconstituted Dried Mushrooms
1 cup pearl onions
1/2 cup red wine (Use a good table wine)
8 oz. demi-glace
1/4 cup cranberry relish
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Place diced bacon in a saucepan and cover with water.
Boil water until gone (this will cook the bacon). Add the mushrooms
and pearl onions and sauté briefly with the bacon.
Add the red wine to the reconstituted demi-glace and
simmer for 5 minutes, then combine with other cooked ingredients,
cranberry relish, and heavy cream (if desired).
Serve over venison steaks, chops, or medallions. Sauce
is excellent over all types of game meat. Can also be served over
beef or veal if preferred.
The heavy cream is strictly optional and gives the
sauce a richer colour and flavour. |
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Marsala |
One of the most popular sauces of all. Great with
veal, chicken, or tender beef. |
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 oz. Butter (1/4 stick)
1/2 Tsp. cracked peppercorn
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme (1/4 tsp. dried)
3/4 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup red wine (Use a good table wine)
1 cup demi glace
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté shallots,
thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns for (approximately 5-6 minutes).
Add Marsala wine and red wine and reduce to half
(approximately 5-6 minutes). Add demi-glace and stir with a whisk
until demi-glace is incorporated.
Simmer for approximately 5-6 minutes (until sauce has thickened).
Add heavy cream (if desired), and serve over beef,
veal, or chicken.
Sauce is excellent over most grilled meats, such as
veal or beef medallions, chicken breasts, etc. The heavy cream is
strictly optional and gives the sauce a richer colour and flavuor. |
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Madeira Sauce |
This sauce is great with beef or game. |
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 oz. Butter (1/4 stick)
1/2 pound white or crimini mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1/2 teaspoon. cracked peppercorn
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme (1/4 tsp. dried)
1/4 cup red wine
3/4 cup Madeira wine
1 cup Demi-Glace
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
In a medium sized saucepan, sauté shallots in
butter for 1-2 minutes or until translucent. Add mushrooms and cook
until mushrooms are tender. (approx. 3 minutes). Remove mushrooms and
set aside.
Add peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaf and cook 30
seconds. Add red wine and reduce by half. Add Madeira wine and bring
to boil.
Add Demi-Glace and whisk until incorporated into the
sauce. Return mushrooms to pan and add heavy cream and reduce briefly. |
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Red Wine Sauce with Mustard & Thyme |
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2 medium shallots, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup homemade stock (chicken, beef, lamb, or venison)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
After sautéing properly, remove meat or chicken
from the pan leaving the residual fat that it was cooked in. There
should be some brown bits of meat or chicken in the pan leftover from
the cooking. This is called fond. Leave it right where it is. Add the
shallots to the pan and cook over low heat stirring frequently until
the shallots are translucent.
Raise the heat to high, add wine, stock, and bring to
a boil. At this time loosen any of the browned bits stuck to the pan
with a wooden spoon and incorporate them into the sauce. Boil until
the liquid is reduced in half.
Reduce heat to medium, add the balsamic vinegar and
Dijon mustard and cook until the sauce has the consistency you like.
It should be thick enough to coat regular spoon. I hesitate to give
cooking times for each of these steps because the amount of heat
(Btu's) varies from stove to stove.
Remove from heat and stir in butter. This will help
thicken it a little more and give it a nice glossy appearance. Add
the fresh thyme, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve over
your main course immediately. |
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Velouté |
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1 1/2 cups white stock (veal, chicken, or fish) -
white stock just means the bones were not roasted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Bring the stock to a simmer in a large saucepan. In a
separate saucepan, melt the butter over low heat (don't let it burn)
and add the flour. Raise the heat to medium and stir the butter and
flour together for about 2 minutes. You are making the roux.
Whisk the simmering stock into the roux and keep
heating and whisking. When the stock begins to simmer again, turn
down the heat to low and cook until the sauce thickens. A thin skin
may form, just skim it away with your spoon. Depending on your
stovetop, the sauce may take 5 - 10 minutes to get to your desired consistency.
Season with salt and pepper. Strain if you have a fine
mesh strainer or chinois |
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Basic Mustard Vinaigrette |
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1 glove of garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
5-6 tablespoons oil (vegetable, corn, canola, olive or
some combination)
pinch of dried parsley
pinch of dried thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a clean jar or small bowl, add the vinegar, garlic,
mustard and mix well. Slowly add the olive oil while either whisking
or stirring rapidly with your fork. Add the parsley and thyme, salt
and pepper, taste and adjust seasonings.
Simple, you bet, but this straightforward recipe will
blow away any store bought salad dressing on the market. Start
experimenting with your own ingredients . |
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Pesto Sauce |
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3 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons pine nuts (pignolia)
1 dash salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
Classically prepared with mortar and pestle - alternative
Add the garlic to the food processor and mince. Next,
add the basil leaves, pine nuts, and a dash of salt and pepper to the
bowl of the processor. While the processor is running, slowly drizzle
in olive oil through the feed tube until all the ingredients are pureed.
You may need to stop the processor at this point and
scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to get every mixed
together. Now add Parmesan cheese and mix it into the rest of the
mixture. If the pesto is too thick, add a tablespoon of water. Cover
and refrigerate until you are ready to use it. This should keep for 2
- 3 days in the fridge but freezes well if you want to keep it longer. |
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Béchamel |
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1/2 onion
1 bay leaf
8 whole black peppercorns
A few parsley stalks
600ml milk
50g butter (or margarine)
50g plain flour
Put onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and parsley stalks
into a heavy-based saucepan. Pour in milk and bring just to the boil,
then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 30 minutes.
Strain into a jug.
Meanwhile, put butter (or margarine) into a separate,
clean, heavy-based saucepan. Let it melt over a medium heat, then add
flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir continuously and very well until
you have a smooth, slightly grainy paste. This is called a roux.
Off the heat, whisk a little of the infused milk into
the roux, beating well with the wooden spoon, then return to the
heat, beating, until thickened. Repeat until half the milk is
incorporated, then switch to a whisk. Continue adding the milk (off
the heat) and whisking over the heat until smooth.
Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking the sauce
for 4-5 minutes, until thickened, stirring occasionally. Taste,
season, and make sure there is no hint of flour. |
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Bolognese
(Bolgnaise) sauce |
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1 large onion
1 large carrot
Extra Virgin Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 lb of lean minced beef
1/2 lb of lean minced pork
140g of pancetta (optional)
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
1 large tablespoon of sugar
Half a cup of fresh milk
Fresh or dried spaghetti
If possible, re-mince the meat all together to gain a
finer texture. Some people fry off the pancetta first, before adding
any of the other meats individually to the pan, but uncut or unminced
pancetta usually creates large cunks of bacon and fat in your
bolognaise mixture, so it's often best to re-mince it or finely chop
it - or just leave it out entirely.
Chop the onion very finely (the finer, the better) and
mince the garlic. (Keep the garlic separate).
Chop the carrot into very small pieces (about 10mm
each). (The carrot helps reduce the acidity in the bolognese
mixture). Heat a very large cooking pot and cover the bottom in olive
oil, then heat the oil moderately for about 1-2 mins. Add the onion
for a few minutes, then add the carrot. Lightly fry both over a
moderate heat for about 3 mins, until very soft. Do not overheat, as
the onion will burn.
Add the meat to the pot and stir it in until it
completely breaks up and turns a light brown colour. You may have to
chop at the meat with your wooden spoon to break it up. (It sometimes
helps to add the meat in small portions, especially if there's a lot
of it, to prevent the pot from cooling down).
Drain the juice from the tins of chopped tomatoes into
a jug or mug. (You can use tins of plum tomatoes, but you will have
to remove the stocks and chop them up, then drain them).
Add two tablespoons of tomato puree to the jug, and
top it up with hot water from the kettle until you have around
300-400ml. Mix it well until it forms a dark red tomato pasatta. Pour
in a splash or two of milk, and stir in well. (Don't squirt the
tomato puree straight into the pot, puree is a concentrated tomato
flavour enhancer, and should be mixed down before using it to stretch
out a sauce). Add the drained tomatoes to the pot and stir in well.
Allow them to simmer with the meat. (If you like, you can add a small
amount of red wine at this stage - no more than around 100-200ml,
adding small amounts at a time and allowing it to reduce down and
soak into the meat under a moderate heat).
Gradually add the pasatta to the pot, stirring it in
well. Add in the crushed garlic to the pot and stir in well. Add a
large tablespoon of sugar and mix in well. (Sugar helps reduce the
acidity in the mixture, and creates a savoury flavour). Add salt to
taste, and a small amount of pepper.
Allow the mixture to reach simmering point, where it
begins to bubble, then turn down the heat and allow the bolognaise to
simmer gently for 3-4 hours uncovered (ideally for at least 3 hours,
to allow the meat to completely soften and break apart). Remember: do
not cover the mixture, and keep it on a very low heat. As you mixture
cooks, there should only be the odd bubble popping to the surface.
Stir the mixture at very frequent intervals to stop it
sticking to the bottom of the pan, and add some salt to taste, but
only if required. Do not over-salt or you'll ruin the sauce.
The mixture should start to reduce down. If it looks
like it's becoming too dry, mix a small amount of warm water (about
100ml) with a teaspoon of tomato puree in a cup or mug, and add it
very gradually to the pot, mixing in well. Try not to have too much
liquid in the mixture.
Boil 2oz of spaghetti per person until al dente (still
slightly hard), drain, then toss with a small amount of olive oil in
the same pan over a very light heat to evaporate any remaining water.
Add 1-2 large spoonfuls of the hot bolognaise to the
pasta in the pan per person, and toss over a light heat until the
pasta is lightly coated in bolognaise, then serve hot (piling the
pasta with tongs is usually easier than spooning the pasta on to plates).
Remember: your pasta should be 'teased' with the
sauce, not drowned in it. Dress with freshly grated parmesan cheese
(not the dried stuff). |
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Béarnaise Sauce |
This classic French sauce is made from a reduction of
butter, vinegar, and wine mixed with tarragon and thickened with egg
yolks. It is served with meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables |
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 shallots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves
4 white peppercorns, crushed
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup dry white wine
4 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne
Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat
just to melt. Boil shallots, tarragon, and peppercorns in vinegar and
wine in a nonreactive medium-size saucepan over medium heat until
reduced to about 1/4 cup. Strain into the top of a double boiler.
Whisk in the egg yolks. Place the top over the bottom of the double
boiler containing simmering water. Make sure that the top of the
water is below the bottom of the upper part of the double boiler.
Whisk constantly. The second that the yolk mixture begins to thicken
slightly, remove the top of the double boiler from above the hot
water and continue whisking. Turn off the heat. Add four ice cubes to
the bottom of the double boiler to cool the hot water a little. Put
the pan of yolks back above the hot water. Whisk in the melted
butter, drizzling it in very slowly. If at any time the sauce looks
as if it is about to break, remove the top and continue whisking to
cool it down or whisk in 1 teaspoon cold water. With constant
whisking, whisk in the salt and cayenne. When all the butter is
incorporated, taste and add more salt or cayenne as needed. |
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MORE RECIPES |
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