Preface

In the last twenty years, many of the techniques of sauce making have changed. Chefs are not only eager to invent new taste combinations and improve upon older methods but have set out to make sauces healthier and less rich. In the 1970’s chefs in France an eliminate flour a standard ingredient since the eighteenth century d the United States began to from their sauces and replace it with cream and butter. The latest trend is to eliminate cream or butter and experiment with even newer methods.

With a fundamental knowledge of the variety of sauce making methods available, the chef can make his or her own decisions based on the needs of the clientele, the budget, and style of the restaurant. It is important for a chef to know how liquids, flavorings, and thickeners work and to explain traditional approaches and combinations that will provide the chef with technical guidelines and underlying aesthetic principles.

A basic concept is far more powerful for an improvising chef than a recipe because concepts can be adapted to a far greater variety of ingredients and situations. The number and kinds of sauces served during a meal must receive thorough consideration . Sauce making expertise is of little value if the arrangement and juxtaposition of the sauces lack careful arrangement and the myriad factors inherent in the design of a meal closely considered. Every meal is an event that happens only once a kind of reflection or distillation or a grouping of people in a particular setting.

Remember not to serve too m any sauces in a single meal; one is often appropriate, and two are usually the maximum. If more than one sauce is served at the same meal, make sure that the flavors, colors, and textures of the sauces contrast while the style remains the same. The time of year and the formality of the meal will significantly affect the kinds of sauces that are best to serve.

Beginning chefs and amateur cooks sometimes include too many contrasting colors or flavors on the same plate. It is better to meld the flavors of a sauce carefully into an integral and seemingly simple whole than to cover the plate with different flavored garnishes or more than one sauce. Usually sauces (and foods) move from light to dark and from cold to hot in the succession of courses, to avoid fatiguing the palate (or the eye). Avoid strong sauces at the beginning of the meal unless you are planning to follow through with something at least equally robust. Sauces should be chosen according to the style and formality of a meal. For example, an aioli or a Mexican salsa is more likely to see service at an informal summer lunch than is a sauce poivrade, which is classic, formal, and best for fall or winter.

The principles of classic French cooking provide an important base for understanding sauce making not because classic French sauces are inherently better than regional sauces or sauces from other countries, but because they are based on a rigid and systematic framework that is easy to remember, build on, and reference. Classic concepts and technique s can be adapted to other cuisines. Once the saucier becomes familiar with basic sauce making techniques and understands how various ingredients behave, he or she will be able to invent new combinations, devise new interpretations of classics, and more easily execute unfamiliar recipes.