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Sauce

language culture Maturity 11-13 Next article →

A sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food.

Whisking sauce-01
Whisking sauce-01

People use it to add flavor and texture to meals. It also makes food look very beautiful on a plate. Most people do not eat sauce all by itself. Instead, it helps make other ingredients taste even better. It can make a flavor deeper or provide a new contrast.

Tagliatelle al ragù (image modified)
Tagliatelle al ragù (image modified)

Sauces can be sweet or savory. They can be served cold like mayonnaise or warm like bechamel. Some are even served lukewarm like pesto.

Making a sauce involves many different steps. A sauce always needs a liquid part to work. Some sauces are made by mixing things without cooking them. For example, pesto is an uncooked mixture. Other sauces must be cooked, such as hollandaise.

Flickr avlxyz 4140435178--Salmon Benedict on potato cake
Flickr avlxyz 4140435178--Salmon Benedict on potato cake

In some kitchens, chefs use a base like a stock. They might add seasonings or other ingredients to change the taste. This can create a "daughter sauce" from a main one. A chef who specializes in this is called a saucier.

Sauces have a very long history in our world. The word sauce likely comes from the Latin word salsa, which means salted.

Sauce boat
Sauce boat

One of the oldest European sauces was garum. This was a fish sauce used by the Ancient Romans. In China, a bean paste called doubanjiang is mentioned in very old writings. In France, sauces have been important since the Middle Ages. A famous chef named Marie-Antoine Carême made hundreds of recipes. He wrote about them in his book in the 19th century.

Different countries have famous sauces with specific ingredients.

Ingredienti per il pesto Genovese (Ingridients for Pesto Genovese)
Ingredienti per il pesto Genovese (Ingridients for Pesto Genovese)

In France, there are five "mother sauces." These include espagnole, velouté, béchamel, tomate, and hollandaise. In Italy, people enjoy pesto from Genoa or ragù for pasta.

Tagliatelle al ragù (image modified)
Tagliatelle al ragù (image modified)

Chinese cooking uses soy sauce and fermented bean paste. In Mexico, a sauce called mole can even contain chocolate. Many Indian sauces use a base of onion, ginger, and garlic. Indonesian food uses peanut sauce called bumbu kacang.

Sauces help connect different kinds of food together. You might use a sweet sauce on a cold dessert. A tart lemon sauce works well with sweet white chocolate.

Kolasås sjudandes på spisen
Kolasås sjudandes på spisen

You can also use warm sauce on cold ice cream. In the West, sauces often go on top of meat. In Asia, sauces are often mixed right into the dish. Whether it is ketchup or a complex curry, sauces change how we eat. They make every meal a new discovery.

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🖼️ Images & Media (9)
File:Lunch sauces.jpg
Lunch sauces.jpg
File:Houmous.jpg
Houmous.jpg
File:Whisking sauce-01.jpg
Whisking sauce-01.jpg
File:Kolasås sjudandes på spisen.jpg
Kolasås sjudandes på spisen.jpg
File:Flickr avlxyz 4140435178--Salmon Benedict on potato cake.jpg
Flickr avlxyz 4140435178--Salmon Benedict...
File:Sauce boat.jpg
Sauce boat.jpg
File:Tagliatelle al ragù (image modified).jpg
Tagliatelle al ragù (image modified).jpg
File:Ingredienti per il pesto Genovese (Ingridients for Pesto Genovese).jpg
Ingredienti per il pesto Genovese...
File:Sauce on Satay.jpg
Sauce on Satay.jpg
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