Many a simple dish needs something to tie it together and give it a hint of elegance. There are really two kinds of sauce. One kind is used much like a condiment and accents or contrasts with the flavor of the food at hand. Examples of this are beurre blanc, béarnaise, mayonnaise, mustard, and tomato sauce. A second kind of sauce is designed to emulate, reiterate, and concentrate the flavor of the food it’s accompanying. Examples of this kind of sauce are gravies and jus, braising liquids (such as from stews and pot roast), and sauces made by deglazing the pan used for sautéing.
Many recipes for “simple” hollandaise rely on the blender or food processor, but when making small amounts, a blender doesn’t work because the blades stand above the egg yolks. The food processor method is given as a variation below.
The classic method involves cooking the egg yolks in a metal mixing bowl held over a saucepan of boiling water and then adding hot (but not too hot) butter in a steady stream. Don’t try to clarify salted butter or the butter will never stop frothing when you heat it. This recipe yields a classic thick hollandaise because it calls for clarified butter, which has had the water taken out of it. For a thinner sauce, use whole butter.
Makes 1¼ cups
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, clarified if desired
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
Salt
White pepper
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Don’t let it get too hot—you should be able to hold your finger against the bottom of the saucepan.
Put a saucepan of water on the stove to boil. In a bowl wider than the saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, the lemon juice, and water until the mixture is frothy. Turn the boiling water down to maintain at a bare simmer and place the bowl with the egg yolk mixture on top. Whisk constantly until the mixture barely stiffens but doesn’t curdle. Remove from the heat and whisk in the melted butter in a steady stream. Again, make sure the butter isn’t too hot; if it is, it will curdle the yolks. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Use as soon as possible. It can be kept warm (a Thermos is good for this) for up to 4 hours.
Variation:
If you want to make hollandaise in food processor, prepare the butter as described above and let it cool until it’s the temperature of a hot bath (about 115 degrees) (no hotter or it will curdle the egg yolks). Combine the egg yolks and lemon juice in the food processor. With the food processor running, pour in the butter in a slow steady stream. If the sauce seems to be getting too thick (it should be slightly less thick than mayonnaise), add a tablespoon or two of water.
There has been a great deal of mystique surrounding the making of beurre blanc. It wasn’t until the sixties and seventies that it became a popular sauce in France; a decade later, it became popular in the United States. But the fact is, it takes little effort and can be whipped up in minutes. It’s great on poached fish, such as the trout or the halibut. Despite all this, beurre blanc still intimidates. It’s best made at the last minute, but you can make it up to 3 hours ahead and keep it warm (never approaching the boil) in a pan of hot water or in a Thermos. If it starts to thicken and look waxy, dilute it with a couple of tablespoons of cream or water to prevent it from breaking.
Makes 1 cup
1 shallot, minced
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 6 slices
Salt
White pepper
Combine the shallot, wine, and vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until there remains only about 3 tablespoons. Add the cream, turn the heat to high, and add the butter all at once. Whisk constantly until all the butter has melted. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. If you don’t want the shallot in the sauce, strain.
Butter contains proteins, called milk solids, which burn at relatively low temperatures. For this reason, butter can be difficult to work with when high heat is required—it will burn. If you’re sautéing potatoes or mushrooms or other foods that require browning over high heat, you may want to clarify the butter by removing the milk solids.
In professional kitchens, butter is easy to clarify; since pounds of it are melted at a time, milk solids that form on the top are skimmed off, the fat (the clarified butter) is then skimmed off, and the water contained in the butter, which sinks to the bottom of the pot, is left behind.
In home kitchens, we rarely clarify more than a pound of butter and rarely even that much—although it makes sense to clarify a pound or so since it will keep for months tightly covered—to clarify a small amount of butter, follow the directions below. Don’t use salted butter or it will froth up and make clarification impossible.
Makes 1 cup
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
Melt the butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until you see it come to a boil because of the water it contains. Cook it in this way for about 10 minutes, until you see milk solids begin to coagulate on the bottom and sides of the saucepan. At this point, turn down the heat, prepare a bowl of cold water, and wait for the milk solids to turn brown, but not dark brown. Immediately plunge the bottom of the saucepan in the cold water to stop the cooking. Strain the butter through a fine-mesh strainer. Clarified butter will keep in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for several months. It freezes for years.
If you know how to make hollandaise sauce, you can make béarnaise. To make béarnaise, you simply make an infusion of shallots, vinegar, and peppercorns and then use this strained mixture in the hollandaise instead of the lemon juice.
Makes 1½ cups
2 shallots, minced
¼ cup dry white wine
¼ cup white wine vinegar or tarragon vinegar
10 black peppercorns
4 sprigs tarragon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, clarified, warm, not hot
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold water, or more as needed
Salt
Pepper
Combine the shallots, wine, and vinegar in a small saucepan. Crush the peppercorns by putting them on a cutting board and pressing down on them with the corner of a heavy saucepan and leaning on it with all your weight. Put them in the saucepan with the wine mixture. Add the tarragon.
Add the egg yolks and water to the shallot mixture. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until it thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove immediately from the heat. Whisk for about 30 seconds off the heat so the heat retained in the pan doesn’t cause the yolks to curdle. Whisk in the clarified butter in a thin but steady stream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Thin if necessary with 1 or 2 teaspoons of water. Serve immediately or keep warm for up to 2 hours (no longer) in a pan of hot water (120 degrees) or Thermos.
This sauce, also called sauce meurette, is best known as a Burgundian sauce for poached eggs, but it can be used for all sorts of dishes, including sautéed meats, poultry, or fish and even roasts. The sauce doesn’t require broth or concentrated broth; the meaty flavor is provided by prosciutto (the French use unsmoked bacon, but prosciutto is better and easier to find). Be sure to buy prosciutto ends. It used to be the butcher would give them away for free, but lately I’ve been seeing them for sale at about half the price of regular prosciutto. This recipe calls for a celery stalk, which can be a nuisance if you only need one. Keep in mind that celery can be stored in the freezer. It looses its texture and color when frozen but can still be used for recipes like this that call for it as a flavoring.
Makes 1 cup
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
⅓ pound prosciutto end, diced into ¼-inch pieces
2 teaspoons flour
1 bottle (750 ml) red wine
Salt
Pepper
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the carrot, onion, celery, prosciutto, and flour and cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until the vegetables and prosciutto are well browned, about 15 minutes.
Pour in the wine and simmer gently while skimming off any fat and froth that float to the top of the wine. Continue simmering until the sauce cooks down to about 1 cup and begins to thicken, about 20 minutes. Strain and season to taste with salt and pepper. The sauce can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 5 days, but it may need to be thinned slightly when it’s reheated.
Essentially milk thickened with flour, béchamel sauce is also the base for Mornay sauce, which contains cheeses. Mornay sauce is handy for making gratins, such as Cauliflower Gratin.
Makes 3 cups
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1 imported bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme (optional)
Salt
Pepper
Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and cook the mixture into a smooth paste, stirring with a whisk, until the flour takes on a toasty smell, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk, add the bay leaf and thyme, and bring to a simmer, while whisking, over high heat. When the milk comes to a boil and thickens, strain out or pick out the bay leaf and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If you need to hold the sauce, keep it warm in a pan of hot water. Dot the surface of the sauce with butter to prevent a crust from forming and keep the sauce covered with a lid.
To make a Mornay sauce, or cheese sauce, add 1 cup of grated Gruyère to the béchamel and stir until it melts.
It’s surprising how much better a basic homemade mayonnaise is than one that comes out of a jar. A good approach, though, is to start making your mayonnaise with a small amount of the bottled variety. This eliminates the need for adding the oil a drop at a time at the beginning.
Makes 1½ cups
In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, 2 egg yolks, and lemon juice. Whisk in the canola oil in a thin steady stream. If the sauce starts to get too thick (which can cause it to break), whisk in the water. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mayonnaise can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This may cause the mayonnaise to “break,” meaning it may separate. To fix it, whisk in another egg yolk or ¼ cup heavy cream.
Aïoli is made by adding a clove or two of crushed garlic to a basic mayonnaise. Use extra virgin olive oil instead of canola oil.
Makes 1½ cups
½ cup store-bought mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon water (optional)
1½ to 2 cloves garlic
Mash garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt using the side of a large heavy knife. In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, 2 egg yolks, and lemon juice. Whisk in the extra virgin olive oil in a thin steady stream. If the sauce starts to get too thick (which can cause it to break) whisk in the water. Whisk in garlic paste and season with salt and pepper. Aïoli can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
The trick here to making aïoli is starting with store-bought mayonnaise. It ends up being such a small proportion of the sauce that very few, if any, will guess it’s there; and it makes the whole process so much less fraught.
Makes 1¼ cups
¼ cup store-bought mayonnaise
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 pinch saffron threads, soaked in 1 tablespoon of hot water for 30 minutes
Put the mayonnaise in a mixing bowl and use a wooden spoon to stir in the egg yolk and the lemon juice. Slowly, in a small steady stream down the side of the bowl, pour in the extra virgin olive oil while working it in with a wooden spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and then add the saffron with its soaking liquid. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
Once you have a basic mayonnaise in hand, it’s possible to flavor it with any number of ingredients, including curry powder (cooked in a little oil for a minute), saffron, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, or this way, with capers and herbs. This sauce is great with plates of assorted grilled vegetables.
Makes 2 cups
1 bunch chives, very thinly sliced
Leaves from one bunch parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tarragon leaves, finely chopped
½ cup capers, rinsed
Fresh lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 egg yolk (optional)
In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chives, parsley, tarragon, and capers. Season to taste with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up 5 days. If the sauce separates in storage, whisk in the egg yolk to bring it back together.
This sauce is a great accent for fried fish and just about any fried food. Try it on fried chicken.
Makes 1½ cups
1 cup Basic Mayonnaise
¼ cup chopped cornichons (small sour pickles)
¼ cup capers, rinsed and chopped
2 shallots, minced
2 heaping tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper
1 egg yolk or ¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, cornichons, capers, shallots, chives, and mustard. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately or store sauce for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. If it separates in storage, whisk in the egg yolk or the heavy cream.
This easy-to-make green sauce is originally from Argentina where it is used as a seasoning and marinade for grilled meats. Feel free to come up with your own variations by adding herbs, such as oregano or marjoram. This sauce is great on the Sautéed London Broil.
Makes ½ cup
Leaves from 1 bunch cilantro
Leaves from 1 bunch parsley
1 clove garlic, minced and then crushed to a paste
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil, or more as needed
Salt
Pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and puree for about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the processor and puree for 15 seconds more. Add more oil if the mixture is too thick. This sauce is best used right away. You can store it in the refrigerator for up to a week or so, but it will lose some of its color and fresh flavor.
Most tomato sauce recipes have you standing over a stove stirring. While this recipe takes some time, it’s the easiest method I know. One caveat: it helps to have a food mill. This sauce is good in any recipe calling for tomato sauce. I like it on pasta, fish, and poultry. It’s also great for making Eggplant Parmigiano.
Makes 2½ cups
4 pounds ripe tomatoes
Olive oil
Cut the tomatoes in half through their equators and squeeze out the seeds. Coat a roasting pan with sides at least 1 inch high with olive oil and arrange the tomatoes, cut side down. Don’t worry if they don’t all fit in a single layer. Slide into the oven and turn the oven to 375°F (there’s no need to preheat).
Bake for about 90 minutes, or until the juices the tomatoes release begin to get syrupy. Check them every 15 minutes to make sure they’re not burning.
Scrape the tomatoes and any liquid into a food mill or large strainer. Work through the food mill or through the strainer with a ladle. Transfer to a jar, seal tightly and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or freeze for up to a year.
This is the classic salsa verde (green sauce) served over enchiladas in Mexican restaurants. But it also happens to make a versatile sauce that is great on barbecued or grilled foods, such as chicken or pork. It has a vibrant acidity that also makes it good with fish. If you don’t want your sauce spicy, leave out the chipotle chiles. If you can’t find chipotle chiles, use 4 jalapeños that have been seeded and minced. Don’t confuse tomatillos with green tomatoes. Green tomatoes are just underripe tomatoes; tomatillos are related to gooseberries and are surrounded with a papery sheath that should be removed before they are cooked.
Makes 3 cups
3 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced and then crushed to a paste
2½ pounds tomatillos, sheaths removed, halved across their equators
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, rinsed, stemmed, and chopped
½ cup water (optional)
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
Salt
Pepper
In a small heavy-bottomed pot, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, or until they turn translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatillos and the chiles and cover the pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent burning, for about 20 minutes, or until the tomatillos are mushy. If the mixture is too dry and the tomatillos stick to the pot, add ½ cup water.
Puree the mixture with an immersion blender or in a regular blender. Be careful using a blender as the hot sauce tries to shoot out the top. (Hold the lid on securely with a kitchen towel.) Add the cilantro to the sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. You can use right away or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for months.
The delight of mango salsa is that it heats and cools at the same time. It’s easy to make—the only tedious part is peeling the mangos—and is good with chips or atop grilled meats or fish such as the Sautéed London Broil. It is also good on the Grilled Pompano for which a mayonnaise-based sauce would be too rich (pompano is very rich).
Makes 2 cups
2 ripe mangos
1 white onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced and then crushed to a paste
2 dried chipotle chiles, soaked for 30 minutes in hot water, or 2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, rinsed
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
Pepper
Salt
Peel the mangoes by cutting them in half along the thinner side—the purpose is to slide the knife along each side of the flat pit, detaching it from the flesh. When you get one half off, slide the knife under the pit and pull it away. Slide a knife along the inside of the mango, pointing toward the peel, and make a crisscross pattern. Push the skin inward so it turns inside out. Cut away the flesh. Repeat with the other side. Chop coarsely and combine with the onion and garlic.
Stem the chiles, cut them in half lengthwise, rinse out the seeds, and finely chop the flesh. Add to the mango mixture along with the cilantro and pepper. If you’re not serving immediately, don’t add the salt until the last minute—it will make the sauce too runny. You can hold the salsa in the fridge for up to 2 days. However, it will release liquid that should be drained off.
Many people get their applesauce from a jar and have never tasted homemade. The advantage of making your own applesauce is that you can capture the flavor nuances of unusual apples. An applesauce made from Northern Spies will convince you.
Makes 2 cups
2 pounds tart apples
½ cup water
2 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
Cut each apple in half vertically, then cut each half into slices about ½ inch thick, skins, stems, seeds, and all. Put the slices in a pot, pour in the water, add the sugar, cover, and bring to a simmer over high heat. As soon as the water reaches a simmer, immediately turn down the heat to low and simmer slowly until the apples soften, about 20 minutes. Taste the apples for sweetness and, if necessary, add more sugar.
Work the apples through a food mill or strainer into a wide pot or sauté pan. Boil down the applesauce until it has the thickness you like—it may not require any boiling at all. Applesauce will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or up to a year in the freezer.