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Unit 319
Prepare, Cook and Finish
Complex Sauces and Cold
Dressings.
Revision of Level 2 Sauces.
Basic sauces and dressings.
Complex Sauces Introduction.
• The modern kitchen has produced a wide range of
variations to the old classical methods of roux based
sauces. Nowadays crème fraiche, fromage frais and
yogurt are used as alternatives to cream, egg yolks and
butter making today's sauces lighter, less fatty with less
rich textures.
• Many modern chefs will use a reduced purée of vegetable
or fruit base preparation as the sauce without any
thickening agent.
• It is worth noting that very small amounts of a starch
can be added to act as a stabilizer.
Cream Thickened Sauce.
• Many sauces are ‘enriched’ with the addition of
cream. Most sauces will have been made in the
traditional way before the cream is added,
therefore their thickening agent will already
be present.
• Some dishes will have their cooking liquid
reduced to concentrate the flavour and
consistency and then the cream is added. It is
then necessary to cook and reduce again to
thicken the sauce.
• Only a good quality double cream is suitable
for this method of sauce making as single
and whipping cream do not have the viscosity
to ensure a suitably thickened sauce.
• It is worth noting that when cooked for any
length of time thin cream or one with
insufficient butter fat content, will result in
the protein overcooked and shrunk, giving it
a curdled appearance.
• It is also important to note that many chefs
prefer not to over use cream in their dishes
as many customers today prefer the lighter
less rich sauces.
Fruit/Pulse/Vegetable
Thickened Sauces.
• This type of sauce is the process of
cooking down the main ingredient until it
is soft enough to be puréed in a blender
(or similar).
• The concentration is achieved by the
evaporation of the water content until
the desired thickness occurs. Sometimes
a starch can be added in the form of
cornflour or potato starch.
Reduction Sauce.
• Many different sauces develop from this basic
technique. In classical cookery a reduction
sauce was based on the addition of wine,
vinegar or a quality stock added to a pan in
which meat, poultry, game or fish had been
cooked.
• The item is removed, the fat tipped off and
the wine, vinegar or stock added. The liquid is
reduced and concentrated before other
ingredients are added. A spirit like brandy can
be added and ‘ignited’ that is to ‘flambé’ the
dish.
• Other ingredients added could be a white or
brown sauce, garnish, cream, herbs etc. This
is only a brief explanation of a very
extensive and varied selection of sauces and
it is not within the requirements of this unit
to identify them all.
• The term ‘reduction sauce’ can include sauces
whose base starts with the main ingredient
or ‘body’ of the sauce being concentrated by
simmering away the water content in order
to concentrate the flavour and thicken the
sauce.
Egg Based Sauce.
• The combining of egg yolks and melted butter
to form an emulsified sauce, is known as a
hollandaise sauce. The attention to correct
preparation and production methods is vital to
make this sauce.
• Awareness of good hygiene, use of fresh eggs,
the temperature of the egg yolks and butter
and the fact that the sauce must be made just
prior to service, requires a sound level of
knowledge and skill.
Hollandaise sauce.
• Is also classed as a
‘warm sauce’. The
best temperature
for the ‘holding’ of
the sauce is 37°C
or blood heat.
Explain the differences
between Hollandaise &
Béarnaise.
Stocks/Gravy/Glaze.
• Stocks.
• The traditional stock pot has been the
foundation of many kitchen preparations for
many, many years. The cooking of meat/bones,
vegetables and herbs in a pot with water has
long been a basic method of cookery to produce
an aromatic cooking liquor to be used as the
basis to other dishes.
• The classical kitchen has worked with the
making of these stocks – beef, veal, poultry,
game and fish as the first step in ensuring the
quality of a finished dish.
• Nowadays due to a greater awareness
of food hygiene, strict kitchen
procedures, economy of time, and food
cost, the stock pot has lost its role as
an essential preparation.
• Convenience stocks have taken over and
fulfil a necessary requirement.
However, there is no substitute for the
freshly made stock and where factors
allow, a fresh stock will always assist in
producing a dish of an excellent,
original flavour.
Gravy.
• The dictionary describes gravy as.
‘the juice that comes from the flesh
when cooking.’
• Explained in French as a ‘Jus’. Likewise
Jus is explained as juice, gravy.
• The traditional English understanding of a
gravy is a sauce-like preparation which has
gained its texture by being thickened with
a gravy powder out of a tin.
• In good kitchens, the liquid left after
roasting beef, poultry, veal and game etc,
has the grease removed, is then boiled
down to a concentrate and offered as the
Jus-rôti (juice from the roast) as the
accompaniment to the joint.
• Jus-lie is a stock made up from veal
bones/chicken, bacon pieces, vegetables
and herbs, fresh stock and tomato purée.
This is cooked for 1-2 hours before being
thickened.
• Hence Jus-lie – Juice thickened.
Glazes.
• The process of making a glaze will normally be found in
only the most professional of kitchens. Good quality
stock, one with a definite taste, free from grease and
clear, is suitable.
• Constant simmering, reducing and straining the stock
down to a sticky glutinous mass takes time and an ever
watchful eye, especially over the last stages. The
original quantity of stock, that is 12-15 litres will
become no more than ½ litre and it is very easy to spoil
by reducing too fast and burning.
• The time taken can be several hours and the
consumption of gas or electricity can make this process
prohibitive.
• Sometimes this reduction can be left at the
stage of a concentrated stock called an essence,
which is much thinner than a glaze and cannot be
used in quite the same way.
• Essences can be purchased in bottles from good
quality stockists (mushroom, truffle, anchovy
etc).
• A finished glaze resembles a dark sticky mass
and is very strong in flavour. It must be used in
very small amounts and added to sauces to
strengthen the flavour, to darken the colour
slightly, and help to give a shine.
Oil And Vinegar Based
Sauce.
• Vinaigrette or French dressing as it is
sometimes referred to, is made by mixing
together oil and vinegar, with seasoning, to
produce a sharp flavoured preparation used on a
variety of salads.
• A basic vinaigrette is made using a good quality
oil – groundnut, or a mixture of olive oil and
groundnut, with white wine vinegar.
• Due to the wide range of oils available and an
even greater choice of vinegars you can produce
a dressing to suit every and any combination of
salads.
• Mustard can be added to a vinaigrette to add
further flavour and to help in stabilising the
dressing.
• Vinegar (sharply flavoured water) and oil will not
mix as oil is less dense than water and will float
on the water. Next time you look at a bottle of
vinaigrette (not commercial but kitchen made)
you will see that the oil has separated out and is
on top of the vinegar.
• When mustard is added it helps the oil and
water mix together and stay together longer.
The separating out effect has no ill effect on
the flavour or quality of the vinaigrette. It is
important though to shake the vinaigrette well
to remix the ingredients just before using.
Sour Cream Based Sauce.
• In classical cookery in particular, fruit based
salads were bound with acidulated cream –
cream mixed with fresh lemon juice. The lemon
juice has the effect of denaturing the protein
of the cream. In simple terms the protein was
changed so that it became thick.
• The use of sour cream or crème fraîche is an
alternative to acidulated cream. Each one of the
creams mentioned offers a different flavour
and acidity to the finished salad.
• With the change in eating habits, sour cream or
similar ingredients have been substituted where
mayonnaise was once the binding agent. A well
known salad such as coleslaw can be changed by
using sour cream and adding herbs or spices,
such as carraway seed or poppy seed.
• The choice and variations are limitless and in
the hands of a good chef a wide range of
interesting salads can be developed.
• Using good quality catering reference books
identify a range of salad preparations using
acidulated cream/sour cream as their binding
agent.
Vegetable/Fruit Coulis.
• The term ‘coulis’ is a well known term used in
good quality kitchens. A thin purée of the main
ingredient, smooth and definite in taste is used
as a sauce around the plate of the dish to be
presented.
• This method is very popular in the up-to-date
presentation of plated dishes because the
coulis is very much part of the taste of the
dish. Its colour and style of presentation will
enhance the appearance of the dish being
presented.
Aspic Jelly.
• Aspic jelly is a savoury jelly used for decorative
purposes in cold work presentation. It can also
be found in pâtés, terrines and pork pies.
• The aspic jelly used in kitchens in past
generations would have been produced from
veal bones, calves feet, shin of beef, to produce
a well flavoured stock with the natural gelatine
of the animal. This in turn would be clarified to
produce a crystal clear gelatinous stock.
• Today, because of the length of time to produce, the
cost and in particular the availability of some of the
ingredients, aspic jelly is even more unlikely to be
produced in a modern kitchen. For example calves feet
are difficult to obtain due to strict slaughter house
regulations as a result of BSE.
• It is also worth noting that aspic jelly is high in protein
and very easily exposed to bacterial infection. Due to
the fact that it is only warmed over a gentle heat
before being coated over meat or fish etc, it can
become an excellent medium for food poisoning.
• Convenience aspic is the most commonly used savoury
jelly used in kitchens. It is still very important to
remember that this product is high in protein but Agar
Agar is a safer product to use.