The saying goes that "The French have a hundred sauces todisguise a few foods - and the Americans have a hundredfoods disguised only by white sauce!"
It is true that many great gourmet dishes involve a specialsauce, which used to take hours to prepare. For the quickgourmet chef, there's a way around this:
1. Hollandaise and Béarnaise: Both are available in glassjars. You should be able to find them in your local gourmetshop or supermarket.
2. Madeira, Armoricaine, Newburg, Supreme, et al: These,too, are available in jars or frozen, and will transform thehumble hamburger or leftover into a gourmet's dream.
3. Bottled Meat Sauces: Diable, Robert or Cumberland sauce,Worcestershire, and a wide range of mustards from Devilledto Bahamian to Dijon. Wash your hands thoroughly, use ajudicious few tablespoons of whatever you fancy, and rub itthoroughly into chops and steaks. This replaces themarinades which used to take hours.
4. Dessert Sauces: Be cautious about these! There are lotsof edible varieties - but very few that come up to agourmet's standard! . . . as you will see in our gourmetdessert section, there are innumerable quick tricks withliqueurs and fresh fruit for presenting gourmet desserts ina minute.( http://www.easy-gourmet-cooking.com/gourmet-desserts/ )
5. Basting Sauces: Here you begin to be a gourmet chef, fora basting sauce is largely invention based on experience asyou grow proficient with recipes. Basting sauces are usedwith fish, meat and poultry. Generally, they are meltedbutter blended with herbs - or spices - or fruit and fruitpeels - with or without a dash of cooking wine. The preciseingredients depend upon the final flavor desired: tangy,sultry, or sweetish.
The basting sauce should be made at the start of the cookingoperation, placed over the lowest possible heat, allowed tosit and grow acquainted with itself. A quarter pound ofbutter makes an adequate basting sauce; half a pound issometimes better-if you can bring yourself to it!
The basic procedure is to combine butter chunks and desiredseasonings or flavorings in a small saucepot (a stainlesssteel one-cup measure with a handle is satisfactory), and toobtain the full savory blend by simmering gently during thefirst steps of searing meat or poultry, firming the fishflesh, etc. A basting sauce is used to moisten and flavor adish during its cooking; it is brushed directly ontoroasting meat or poultry with a pastry brush at 10 or 15minute intervals, or poured over fish and broiled dishesevery 5 minutes for quick cookery.
For long cooking roasts, when the basting sauce has all beenused, a roaster baster will pick up pan juices formoistening the dish.
6. Wine & Wine Sauces: "The better the wine, the better thedish" is the gourmet standard ... although it's notnecessary to buy fine vintage drinking wines for use in thekitchen. If you have good local wine, do use it for cooking.
Never buy cooking wine or liquor purely on a price basis;the cheap brands do not have sufficient alcoholic content tocreate a flambee dish - and will not have enough flavor toremain in the sauce. White wines can be used for anyrecipes, but red wines can only be used for dark meats . . .when they will not discolor the dish.
At table, the only standard today is flavor, and red orwhite wines are served interchangeably. Traditionally, redis for meat and white is for chicken or fish - but thesedays, you can do as you please!
When wine is added directly to a dish during cooking, lowerthe heat immediately or the meat will toughen.
7. Fats and Oils: For true gourmet cooking, there is nosubstitute for butter unless particularly specified. Sweetbutter is preferable, because the amount of salt varies incommercial brands; if salt butter is used, decrease theamount of salt in a recipe and check seasoning just beforeyou serve.
Butter is absolutely essential for sauces and basting, butcannot be used for frying; at high temperatures, itdecomposes chemically and burns.
For Deep-Fat Frying, use liquid or hydrogenated oils such asCrisco. These can be re-used once or twice, if you allowsediment to settle and decant (pour off) the clear top fatafter each frying. Once frying fat has been used for fish,it cannot be used for anything else! If you enjoy friedfoods, it's wise to have two fat kettles - one for fish, andone for everything else.
For all Italian, Spanish or Latin-American dishes, atablespoon of olive oil should replace butter in startingthe dish.
Lard is excellent for greasing baking potatoes or pan-fryingfish. It cannot be re-used, but is inexpensive enough todiscard and start fresh next time. Bacon grease is equallygood for baking potatoes or to saute fish, and can besmeared thickly over chicken breasts or squab beforeroasting. Because of its positive flavor, only tangy herbswill combine with it for added taste.
No gourmet cook ever uses margarine for anything.
8. Meat Glazes: For a handsome browned surface to meat orpoultry, mix a tablespoon of commercial gravy coloring withtwo table spoons of water. Paint all exposed parts of thepoultry or meat before placing in the oven.
9. Shallots are a small onion bulb resembling garlic information of cloves, but very mild in flavor. TypicallyFrench, they are not always available but make all thedifference in a sauce if they can be had. Minced scallions(spring onions) are an acceptable substitute - and inmoments of stress, a tablespoon of grated white onion willequal 2 minced shallots.
10. Grated orange and lemon peel are readily available injars; a teaspoon equals the grated rind of a whole medium-sized fruit.
11. Garlic can be bought powdered (a quarter teaspon equalsa fresh clove), but a garlic press will produce a muchbetter flavor from a peeled garlic clove.
Onion and garlic juice are also available; use them purelyfor flavoring, as many dishes are better with sauteed piecesof onion. Onion flakes are good for home-cooking, but notsufficient for gourmet results.
Good luck with your quick gourmet sauces!
