Sauce Recipes & Procedures

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• Garlic Cream Sauce – In a saucepot, sauté in olive oil minced shallots, with a good amount of chopped garlic.  When golden brown, but not burned, add Vermouth or dry white wine & cream, let reduce for several minutes, finish with a very-thick consistency béchamel. S & P to taste. 
• Mornay Sauce (for gratineeing finish with liaison of egg yolks & cream) – this may be the most popular sauce in all “Kids Menus” across the country.  It is the base for ‘Macaroni & cheese’. Make a medium consistency hot béchamel; stir in medium-sharp, shredded, cheddar cheese (the cheese will also help thicken the sauce), often I like to add a blend of cheeses & white wine, and always season with Salt & White Pepper.(Black Pepper looks bad in a white sauce, kind of like dirt speckles on a white canvas)
• Mustard sauce – Often mixed with Mornay, I prefer a whole-grain brown mustard, or a Dijon is nice too.
• Soubise – Diced, sweated sweet onions, white wine, & cream 

Derivatives & Small Sauces to be made from a Red Sauce:

2).  Red Sauce (Tomato Based) Top

• Marinara – Most every Chef has his own version of a Marinara style sauce.  I guess, I may not be much different.  My version is comprised of a recipe from a Chef I apprenticed under, an Old-school Italian from New York. Chef Carravaggio taught me well, but I do deviate from his classic Marinara recipe, depending on the season and ingredients available.
• Pomodoro – For this sauce, the flavor comes from using only the freshest, sweetest tomatoes, garlic, basil and quality Olive Oil.  I prefer whole, vine ripened, fresh-canned, Plum Tomatoes imported from Rome, Italy; the same goes for the Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Mama Mia only the best!
• Bolognese – Ground Beef, Veal, and Italian Sausage, with Garlic, Peppers, Onions, Oregano, Basil and Roma Tomatoes.
• Creole – Diced bell peppers, onion, red pepper flakes, Tabasco, Bay leaf, Gumbo file’, and a splash of Demiglaze. 

Derivatives & Small Sauces to be made from a Brown Stock:  

Demiglaze – Put in a stock pot equal amounts of a medium-thick consistency Brown sauce  and a rich beef broth; then bring mixture to a boil, add an herb sachet, and continue to boil the liquid till it’s been reduced by half the original amount; hence the name demi (half)-glaze.

In tight circumstances, it can be useful to add a little corn starch slurry to help bring it to the desired consistency without major reduction time.

• Marsala Sauce – Mushrooms, garlic, shallots, thyme, Brown Sauce, and Marsala wine
• Green peppercorn Cognac Demi – Caramelized Shallots and Dijon, fresh green peppercorns, cognac and Demiglaze
• Stroganoff  - Onion, bay leaf, Hungarian paprika, & Brown sauce finished w/ sour cream
• Marchand de Vin (Wine Merchant) – Demiglaze with shallots and red wine, sometimes I like to add rosemary before the reduction process
  • Reduction Sauces
    • Balsamic reduction
    • Port wine reductions
    • Cream reductions 

Derivatives & Small Sauces to be made from a Chicken Stock and/or Wine:   

• 4).  Veloute Sauce (Chicken, Veal or Fish Based) Top
  • White Wine Sauce
  • Sauce Supreme
  • Hungarian Paprika Sauce
  • Forestiere l’estregon – Mushrooms, dry white wine, tarragon, cream & Chicken Veloute
• 5).  Burre’ Sauce (Butter Based) Top
  • Beurre blanc – This style of sauce is unique & very French.  The base of its flavor comes from the sauté of shallot & garlic, with the reduction of white wine.  Reduce this mixture with a little cream till it has reduced less than 2/3 its original volume; then take off the heat and whisk in the butter, and I mean lots and lots of butter. This is a high calorie sauce, its very rich in flavor, and should not be consumed in large amounts.
  • Beurre rouge – Same process as Beurre blanc but with red wine and red onions, shallots and garlic.
  • Beurre noisette – this is the process of cooking butter till it is deep brown in color and basically burned, skimmed, clarified, and strained. Has a very nutty flavor. 
  • Hollandaise and Béarnaise
• 6).  Specialty Sauces - Purées, Coulis, & Gravies Top
  • Cream Purees
• Roasted red & poached yellow pepper Coulis
• Meat Gray –  (Beef, Poultry, Pork, or Sausage)

Make the gravy in the pan the meat was roasted in. pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat. Add about 2 tablespoons of flour to the flour, and mix so not to have clumps, here you are making the roux, which will thicken the gravy.  Put pan on the stovetop and begin to heat, constantly stirring and scraping the cooked meat and roasted vegetable matter with a wooden spoon. When it starts to sizzle and cook, use a hand whisk, stir in 1 cup of water, or stock, or milk (for country-style gravy) slowly, as to prevent lumps in the gravy. Bring the mixture to a boil, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to develop the best, richest flavored gravy you can. Depending on the gravy, and the ingredients you use, you may need to add a step of straining the liquids through a chinoise, or small-mesh strainer.  This straining step may be necessary to filter out chunks of roasted matter or lumps of flour, if you’re not too careful.  I often prefer straining the boiled pan roasting liquids before the thickening process begins. To increase the yield of the recipe, simply adjust the liquids and roux amounts to appropriate proportions and consistency.