Help: Versatile sauce recipes for the home cook?

Hey with all the success I've had using the recipes from this forum - i was wondering if you guys had some recipes for sauces that you could share? Frequently the reductions and sauces are something that elevates food by a lot at good restaurants. And somehow they seem elusive to me when I do some protein meals at home.

I was hoping for a few compiled in a thread that I could start making to serve with fish/poultry/red meats.

Anyone out there happy to share a secret sauce or ten? :hungry:

I think you can't beat Michel Roux's book on sauces for the classics.
Personally, if I'm roasting, it's pan juices + red wine + stock + butter.
Love beurre noisette for pan fried fish, just browned butter with some lemon juice and parsley.

My advice on sauces: Learn how all the different thickeners work. That's really the key to working all of them.

Another nice book for the classics is James Peterson's "Sauces". He also give a nice history on the subject.

The Edge said:

Another nice book for the classics is James Peterson's "Sauces". He also give a nice history on the subject.

Click to expand...

Agreed. A very thorough book.

Surely, that can not be his real last name!!!!!:rofl2:

MadMel said:

I think you can't beat Michel Roux's book on sauces for the classics.
Personally, if I'm roasting, it's pan juices + red wine + stock + butter.
Love beurre noisette for pan fried fish, just browned butter with some lemon juice and parsley.

Click to expand...

I'll just be a bystander on this one and pleasantly read, but I will throw out one thing. When the in-laws come and ask if you have cream of mushroom soup in your pantry (and don't), a substitute is basically a roux with stock and milk

k.

******* said:

Surely, that can not be his real last name!!!!!:rofl2:

Click to expand...

Yes it is.. The Roux brothers, Albert and Michel were the top chefs in the UK for the most part of the last decade. Marco Pierre White trained under Albert I believe.

Do they have a baker cousin named Pierre Brioche? Even a non-Calvinist like me might be inclined to believe that these guys were predestined to be in the food biz.:biggrin:

MadMel said:

Yes it is.. The Roux brothers, Albert and Michel were the top chefs in the UK for the most part of the last decade. Marco Pierre White trained under Albert I believe.

Click to expand...

I've got a great little pastry book by the Roux brothers.
Experimenting is always great, never know when you'll surprise yourself.

Chicken- I love doing pan roasted supreme's. I do it with cubed sparta apples(texture) and quartered pearl onion.half the apple and all the onion go in right after the chicken. Pop it into the oven. When you're ready to flip it pop the rest of the apples in the pan. When you rest the chicken, deglaze the pan with a bit of white. Half the apple should be mushy almost like apple sauce the second half should be nicely roasted. finish Monte Buere. Nothing Crazy, but damn good. I usually cook up a balsamic caramelized onion risotto and whatever veg or salad I've got kicking around.

I enjoy reducing Red Wine, Balsamic, and a little honey when blue cheese and red meat are on the plate.

I've got a southern style roast corn and tomato salsa that is just fantastic for Flour dredged fried fish.