In
cookingCooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
, a
sauce is
liquidLiquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...
, creaming or semi-
solidSolid is one of the three classical states of matter . It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a...
food served on or used in preparing other
foodFood is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
s. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish.
Sauce is a
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
word taken from the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
salsus, meaning
salted. Possibly the oldest sauce recorded is
garumGarum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
, the
fish sauceFish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
used by the Ancient Romans.
Sauces need a liquid component, but some sauces (for example,
pico de gallo salsaIn Mexican cuisine, pico de gallo , also called salsa fresca, is a fresh, uncooked condiment made from chopped tomato, white onion, and chilis...
or
chutneyChutney is a a condiment used in South Asian cuisine that usually contains a spice and vegetable mix.Chutneys are wet or dry, having a coarse to fine texture. The Anglo-Indian loan word refers to fresh and pickled preparations indiscriminately, with preserves often sweetened. At least several...
) may contain more solid elements than liquid. Sauces are an essential element in cuisines all over the world.
Sauces may be used for savory dishes or for desserts. They can be prepared and served cold, like
mayonnaiseMayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
, prepared cold but served lukewarm like
pestoPesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy , and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo...
, or can be cooked like bechamel and served warm or again cooked and served cold like apple sauce.
Some sauces are industrial inventions like
Worcestershire sauceWorcestershire sauce , or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment; primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes.First made at 60 Broad Street, Worcester, England, by two dispensing chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and...
,
HP sauceHP Sauce is a popular brown sauce originally produced by HP Foods in the UK, now produced by H.J. Heinz in the Netherlands.It is the best-known brand of brown sauce in the United Kingdom and Canada as well as the best selling, with 71% of the UK market....
, or nowadays mostly bought ready-made like
soy sauceSoy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
or
ketchupKetchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
, other are still freshly prepared by the cook. Sauces for salads are called salad dressing. Sauces made by
deglazingDeglazing is a cooking technique for removing and dissolving caramelized bits of food from a pan to make a pan sauce.When a piece of meat is roasted, pan fried or prepared in a pan with another form of dry heat, a deposit of caramelized sugars, carbohydrates, and/or proteins forms on the bottom of...
a pan are called
pan sauceA pan sauce is a type of sauce that is often made to accompany sauteed meats.Generally speaking, a pan sauce is made by sauteing a meat at high temperature in a skillet, removing the meat, pouring off any excess fat, deglazing the pan with a liquid such as stock or wine, and incorporating the...
s.
A cook who specializes in making sauces is a
saucierA Saucier is a position in the classical brigade style kitchen, which is still used in large commercial kitchens such as some restaurants. It can be translated into English as sauce cook. This position prepares sauces, stews and hot hors d'œuvres and sautés food to order...
.
Cuisines
- Sauces used in traditional Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...
are usually based on shōyu (soy sauceSoy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
), misois a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and the fungus , the most typical miso being made with soy. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso...
or dashiDashi is a class of soup and cooking stock, considered fundamental to Japanese cooking. In 1980, Shizuo Tsuji wrote: "Many substitutes for dashi are possible, but without dashi, dishes are merely à la japonaise and lack the authentic flavor." Dashi forms the base for miso soup, clear broth, noodle...
. Ponzuis a citrus-based sauce commonly used in Japanese cuisine. It is tart, with a thin, watery consistency and a light yellow color. Ponzu shōyu or ponzu jōyu is ponzu sauce with soy sauce added, and the mixed product is widely referred to as simply ponzu.The element pon arrived in the Japanese...
, citrus-flavored soy sauce, and yakitori, grilled chicken, is commonly a Japanese type of skewered chicken. The term Yakitori can also refer to skewered food in general. Kushiyaki , is a formal term that encompasses both poultry and non-poultry items, skewered and grilled...
no tare, sweetened rich soy sauce, are examples of shoyu-based sauces. Misois a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and the fungus , the most typical miso being made with soy. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso...
-based sauces include gomamiso, miso with ground sesame, and amamiso, sweetened miso. In modern Japanese cuisine, the word "sauce" often refers to Worcestershire sauceWorcestershire sauce , or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment; primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes.First made at 60 Broad Street, Worcester, England, by two dispensing chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and...
, introduced in the 19th century and modified to suit Japanese tastes. TonkatsuTonkatsu , invented in the late 19th century, is a popular dish in Japan. It consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet one to two centimeters thick and sliced into bite-sized pieces, generally served with shredded cabbage and/or miso soup...
, okonomiyakiis a Japanese dish containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" . Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the...
, and yakisoba', literally "fried noodles", is a dish often sold at festivals in Japan, but originates in China. The dish was derived by the Chinese from the traditional chow mein, but has been more heavily integrated into Japanese cuisine like ramen...
sauces are based on this sauce. Japanese horseradishHorseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...
or wasabi, also known as Japanese horseradish, is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish, and mustard. Its root is used as a condiment and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper,...
sauce is used on sushiis a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
and sashimiSashimi is a Japanese delicacy. It consists of very fresh raw meat, most commonly fish, sliced into thin pieces.-Origin:The word sashimi means "pierced body", i.e...
or mixed with soy sauce to make wasabi-joyu.
- Some sauces in Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
are soy sauceSoy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
, doubanjiangDoubanjiang is a spicy, salty paste made from fermented broad beans, soybeans, salt, rice, and various spices. Doubanjiang exists in plain and spicy versions, with the latter containing red chili peppers and called la doubanjiang .It is used particularly in Sichuan cuisine, and in fact, the people...
, hoisin sauceHoisin sauce, or haixian sauce, is a Chinese dipping sauce. The word hoisin is a romanization of the Chinese word for seafood "" as pronounced in Cantonese.-Ingredients:...
, sweet bean sauce, chili sauceChili sauce is a condiment, similar to ketchup but with onion, garlic, and spice. Despite its name, it does not contain chili peppers and thus is not hot....
s, oyster sauceOyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking oysters. The most common in modern use is a viscous dark brown condiment made from sugar, salt and water thickened with cornstarch, flavoured with a little oyster essence or extract and some versions may be darkened with caramel, though high...
, and sweet and sour sauce.
- Korean cuisine uses sauces such as doenjang
Doenjang is a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste. Its name literally means "thick paste" in Korean.-Production:...
, gochujangGochujang is a savory and pungent fermented Korean condiment. Traditionally, it has been naturally fermented over years in large earthen pots outdoors, more often on an elevated stone platform, called jangdokdae in the backyard...
, samjang, and soy sauce.
- Southeast Asian cuisines, such as Thai
Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand. Blending elements of several Southeast Asian traditions, Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. The spiciness of Thai cuisine is well known. As with other Asian cuisines, balance, detail and variety...
and Vietnamese cuisineVietnamese cuisine is a style of cooking derived from Vietnam. Fish sauce and paste, soy paste, rice, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables are commonly used. Vietnamese recipes utilize a diverse range of herbs, including lemongrass, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander and Thai basil leaves...
, often use fish sauceFish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
, made from fermented fish.
- Indian cuisine uses sauces such as tomato-based curry sauces, tamarind sauce, coconut milk/paste based sauces, and chutneys.
- Salsas
Salsa may refer to any type of sauce. In American English, it usually refers to the spicy, often tomato based, hot sauces typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine, particularly those used as dips. In British English, the word typically refers to salsa cruda, which is common in Mexican ,...
("sauces" in SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) such as pico de galloIn Mexican cuisine, pico de gallo , also called salsa fresca, is a fresh, uncooked condiment made from chopped tomato, white onion, and chilis...
(salsa tricolor), salsa cocida, salsa verde, and salsa roja are a crucial part of many Latino cuisines in the Americas and Europe. Typical ingredients include tomato, onion, and spices; thicker sauces often contain avocadoThe avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
. Mexican cuisine uses a sauce based on chocolate and chillies known as moleMole is the generic name for a number of sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces...
. Argentine cooking uses more Italian-derived sauces, such as tomato sauce, cream sauce, or pink sauce (the two mixed).
- Peruvian cuisine
Peruvian cuisine reflects local cooking practices and ingredients—and, through immigration, influences from Spain, China, Italy, West Africa, and Japan. Due to a lack of ingredients from their home countries, immigrants to Peru modified their traditional cuisines by using ingredients...
uses sauces based mostly in different varieties of ajíAji is a spicy sauce that often contains tomatoes, cilantro, hot peppers , and onions. Recipes vary dramatically from table to table, depending on the preference of the chef. Aji has been used in Peru since the times of the Incas, who called it uchu....
combined with several ingredients most notably salsa huancaína based on fresh cheese and salsa de ocopa based on peanuts or nuts. It is said that each household in the country has its own secret salsa recipe.
French cuisine
"Sauces are the splendor and the glory of French cooking" ~ Julia Child
Sauces in French cuisine date back to the Middle Ages. There were hundreds of sauces in the culinary repertoire. In 'classical' French cooking (19th and 20th century until
nouvelle cuisineNouvelle cuisine is an approach to cooking and food presentation used in French cuisine. By contrast with cuisine classique, an older form of French haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased emphasis on presentation.-History:The term...
), sauces were a major defining characteristic of French cuisine.
In the 19th century, the chef Antonin Carême classified sauces into four families, each of which was based on a
mother sauce (also called
grandes sauces). Carême's four mother sauces were:
- Béchamel
Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...
, based on milk, thickened with a white rouxRoux is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Clarified butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a...
.
- Espagnole, based on brown stock (usually veal), thickened with a brown roux.
- Velouté
A velouté sauce, pronounced , along with Allemande, Béchamel, and Espagnole, is one of the sauces of French cuisine that were designated the four "mother sauces" by Antonin Carême in the 19th century. The French chef Auguste Escoffier later classified tomato, mayonnaise, and Hollandaise mother...
, based on a white stock, thickened with a blonde roux.
- Allemande
Allemande sauce is a sauce in French cuisine that is based on velouté sauce, but thickened with egg yolks and heavy cream, and seasoned with lemon juice...
, based on velouté sauce, is thickened with egg yolks and heavy cream.
In the early 20th century, the chef
Auguste EscoffierGeorges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine...
updated this classification to five mother sauces. They are:
- Sauce Béchamel
Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...
, milk based sauce, thickened with a white roux.
- Sauce Espagnole, a fortified brown veal stock sauce.
- Sauce Velouté
A velouté sauce, pronounced , along with Allemande, Béchamel, and Espagnole, is one of the sauces of French cuisine that were designated the four "mother sauces" by Antonin Carême in the 19th century. The French chef Auguste Escoffier later classified tomato, mayonnaise, and Hollandaise mother...
, white stock based sauce, thickened with a roux or a liaison.
- Sauce Hollandaise, an emulsion
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible . Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although the terms colloid and emulsion are sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion is used when both the dispersed and the...
of egg yolk, butter and lemon or vinegar.
- Sauce Tomate
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
, tomato based sauce.
A sauce which is derived from one of the mother sauces by augmenting with additional ingredients is sometimes called a
small sauce or
secondary sauce. Most sauces commonly used in classical cuisine are small sauces. For example, Bechamel can be made into
MornayA Mornay sauce is a Béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese added. Usually, it consists of half Gruyère and half Parmesan cheese, though some variations use different combinations of Gruyère, Emmental cheese, or white Cheddar....
by the addition of
GruyèreGruyère is a hard yellow cheese, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne...
or any cheese one may like, and Espagnole becomes Bordelaise with the addition and reduction of red wine, shallots, and poached beef marrow.
British cuisine
GravyGravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
is a traditional sauce used on roast dinner, which (traditionally) comprises roast
potatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, roast meat, boiled vegetables and optional
Yorkshire puddingYorkshire Pudding is a dish that originated in Yorkshire, England. It is made from batter and usually served with roast meat and gravy.-History:...
s. The sole survivor of the medieval bread-thickened sauces,
bread sauceA bread sauce is a warm or cold sauce thickened with bread. It is a savoury sauce served with a main meal.The sole survivor of the medieval bread-thickened sauces, the traditional British bread sauce is made with milk, butter or cream, and bread crumbs, flavoured with onion, salt, cloves, mace,...
is one of the oldest sauces in British cooking, flavored with spices brought in during the first returns of the spice missions across the globe and thickened with dried bread. Apple sauce,
mint sauceMint sauce is a sauce traditionally made from finely chopped spearmint leaves, soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Occasionally, the juice from a squeezed lime is added. The sauce should have the consistency of double cream...
and
horseradish sauceHorseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...
are also used on meat (
porkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
, lamb and
beefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
respectively).
Salad creamSalad cream is a creamy, yellow condiment based on an emulsion of about 25-50 percent of oil in water, emulsified by egg yolk and acidified by spirit vinegar, and with other ingredients which may include sugar, mustard, salt, thickener, spices, flavouring and colouring. It was introduced in the...
is sometimes used on salads.
KetchupKetchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
and
brown sauceIn classical French cuisine, a brown sauce generally refers to a sauce with a meat stock base, thickened by reduction and sometimes the addition of a browned roux, similar in some ways to but more involved than a gravy...
are used on more fast-food type dishes. Strong English
mustardMustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...
(as well as French or American mustard) are also used on various foods, as is
Worcestershire sauceWorcestershire sauce , or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment; primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes.First made at 60 Broad Street, Worcester, England, by two dispensing chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and...
, a successor to the fermented and highly flavored ancient
RomanAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
fish sauceFish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
garumGarum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
.
CustardCustard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...
is a popular dessert sauce. Some of these sauce traditions have been exported to ex-colonies such as the
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Italian cuisine
Italian sauces reflect the rich variety of the
Italian cuisineItalian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
and can be divided in different categories:
Savory sauces used for dressing meats, fish and vegetables
Here just a few:
- Bagna cauda
Bagna càuda, is a warm dip typical of Piedmont, Italy, but with numerous local variations...
from PiedmontPiedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
- Salmoriglio
Salmoriglio is a Southern Italian condiment made of lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, chopped oregano and parsley, salt and pepper. It is usually served with seafood or grilled and roasted meats....
from Sicily
- Gremolata
Gremolata or gremolada is a chopped herb condiment typically made of lemon zest, garlic, and parsley. It is a traditional accompaniment to the Milanese braised veal shank dish ossobuco alla milanese.-Ingredients:...
from MilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
- Salsa verde from Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
and TuscanyTuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
Savory sauces used to dress pastaPasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
dishes
Here there are thousand to choose from with almost every town having few traditional ones. The most famous internationally are probably:
- Ragù alla Bolognese as the name suggest from Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
- Pesto
Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy , and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo...
from GenuaGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
- Carbonara
Pasta alla carbonara is an Italian pasta dish based on eggs, cheese , bacon , and black pepper...
from Lazio
- Amatriciana from Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
Dessert sauces
- Zabajone from Piedemont
- Crema pasticciera made with eggs and milk and common in the whole peninsula
- "Crema al mascarpone
Mascarpone |denaturation]], whey is removed without pressing or aging. One can manufacture mascarpone by using cream and tartaric acid, citric acid, or even lemon juice....
" used to make TiramisùTiramisu, , , literally "pick me up", is an Italian cake and dessert.It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa...
and to dress panettonethumb|200px|right|A non-traditionally shaped panettone loaf.Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan , usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, Malta, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. Maltese nationals are...
at Christmas and common in the North of the country.
Sauce variations
There are also many sauces based on
tomatoThe word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
(such as tomato
ketchupKetchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
and
tomato sauceA tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
), other
vegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s and various spices. Although the word 'ketchup' by itself usually refers to tomato ketchup, it may also be used to describe sauces from other vegetables or fruits.
Sauces can also be sweet, and used either hot or cold to accompany and garnish a
dessertIn cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...
.
Another kind of sauce is made from stewed
fruitIn broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, usually strained to remove skin and fibers and often sweetened. Such sauces, including apple sauce and
cranberryCranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...
sauce, are often eaten with specific other foods (apple sauce with
porkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
, ham, or
potato pancakesPotato pancakes are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, flour and egg, often flavored with grated onion or garlic and seasoning. Potato pancakes may be topped with a variety of condiments, ranging from the savory to the sweet , or they may be served ungarnished...
; cranberry sauce with
poultryPoultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
) or served as desserts.
Examples
- Adjika
Adjika is a hot, spicy but subtly flavoured paste often used to flavour food mainly in the Caucasian regions of Abkhazia and Samegrelo. Adjika is usually red, though green adjika can be made with unripe peppers...
- Andalusian sauce
- Avgolemono
Avgolemono is a family of Mediterranean sauces and soups made with egg and lemon juice mixed with broth, heated until they thicken. Avgolémono 'egg-lemon' is the Greek name; in Arabic, it is called tarbiya or beida bi-lemoune 'egg with lemon'; and in Turkish terbiye...
- Barbecue sauce
Barbecue sauce is a flavoring sauce or condiment ranging from watery to very thick consistency. As the name implies, it was created as an accompaniment to barbecued foods. While it can be applied to any food, it usually tops meat after cooking or during barbecuing, grilling, or baking...
- Bread sauce
A bread sauce is a warm or cold sauce thickened with bread. It is a savoury sauce served with a main meal.The sole survivor of the medieval bread-thickened sauces, the traditional British bread sauce is made with milk, butter or cream, and bread crumbs, flavoured with onion, salt, cloves, mace,...
- Capital sauce
- Chasseur
Sauce Chasseur, sometimes called hunter's sauce, is a small or compound brown sauce used in French cuisine. It is typically made using demi-glace and espagnole as a base, and often consists of mushrooms, shallots, and white wine. It may also include tomatoes and a finishing of fines herbes...
- Chermoula
Chermoula or charmoula is a marinade used in Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian cooking. It is usually used to flavor fish or seafood, but it can be used on other meats or vegetables....
- Chimichurri
Chimichurri or Chimmichurri is a variant of green sauce, though there is a red version as well , also used as a marinade, for grilled meat...
- Duck sauce
Duck sauce is a condiment with a sweet and sour flavor and a translucent orange appearance similar to a thin jelly. Offered at Chinese-American restaurants, it is used as a dip for deep-fried dishes such as duck, chicken, fish, spring rolls, egg rolls, or with rice or noodles. It is often provided...
- Egusi sauce
- Halvaytar
- Harissa
Harissa is a Tunisian hot chili sauce commonly eaten in North Africa whose main ingredients are piri piri , serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers and spices such as garlic paste, coriander, red chili powder, caraway as well as some vegetable or olive oil...
- HP sauce
HP Sauce is a popular brown sauce originally produced by HP Foods in the UK, now produced by H.J. Heinz in the Netherlands.It is the best-known brand of brown sauce in the United Kingdom and Canada as well as the best selling, with 71% of the UK market....
- Mahyawa
-History:It is originally from the southern coastal regions of Iran, but has become a popular food item in the Persian Gulf Arab states, brought by the migration of the Persian Huwala and Ajam communities to the region. It is typically served on top of khubz .It is usually sold at Iranian bread...
- Mint sauce
Mint sauce is a sauce traditionally made from finely chopped spearmint leaves, soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Occasionally, the juice from a squeezed lime is added. The sauce should have the consistency of double cream...
- Mole
Mole is the generic name for a number of sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces...
- Peppercorn sauce
- Ravigote
Sauce ravigote is a classic, lightly acidic sauce in French cuisine, which may be prepared either warm or cold. The warm sauce is based upon velouté, cut with white wine vinegar, though not classically with Dijon mustard as it is universally nowadays, and the cold is a vinaigrette based on a meat...
- Rarebit
- Satzibeli
- Steak sauce
Steak sauce —brown sauce —is a generic term for a dark brown sauce commonly served as a condiment for meat.The two terms are similar but not identical...
- Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
- Tzatziki
Tzatziki, tzadziki, or tsatsiki is a Greek meze or appetizer, also used as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros. Tzatziki is made of strained yoghurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, usually olive oil, pepper, sometimes lemon juice, and parsley. Tzatziki is always served cold...
- Wine sauce
- Worcestershire Sauce
Worcestershire sauce , or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment; primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes.First made at 60 Broad Street, Worcester, England, by two dispensing chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and...
White sauces
- Mushroom sauce
Mushroom sauce is a cream based sauce with Mushrooms as the primary ingredient. It is commonly served with veal or pasta but can also be served with poultry, vegetables or risotto....
- Mornay sauce
A Mornay sauce is a Béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese added. Usually, it consists of half Gruyère and half Parmesan cheese, though some variations use different combinations of Gruyère, Emmental cheese, or white Cheddar....
- Sauce Allemande
Allemande sauce is a sauce in French cuisine that is based on velouté sauce, but thickened with egg yolks and heavy cream, and seasoned with lemon juice...
- Sauce Américaine
Sauce Américaine is a recipe from classic French cookery. In the Repertoire Louis Saulnier gives the following recipe:Américaine - Treat as for Lobster Américaine...
- Suprême sauce
Suprême sauce is one of the classic "small sauces" of French cuisine, that is, one made by combining a basic or mother sauce with extra ingredients.-Recipes:...
- Velouté
- Yoghurt sauce
Brown sauces
- Bordelaise sauce
Bordelaise sauce is a classic French sauce named after the Bordeaux region of France, which is famous for its wine. The sauce is made with dry red wine, bone marrow, butter, shallots and sauce demi-glace. Sauce marchand de vins is a similar designation...
- Sauce Bourguignonne
Sauce bourguignonne , Bourguignonne sauce, is a French sauce with a base of red wine with onions or shallots, a bouquet garni , reduced, strained, and mixed with some Sauce espagnole. Just before serving it is mounted with butter and seasoned lightly with cayenne pepper...
- Chateaubriand sauce
- Charcutiere sauce
- Demi glace
Demi-glace is a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces. The term comes from the French word glace, which used in reference to a sauce means icing or glaze...
sauce
- Gravy
Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
- Poutine
Poutine is a Canadian dish of French fries and fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy or sauce. Sometimes additional ingredients are added.Poutine is a fast food dish that originated in Quebec and can now be found across Canada...
sauce
- Romesco sauce
- Sauce Africaine
Sauce Africaine is a "small" brown sauce, derived from Sauce Espagnole , one of the five "mother sauces" of French cooking. As its name suggests, sauce africaine gets its flavor from African/Creole seasonings...
- Sauce au Poivre
- Sauce Robert
Sauce Robert is a brown mustard sauce and one of the small sauces, or compound sauces, derived from the Classic French Espagnole sauce, one of the mother sauces in French cuisine. Sauce Robert is one of the earliest compound sauces on record...
Béchamel family
- Béchamel sauce
Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...
- Mornay sauce
A Mornay sauce is a Béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese added. Usually, it consists of half Gruyère and half Parmesan cheese, though some variations use different combinations of Gruyère, Emmental cheese, or white Cheddar....
Emulsified sauces
- Aioli
Aioli ) is a traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil, and egg. There are many variations, such as the addition of mustard or, in Catalonia, pears. It is usually served at room temperature. The name aioli comes from Provençal alh 'garlic' is a traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil,...
- Béarnaise sauce
Béarnaise sauce is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a 'child' of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire...
- Hollandaise sauce
Hollandaise sauce is an emulsion of egg yolk and butter, usually seasoned with lemon juice. In appearance it is light yellow and opaque, smooth and creamy. The flavor is rich and buttery, with a mild tang added by the lemon juice, yet not so strong as to overpower mildly-flavored foods.Hollandaise...
- Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
- Remoulade
Remoulade or rémoulade, invented in France, is a popular condiment in many countries. Very much like the tartar sauce of some English-speaking cultures, remoulade is often aioli- or mayonnaise-based. Although similar to tartar sauce, it is often more yellowish , often flavored with curry, and...
- Salad cream
Salad cream is a creamy, yellow condiment based on an emulsion of about 25-50 percent of oil in water, emulsified by egg yolk and acidified by spirit vinegar, and with other ingredients which may include sugar, mustard, salt, thickener, spices, flavouring and colouring. It was introduced in the...
- Tartar sauce
Tartare sauce is a creamy white sauce frequently used to season fried seafood dishes.-Composition:...
Butter sauces
- Beurre blanc
Beurre blanc —literally translated from French as "white butter"— is a hot emulsified butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar and/or white wine and grey shallots into which cold, whole butter is blended off the heat to prevent separation. The small amounts of lecithin and other emulsifiers...
- Café de Paris
Café de Paris sauce is a complex butter-based sauce served with grilled meats. When it is served with a beef rib or sirloin steak, the resulting dish is known as "entrecôte Café de Paris".-History:...
- Meuniere sauce
Meunière or , French ) refers to both a sauce and a method of preparation, primarily for fish. The word itself means "miller's wife". Thus to cook something à la meunière was to cook it by first dredging it in flour...
- Satay sauce or Peanut sauce
Peanut sauce, satay sauce, bumbu kacang, or sambal kacang is a sauce widely used in the cuisines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Africa. It is also used, to a lesser extent, in European and Middle Eastern cuisine.-Ingredients:The main ingredient is ground roasted peanuts, for...
Sweet sauces
- Butterscotch sauce
Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes...
- Caramel sauce
Caramel sauce is a sauce made from heating water and caster sugar at a low to moderate temperature until the sugar dissolves and "caramelizes", changing color to golden brown.-See also:*Dulce de leche*Somebody's Mother's Chocolate Sauce's Caramel Sauce...
- Chocolate sauce
- Custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...
- Crème anglaise
Crème anglaise is a light pouring custard used as a dessert cream or sauce. It is a mix of sugar, egg yolks and hot milk, often flavoured with vanilla....
- Fudge sauce
- Hard sauce
Hard sauce is a sweet, rich dessert sauce made by creaming or beating butter and sugar with rum , brandy , whiskey, sherry , vanilla or other flavorings...
-- not liquid, but called a sauce nonetheless
- Fruit sauces
- Applesauce
Apple sauce or applesauce is a purée made of apples. It can be made with peeled or unpeeled apples and a variety of spices . Fruit flavorings or sweeteners such as sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or sucralose are also commonly added...
- Blueberry sauce
- Cranberry sauce
Cranberry sauce or cranberry jelly is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom...
- Mango sauce
- Moambe sauce
- Plum sauce
Plum sauce is a viscous, light brown sweet and sour condiment. It is used in Chinese cuisine as a dip for deep-fried dishes, such as spring rolls, egg rolls, noodles, and deep-fried chicken balls as well as for roast duck...
- Strawberry sauce
Sauces made of chopped fresh ingredients
- Latin American Salsa cruda
Salsa may refer to any type of sauce. In American English, it usually refers to the spicy, often tomato based, hot sauces typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine, particularly those used as dips. In British English, the word typically refers to salsa cruda, which is common in Mexican ,...
of various kinds
- Romanian Mujdei
Mujdei is a spicy Romanian sauce. It is made from garlic cloves crushed and ground into a paste, salted and mixed energetically with vegetable oil . Depending on regional preferences and the dish it is served with, water, vinegar, or other ingredients may be added...
- Onion sauce
- Salsa verde
- Pesto
Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy , and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo...
- Georgian Tkemali
Tkemali is the Georgian name for the Plum Sauce, as well as a sauce made of cherry plums. Tkemali is made from both red and green varieties of plum. The flavor of the sauce varies between sweet and pungently tart. To lower the tartness level, occasionally sweeter types of plums are added during...
- Sauce gribiche
Sauce gribiche is a mayonnaise-style cold egg sauce in the French cuisine, made by emulsifying hard-boiled egg yolks and mustard with a neutral oil like canola or grapeseed. The sauce is finished with chopped pickled cucumbers, capers, parsley, chervil and tarragon...
- Sauce vierge
Sauce vierge is a French sauce made from olive oil, lemon juice, chopped tomato and chopped basil....
Hot sauces (Chile pepper-tinged sauces)
- Buffalo Sauce
- Datil Pepper
The Datil is an exceptionally hot pepper, a variety of the species Capsicum chinense .Datils are similar in strength to habaneros but have a sweeter, fruitier flavor. Their level of spiciness may be anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 scoville units...
Sauce
- Chili sauce
Chili sauce is a condiment, similar to ketchup but with onion, garlic, and spice. Despite its name, it does not contain chili peppers and thus is not hot....
- Enchilada
An enchilada is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, seafood or combinations.-Etymology:...
sauce
- Tabasco sauce
Tabasco sauce is the brand name for a hot sauce produced by US-based McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana. Tabasco sauce is made from tabasco peppers , vinegar, and salt, and aged in white oak barrels for three years. It has a hot, spicy flavor...
- Zhug
- Fra diavolo sauce
Fra Diavolo is the name given to a spicy sauce for pasta or seafood. Most versions are tomato-based and use chili peppers for spice, but the term is also used for sauces that include no tomato, or that use cayenne or other forms of pepper. According to chef Mario Batali, the spicy sauce is an...
East Asian sauces
- Prepared sauces
- Doubanjiang
Doubanjiang is a spicy, salty paste made from fermented broad beans, soybeans, salt, rice, and various spices. Doubanjiang exists in plain and spicy versions, with the latter containing red chili peppers and called la doubanjiang .It is used particularly in Sichuan cuisine, and in fact, the people...
- Sweet bean sauce
- Hoisin sauce
Hoisin sauce, or haixian sauce, is a Chinese dipping sauce. The word hoisin is a romanization of the Chinese word for seafood "" as pronounced in Cantonese.-Ingredients:...
- Oyster sauce
Oyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking oysters. The most common in modern use is a viscous dark brown condiment made from sugar, salt and water thickened with cornstarch, flavoured with a little oyster essence or extract and some versions may be darkened with caramel, though high...
- Ponzu
is a citrus-based sauce commonly used in Japanese cuisine. It is tart, with a thin, watery consistency and a light yellow color. Ponzu shōyu or ponzu jōyu is ponzu sauce with soy sauce added, and the mixed product is widely referred to as simply ponzu.The element pon arrived in the Japanese...
- Mala sauce
Mala sauce refers to a popular Chinese oily spicy and numbing sauce which consists of Sichuanese peppercorn, chili pepper and various spices simmered with oil....
- Soy sauce
Soy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
- Sriracha sauce
- XO sauce
XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce used in Chinese cuisines especially in southern China such as Guangdong province and Hong Kong.-History:Developed in the 1980s in Hong Kong for Cantonese cuisine, it is made of roughly chopped dried seafoods including scallops, dried fish and shrimp and cooked with...
- Cooked sauces
- Lobster sauce
Lobster sauce is a type of sauce used in American-Chinese and Canadian-Chinese cuisine. It is also sometimes found in Polynesian-influenced Chinese food. It is a type of "white sauce" within Chinese cooking, meaning that it is of a mild flavor, and based on meat stock, as opposed to soy sauce...
- Sweet and sour sauce
- Teriyaki
Teriyaki is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled in a sweet soy sauce marinade...
- a way of cooking in Japan, a branch of sauces in North America.
Southeast Asian sauces
- Fish sauce
Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
or (GarumGarum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
)
- Sambal
Sambal is a chili based sauce which is normally used as a condiment. Sambals are popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as in the Netherlands and in Suriname through Javanese influence. It is typically made from a variety of chili peppers and is...
- Satay sauce or Peanut sauce
Peanut sauce, satay sauce, bumbu kacang, or sambal kacang is a sauce widely used in the cuisines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Africa. It is also used, to a lesser extent, in European and Middle Eastern cuisine.-Ingredients:The main ingredient is ground roasted peanuts, for...
- Sriracha sauce
See also
- Chutney
Chutney is a a condiment used in South Asian cuisine that usually contains a spice and vegetable mix.Chutneys are wet or dry, having a coarse to fine texture. The Anglo-Indian loan word refers to fresh and pickled preparations indiscriminately, with preserves often sweetened. At least several...
- Condiment
A condiment is an edible substance, such as sauce or seasoning, added to food to impart a particular flavor, enhance its flavor, or in some cultures, to complement the dish. Many condiments are available packaged in single-serving sachets , like mustard or ketchup, particularly when supplied with...
- Coulis
A coulis is a form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits. A vegetable coulis is commonly used on meat and vegetable dishes, and it can also be used as a base for soups or other sauces. Fruit coulis are most often used on desserts...
- Dip
Dip may refer to:* The Dip, in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a substance which kills animated characters* Dip , an evil demonic dog that drinks people's blood* Dip , a partner dance move...
- Gastrique
Gastrique is caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar, used as a flavoring for sauces.To this a little fond may be added. It is used to flavor sauces such as tomato sauce, savory fruit sauces, and other sweet and sour sauces such as the classic orange sauce for duck à l'orange.Nowadays, the term ...
- Salad dressing
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
- Salsa
Salsa may refer to any type of sauce. In American English, it usually refers to the spicy, often tomato based, hot sauces typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine, particularly those used as dips. In British English, the word typically refers to salsa cruda, which is common in Mexican ,...
- Saucery
A saucery was the office in a medieval household responsible for sauces, as well as the room in which the preparation of sauces took place. It was headed by a saucerer. The office was subordinated to the kitchen, and only existed as a separate office in larger households. It was closely connected...
- Sofrito
Sofrito is a combination of aromatic ingredients which have been cut in very small pieces, and slowly sauteed or braised in cooking oil for 15-30 minutes....