Gravy and Sauces... 1668

Bill

Not asking much are you? :-) There are lots of different sauces and different processes for making them. Some use a basic white sauce to which various things can be added for flavour. You start off by using melting butter in a pan and adding a more or less equal part of flour, stirring them together and cooking for a short time on low heat to make a roux. Then add liquid and stir constantly and continue cooking long enough to get the flour taste out of it. You can then add cheese, herbs, stock, mushrooms etc.

There are different ways to make gravy. You should first pour off excess fat from the pan. Then you can either put flour directly into the pan to make a roux, or you can degrease the pan with a liquid, like wine or broth, and add a slurry of flour mixed with cold water. Adding flour to hot liquid is more likely to end up as a lot of little lumps of flour. Cook long enough to get rid of the flour taste. Seasoning should be done at the end.

Sauces in stir fry dishes are usually made by adding some broth to the dish in the wok and then adding a slurry of corn starch and water and some Soy sauce. Corn starch cooks very quickly and is results in a more or less clear, glossy sauce.

Butter can also be used for sauces, or butter and cream. One dish I like to cook once in a while is Mango Chicken. Chicken breasts are fried still golden brown in butter. Chopped onion and sliced peppers are then fried in the remaining butter, and then I add mango chutney, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard and heavy cream. The butter and cream reduce into a nice creamy sauce.