Sauce It Like A Pro!

Master these five mother sauces and take your food to the next level:

Roux—1 Tbsp butter + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour.
Used to thicken sauces and gravies, roux exists in three colors depending on cooking time:
1. White (2 min)—neutral flavor for Bechamel and gravies
2. Blond (6 min)—slightly nutty for soups and Veloute
3. Brown (12 min)—nutty flavor for rich gravy sauce and Espagnole

Bechamel—White Roux + cream or whole milk tempered with grated nutmeg, bay leaf, garlic and onions.
Rich and silky. After 15 minutes of simmering, season with salt and white pepper.

Veloute—Blonde Roux + stock (chicken, fish or vegetable).
Used in pot pies, chowders and much more. Once fully simmered and at the correct consistency, season with salt and white pepper. A very versatile sauce, Veloute can be infused at the beginning when making the roux (one-pot method), either with bacon and onion, or with an Asian twist (shallots, green onions, garlic and ginger).

Espagnole—Brown Roux + Brown meat stock 

Hollandaise—Egg yolk + butter + lemon juice

Slurry—Corn starch and water. Doesn't thicken, but adds gloss to the sauce.

Liaison—Egg yolk and 3 tbsp. cream added to a mother sauce at the very end to enrich the sauce further.

Cut Like A Pro!

Oh, what's with the fancy French cutting terms? Here's a list for reference:

Batonnet—A baton 1/4” X 1/4” and 2” long.
Small Dice—1/4” cubes that start out as Batonnet.

Julienne—Similar to matchsticks. Sometimes called 'shoe string'. 1/8” X 1/8” and 2” long.
Brunoise—1/8” cubes that start out as Juliennes.

Fine Julienne—1/16” X 1/16” X 2" long.
Fine Brunoise—1/16” cubes

Large Dice—3/4” cubes.
Medium Dice—1/2” cubes.

Mince—Finely divided into uniform pieces. Minced food is in smaller pieces than diced or chopped foods, and is often prepared with a chef's knife or food processor.

Tourne—French for the word "turned." Cutting and peeling root vegetables into oblong, seven-sided football-like shapes.

Cook Like A Pro!

Learn these simple basics before cooking your next meal:

Sweat—The gentle heating of coarsely cut vegetables in a little oil or butter, with frequent stirring and turning to ensure that any emitted liquid will evaporate. Sweating usually results in tender, sometimes translucent, pieces. This differs from sautéing in that sweating is done over a much lower heat, sometimes with salt added to help draw moisture away, and making sure that little or no browning takes place.

Saute—Tossing while cooking is a method of cooking food, that uses a small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Ingredients are usually cut into pieces or thinly sliced to facilitate fast cooking. Food that is sautéed is browned while preserving its texture, moisture and flavor. If meat, chicken, or fish is sautéed, the sauté is often finished by deglazing the pan's residue to make a sauce.

Deglazing—is a cooking technique for removing and dissolving browned food residue 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 browned sugars, carbohydrates, and/or proteins forms on the bottom of the pan, along with any rendered fat. The French culinary term for these deposits is sucs. the meat is removed and the majority of the fat is poured off, leaving a small amount with the dried and browned meat juices. The pan is returned to the heat, and a liquid such as vegetable or meat stock, a spirit, some wine, or verjuice is added to act as a solvent. This allows the cook to scrape the dark spots from the bottom of the pan and dissolve them, creating a basic sauce.

Convection Oven—Imparts heat assisted by fans to force air movement. Using a small fan to blow hot air around the cooking chamber, the air moves quickly past the food. Convection ovens can operate at a lower temperature than a standard conventional oven and yet cook food more quickly.

Conventional Oven—Fueled by gas or electricity, it heats the oven from below. Commonly used for baking and roasting. The oven may also be able to heat from the top to provide broiling.