Sauce Cooking

All sauces should have homogeneous texture, be light and look glossy.

Roux

Roux is а mixture of equal amounts of fat (butter, oil, bacon grease or lard) and flour cooked together, over low heat. It is used as a basis for thickening sauces. Depending on the cooking time, roux can vary in color. The darker the color of the roux, the deeper the flavor.

Generally, there exist three kinds of classic roux:

• white roux

• blond roux

• brown roux

Don’t add boiling water to the hot roux, otherwise, the roux would become lumpy-textured. Avoid long time heating, even if done over weak heat, otherwise starch would convert into dextrin, and the roux would become too liquid.

White roux is the basis for white sauces, such as Béchamel Sauce and soups. To make white roux, in a saucepan combine equal amounts of butter, margarine or animal fat with flour, stir up well until homogeneous mass, place the pan on a stove top over weak heat and simmer slowly, stirring constantly, for several minutes, until fine crumbly texture, avoiding discoloring.

You can use liquid vegetable margarine or vegetable oil, and cook light roux, which is easy to mix with other liquid.

Blond roux is used for cooking velute sauces, tomato sauces and soups. It is cooked the same way as white roux, just heating through a bit longer, until it begins to turn pale golden and attain fine crumbly texture.

Brown roux is the base for brown sauces and soups. In a saucepan mix 1 cup of melted fat or vegetable oil and 1 1/2 cup of flour, cook the mix slowly until it turns light-brown, cool and mix with 1 quart of bouillon. The roux should not be overheated, otherwise it would lose its thickening properties, and the fat would lift to the surface of the soup or sauce. Besides, to get required thickness, you would need to use much roux, thus worsening the taste of a dish.

Other Thickening Agents

Corn flour, arrowroot, or starch (e.g. potato starch) are used for thickening dressings and sauces. Such an agent is dissolved with cooled water, bouillon or milk, mixed well and brought to boil, then strained. All these can be substituted by ordinary flour.

Hand-beaten butter is generally used for making sauces. To cook, combine equal amounts of butter (margarine) and flour, until homogeneous paste, then blend with boiling liquid.

Egg yolks are generally used for making mayonnaise and custard. Each particular case requires special technique, so you should follow accurately the instructions to the recipes.

Nutrient Value

The nutrient value of 1 liter of sauce, cooked of whole milk and solid margarine:

7228 kj/1721 kcal

fats – 120,3 g (including 59,5 g saturated fats)

carbons – 124,8 g (including 48,6 g of sugar)

proteins – 42,5 g 

fibers – 3,6 g 

The nutrient value of 1 liter of sauce, made of skimmed milk and solid margarine:

5884 kj/1401 kcal

fats – 83,3 g (including 36,1 g saturated fats)

carbons – 127,8 g (including 51,6 g of sugar)

proteins – 43,5 g 

fibers – 3,6 g