Sauces for Fish, Meat, Poultry, Game, and Vegetables

Sauces for Fish, Meat, Poultry, Game, 

and 

Vegetables

            Here with a goodly number of sauces for goose, for gander, and for flesh and fowl, for good Canadian fish, and for eggs and vegetables as well. Special uses are indicated with the recipes

            There are, five foundation, or basic sauces, called in French grandes sauces orsayces meres, these are the Mother Sauces. Two have a record of two hundred years behind them. They have lasted so long not only because they are very good, but also because they are so adaptable and provide a fine basis for a considerable number of other sauces.

            The other three, which also date back to the 18^th century, are the “Veloute” the “brune” and the “blonde” These five sauces still provide the basis for making most of the modern sauces.

            Modern sauces may be divided into two classes: the “Careme” and “Escoffier”. Among the faithful in the great kitchens of the world, Escoffier is to Careme what the New Testament is to the Old. See “Mother Sauces for descriptions of the five basic sauces.

            France has been thought to be the originator of the Western world’s elegant cuisine. Actually, French chefs were able to take what they had learned in Italy, Spain, Russia, Germany Switzerland, and yes even the Americas (after all, potatoes, beans, corn or maize, squash, tomatoes and chocolate are all ”New World” products, and whileNONE of them come from North America and they ALL originated with a people who had a much different cultural heritage and life style than any North American Indian, they figure largely in French and world cuisine) and incorporate their ideas into culinary art.

            The “fond” (foundation) of much of Canadian, like French, cuisine is good stock. Stock can be used to make sauces soups, and flavour dishes. Stock is meant to be aromatic without being overpowering.

Probably because of the huge French influence in our country, sauces have always played an important part in our cooking. Canadians learned very early that they can add variety, taste, and appeal without adding expense.  

Obviously, the early kitchens did not have the huge variety of ingredients called for in some of the recipes I include here.  Just as obviously, there is also much truth in the French-promulgated calumny that “the Americans have only one sauce and only one religion-greed”. There is also legitimate connection between sauces and religion.

            Sauce makers may be born, but they can be made, given an amateur of fine cookery endowed with a fund of patience and industry. Supply the tyro saucier with a small, flat-bottomed saucepan, a wooden spoon, and a wire whip. Tell him that there are literally hundreds of very old traditional sauces from which he can choose. Tell him that many of the world’s most famous dishes were named more for the sauce than any of the other ingredients. Warn him never to cease watching the sauce, remind him or her that they must stir and stir the sauce as it simmers to perfection.

            Say with Escoffier, travaillez bien votre sauce, devote yourself to your sauce, for a sauce emphasizes flavour, provides contrast, and makes perfection complete.

Sauces add variety to the diet, stimulate appetite, aid digestion, improve nutrition and are the very basis of good cooking. Unfortunately, as with cooking methods, many home cooks do not understand how they are prepared or how to use them. A sauce should not be slouched all over the plate, hide the food, or have the food swimming in it. A sauce is supposed to make foods more attractive to the eye and to the palate.

            A good saucier has an excellent "nose" and a keen sense of taste. The day’s first task for the sauce chef is to make the basic or "Mother Sauces".

             From these he can create many others by simply adding a seasoning, a wine, some cream, some eggs, brown or white stock. WithBordeaux wine added Espagnole becomes Bordelaise; with onions added basic veloutebecomes Sauce Soubise; these and many other variations can be made in just a few moments.

            The art of the saucier is applied in the same way to stuffing’s, which can be varied by adding different seasonings, herbs, bits of diced meat or nuts. Bread stuffing’s need not always be made of plain white bread; brown bread is good, and sometimes rye.

Learn to make these sauces and stuffing’s; they offer you a wide choice on which to build. Then remember the Frenchsauciers trick of variations and try experimenting. Use your "nose" and taste buds. Always be sure you season well and season with flavourings that blend together.