The Frying Pan

7:58 AM

I want to learn how to make some sauces that can be used for many different dishes (maybe with slight modifications). what would be a good way to start? making béchamel?

Stephie

10:50 AM

@Huy more details please...

Category:Mother sauces

Marie-Antoine Carême set forth what he considered the four grandes sauces of French cuisine in the early 19th century: béchamel, espagnole, velouté, and allemande. In the early 20th century, Auguste Escoffier refined this list to the contemporary five "mother sauces" by dropping allemande as a daughter sauce of velouté, and adding hollandaise and sauce tomate, in his classic Le Guide Culinaire and its abridged English translation A Guide to Modern Cookery. == References... ==

(Not that I'd blindly bow to French quisine...)

Huy

@Stephie: I just often find myself making some meat, vegetables and rice and it feels a bit dry. things like beef, pork, chicken, often with carrots, broccoli,

Stephie

11:06 AM

So you are aiming for a pan sauce or something separate?

And are you roasting your meat in one piece or more stir-fry-ish with the veggies?

Huy

11:29 AM

depends, but usually one piece

I don't know what you mean by "pan sauce or something seperate"

Stephie

11:56 AM

@Huy Well, a pan sauce is what you get if you deglaze the pan, perhaps add a few ingredients and work from there, a bechamel otoh, starts in a separate pot.

Huy

12:21 PM

@Stephie: so what would you recommend for a beginner? start with pan sauces?

Stephie

@Huy it would elegantly solve your current problem. A dash of wine, a splash of fonds, perhaps a spoonful mirepoix, a clove of garlic and a twig of thyme or rosemary. Pinch of salt and pepper - All done while your meat rests, add the leaked meat juice (if any) and dig in.

Jefromi

2:46 PM

In general just learning to add roux (or to fake a roux quickly by adding flour) is nice. It's not exactly a pure French mother sauce but you can add roux and milk or roux and broth to something, plus whatever seasonings you want, and it's generally pretty good.

Fake roux = add the flour you'd use for the roux to food in the pan, stir to coat, let it cook a bit. (Then go on adding liquid.) Dunno if there's a real name for it, but it's easier than making an actual roux separately.

Stephie

3:34 PM

@Jefromi or use beurre manié - equal parts of flour and butter kneaded into a paste and used as thickener. Can be stored in the fridge for a while or frozen, preferrably in portions.

I love it because it basically can't make lumps.

Jefromi

3:47 PM

Hm, maybe I'll try it sometime. I'm kind of wary of adding "just keep this in the fridge/freezer" things though, they're already so full all the time anyways.

ElmerCat

3:59 PM

What number d'ja dial?

Stephie

4:32 PM

@Jefromi then mash up a bit of flour and butter on a plate and use it right away ^_^.

Jefromi

@Stephie Still more work than just mixing in flour like I was saying.

I guess it wouldn't work if you already just have a bunch of liquid but if you're starting from the solid parts then adding liquid it's really easy.

Stephie

@Jefromi but foolproof if you are adding it to liquid. In fat, pure flour is ok.

Ha, same thought...

Jefromi

For adding to liquid you can also just add a little of the liquid to flour in a bowl.

I guess slightly more risk of lumps that way than with buerre manié.

Stephie

@ElmerCat 0180 2 913 913. The Deutscher Wetterdienst to ask when that darn rain will stop ;-)

ElmerCat

Hi @Stephie — I hope it stops soon for you!

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