How important are sauces to you?

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I never really thought about it before, but I realize now that sauces are important to me. I'm not just talking about what you put on pasta...that's to be expected. But, when I make my breakfast sandwich or burrito in the morning, I always make a sauce with it. Always. I sometimes try to add enough sauce to the inside that I don't need to dip, but I usually find myself regretting not making one.

In idle moments when I don't feel like making a full meal, I make sauces. I have a blueberry barbecue sauce on hand at all times (thanks again, @detroitdad!) I made a pesto last night. I plan to make a tzatziki sauce tonight. I don't have specific plans for any of them, but I love the idea of having them on-hand, just in case. Sometimes, I just want to put some on crackers. Why? Because I love sauces!

Anyone else out there who has such an affliction (or, maybe, this post can help you come to terms with your own sauce-obsessed condition)?

 

[medtran49]

It just depends on whether it feels like it needs a sauce or not to me.

 

[detroitdad]

Thanks for the shout out. I like sauces. I don't "love" them. As @medtran49 stated. If the dish calls for it/needs it then sure. I'll make one. Lets take meats for example. I prefer a good dry rub over a sauce. Sometimes I think/feel that a sauce can over power, or disguise the flavor of a meal.

 

[Morning Glory]

It just depends on whether it feels like it needs a sauce or not to me.

I'd agree with this so I ticked 'neutral'. It really depends on the dish in question. But I do like sauces!

 

[CraigC]

Some dishes are the sauce, chicken mole, it couldn't be a dish with out the sauce. We do many dishes that I feel the sauce makes the difference. Can pasta be pasta with out a sauce, even if it is just olive oil and a couple other ingredients?

 

[Morning Glory]

Can pasta be pasta with out a sauce, even if it is just olive oil and a couple other ingredients?

Good question. Pasta with chilli flakes, olive oil and toasted breadcrumbs - fantastic. But is that a sauce?

 

[detroitdad]

Is gravy a sauce? If so, I LOVE SAUCES

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Lets take meats for example. I prefer a good dry rub over a sauce. Sometimes I think/feel that a sauce can over power, or disguise the flavor of a meal.

Perfect example. Some places use BBQ sauce to smother the meat so all you taste is the sauce. This defeats the purpose (unless the meat isn't that good in the first place, in which case why are you eating it?)

 

[CraigC]

Good question. Pasta with chilli flakes, olive oil and toasted breadcrumbs - fantastic. But is that a sauce?

I'd call it a sauce, add some anchovies and pasta water for sure. Parmigiano and your there.

 

[Morning Glory]

Parmigiano and your there.

No parmigiano in this one - fried breadcrumbs were the poor person's substitute.* Anchovies - yes!

But I'm beginning to wonder if definitions of what constitutes a sauce vary from culture to culture? To me, a sauce is something a bit gloopy or a gravy, which this example isn't.

*https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodand...hetti-with-chilli-garlic-and-breadcrumbs.html

 

[rascal]

I know you a merry cans don't like sauces like I do. But I serve choices sometimes. A nice eye fillet steak around here is a garlic sauce or mushroom sauce. All family members like 1 or the other. Mainly both types. Lamb steaks normally onion gravy. Chicken normally green peppercorn sauce.

Russ

 

[GadgetGuy]

I love making sauces & gravies!!

 

[buckytom]

I know you a merry cans don't like sauces

Russ

I respectfully disagree. Most 'muricans put sauce on everything.

Even my wife, the Mrs. Sprat to my Jack if fat were sauces, has become a recent convert.

She is the queen of plain cooking. Just s&p on extremely lean meats, simply grilled or pan fried (in as little fat as pissible) and plain steamed or roasted veggies.

But after many years of me asking her to try something, she's started to try the sauces I've introduced to her on those plain meats and veggies. Everything from bbq, to curried mango, to various mustard sauces, or compund butters/butter sauces, or flavoured sour cream and yoghurt, or even milder hot sauces.

I hopefully willl be cooking down some balsamic vinegar this week to be used as a drizzle/finishing sauce for those extra plainly grilled chicken she so often requests.

 

[epicuric]

I admit to being a bit of a fanatic, both of sauces and the art of making them. They provide a way to draw out, enhance or counterbalance flavours of a main ingredient, of to bring together disparate flavours in a dish.

I've never actually thought about the definition of the word 'sauce'. I would include gravy as a sauce, but then isn't gravy something else in America? And what differentiates a sauce from a dressing?

 

[MrsDangermouse]

But I'm beginning to wonder if definitions of what constitutes a sauce vary from culture to culture? To me, a sauce is something a bit gloopy or a gravy

I've never actually thought about the definition of the word 'sauce'. I would include gravy as a sauce, but then isn't gravy something else in America? And what differentiates a sauce from a dressing?

I've never thought about the definition of a sauce either....until now that is

First off I was thinking that in my mind a sauce has to be multiple ingredients combined together in an emulsion. So something like pasta tossed in oil with a few other things wouldn't be classed as a sauce to me. But then I remembered that most salad dressings are emulsions and I don't think of them as sauces....... Also I would think of a coulis as a sauce, but (depending on the sweetness of the fruit) they can have only one ingredient so aren't strictly speaking an emulsion. And then you have mint sauce which has several ingredients but also isn't an emulsion. Hmmm........

In summary........I have no idea how to define a sauce

In general I like sauces but I've ticked the neutral option because I think some things work better with a sauce but others are better without.