I've been thinking a lot lately about recipes and their "design"
(for lack of a better word), and it's dawning on me how much of
the art of devising recipes comes down to the art of devising
sauces.

It's a ubiquitous recipe design theme: a fairly generic
ingredient/technique (e.g. a roast, pasta, salad, a stir-fry, a
sauteed meat, even pizza) as the foundation, and then a sauce that
makes the dish distinctive, and hopefully delicious too. And if
one is willing to go along with the idea of viewing soups as sort
of diluted sauces, then a knack for dreaming up sauces gets one
very far in the kitchen. This is certainly the case for the weeknight
cook trying to cobble together a nice meal out of stuff in the
fridge and pantry, but I imagine it is even more so for the author
of fancy cookbooks.

I've made my own crude attempts at devising sauces, and some have
even turned out OK, but I still feel completely clueless on this
subject.

The crucial question du jour for me is this: Is it possible to
abstract some principles of sauce design (as opposed to principles
of sauce preparation, which are dime-a-dozen), principles that can
be taught, say, to future chefs in culinary school (or to cook
wannabes like me), or is sauce design all completely ad hoc, based
solely on the cook's breadth of experience and innate talent?

Through amazon.com I was able to find three encyclopedic books on
sauces: "Sauces" by James Peterson, "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul
Larousse, and "The Complete Book of Sauces."

I'd love to hear your opinions on any of these books. In particular,
does any one of them (or any other one you know of) take a crack
at laying out principles of "sauce design"? (If I had to venture
a guess, I'd say Peterson's book is the one most likely to do this.)
Or are they all just technique and recipes?

I look forward to your comments,

Regards,

Irv

"Irving Kimura" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
> I've been thinking a lot lately about recipes and their "design"
> (for lack of a better word), and it's dawning on me how much of
> the art of devising recipes comes down to the art of devising
> sauces.
>
> It's a ubiquitous recipe design theme: a fairly generic
> ingredient/technique (e.g. a roast, pasta, salad, a stir-fry, a
> sauteed meat, even pizza) as the foundation, and then a sauce that
> makes the dish distinctive, and hopefully delicious too. And if
> one is willing to go along with the idea of viewing soups as sort
> of diluted sauces, then a knack for dreaming up sauces gets one
> very far in the kitchen. This is certainly the case for the weeknight
> cook trying to cobble together a nice meal out of stuff in the
> fridge and pantry, but I imagine it is even more so for the author
> of fancy cookbooks.
>
> I've made my own crude attempts at devising sauces, and some have
> even turned out OK, but I still feel completely clueless on this
> subject.
>
> The crucial question du jour for me is this: Is it possible to
> abstract some principles of sauce design (as opposed to principles
> of sauce preparation, which are dime-a-dozen), principles that can
> be taught, say, to future chefs in culinary school (or to cook
> wannabes like me), or is sauce design all completely ad hoc, based
> solely on the cook's breadth of experience and innate talent?
>
> Through amazon.com I was able to find three encyclopedic books on
> sauces: "Sauces" by James Peterson, "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul
> Larousse, and "The Complete Book of Sauces."
>
> I'd love to hear your opinions on any of these books. In particular,
> does any one of them (or any other one you know of) take a crack
> at laying out principles of "sauce design"? (If I had to venture
> a guess, I'd say Peterson's book is the one most likely to do this.)
> Or are they all just technique and recipes?
>
> I look forward to your comments,
>
> Regards,
>
> Irv
>
I haven't read any of the books you mention, but the chefs at the
kitchen I work in all rave about Peterson's "Sauces". It's at the very top
of my own wishlist.

-Adam

Irving Kimura wrote:

> I've been thinking a lot lately about recipes and their "design"
> (for lack of a better word), and it's dawning on me how much of
> the art of devising recipes comes down to the art of devising
> sauces.
>
> It's a ubiquitous recipe design theme: a fairly generic
> ingredient/technique (e.g. a roast, pasta, salad, a stir-fry, a
> sauteed meat, even pizza) as the foundation, and then a sauce that
> makes the dish distinctive, and hopefully delicious too. And if
> one is willing to go along with the idea of viewing soups as sort
> of diluted sauces, then a knack for dreaming up sauces gets one
> very far in the kitchen. This is certainly the case for the weeknight
> cook trying to cobble together a nice meal out of stuff in the
> fridge and pantry, but I imagine it is even more so for the author
> of fancy cookbooks.
>
> I've made my own crude attempts at devising sauces, and some have
> even turned out OK, but I still feel completely clueless on this
> subject.
>
> The crucial question du jour for me is this: Is it possible to
> abstract some principles of sauce design (as opposed to principles
> of sauce preparation, which are dime-a-dozen), principles that can
> be taught, say, to future chefs in culinary school (or to cook
> wannabes like me), or is sauce design all completely ad hoc, based
> solely on the cook's breadth of experience and innate talent?
>
> Through amazon.com I was able to find three encyclopedic books on
> sauces: "Sauces" by James Peterson, "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul
> Larousse, and "The Complete Book of Sauces."
>
> I'd love to hear your opinions on any of these books. In particular,
> does any one of them (or any other one you know of) take a crack
> at laying out principles of "sauce design"? (If I had to venture
> a guess, I'd say Peterson's book is the one most likely to do this.)
> Or are they all just technique and recipes?
>
> I look forward to your comments,
>
> Regards,
>
> Irv
>
I've got virtually all of Peterson's books. Very wide ranging and very
easy to follow. With great results.
--
Alan

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
avoid the people, you might better stay home."
--James Michener

"Irving Kimura" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
> I've been thinking a lot lately about recipes and their "design"
> (for lack of a better word), and it's dawning on me how much of
> the art of devising recipes comes down to the art of devising
> sauces.
>
> It's a ubiquitous recipe design theme: a fairly generic
> ingredient/technique (e.g. a roast, pasta, salad, a stir-fry, a
> sauteed meat, even pizza) as the foundation, and then a sauce that
> makes the dish distinctive, and hopefully delicious too. And if
> one is willing to go along with the idea of viewing soups as sort
> of diluted sauces, then a knack for dreaming up sauces gets one
> very far in the kitchen. This is certainly the case for the weeknight
> cook trying to cobble together a nice meal out of stuff in the
> fridge and pantry, but I imagine it is even more so for the author
> of fancy cookbooks.
>
> I've made my own crude attempts at devising sauces, and some have
> even turned out OK, but I still feel completely clueless on this
> subject.
>
> The crucial question du jour for me is this: Is it possible to
> abstract some principles of sauce design (as opposed to principles
> of sauce preparation, which are dime-a-dozen), principles that can
> be taught, say, to future chefs in culinary school (or to cook
> wannabes like me), or is sauce design all completely ad hoc, based
> solely on the cook's breadth of experience and innate talent?
>
> Through amazon.com I was able to find three encyclopedic books on
> sauces: "Sauces" by James Peterson, "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul
> Larousse, and "The Complete Book of Sauces."
>
> I'd love to hear your opinions on any of these books. In particular,
> does any one of them (or any other one you know of) take a crack
> at laying out principles of "sauce design"? (If I had to venture
> a guess, I'd say Peterson's book is the one most likely to do this.)
> Or are they all just technique and recipes?
>
> I look forward to your comments,
>
> Regards,
>
> Irv
>

Peterson's book "Sauces" is very, very fine but not inspiring in a "gosh,
honey, grab the kids were gonna do this kind of way ;-)". By that I mean
reading it doesn't make me want to run out and try to tackle the most
complex and labor intensive preparation because it [the book] is pretty much
value and judgment neutral. It's a more intellectual- albeit - this is how
you do it - book.. I have the second edition. This is more expansive than
the first edition because it include oriental and some Italian etc. sauces.
Having this book in a serious cook's library is a good thing. It's just not
terribly inspiring. I don't long to make many of his recipes. As a
compendium it excels.

Kate

"Irving Kimura" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
> I've been thinking a lot lately about recipes and their "design"
> (for lack of a better word), and it's dawning on me how much of
> the art of devising recipes comes down to the art of devising
> sauces.
>
> It's a ubiquitous recipe design theme: a fairly generic
> ingredient/technique (e.g. a roast, pasta, salad, a stir-fry, a
> sauteed meat, even pizza) as the foundation, and then a sauce that
> makes the dish distinctive, and hopefully delicious too. And if
> one is willing to go along with the idea of viewing soups as sort
> of diluted sauces, then a knack for dreaming up sauces gets one
> very far in the kitchen. This is certainly the case for the weeknight
> cook trying to cobble together a nice meal out of stuff in the
> fridge and pantry, but I imagine it is even more so for the author
> of fancy cookbooks.
>
> I've made my own crude attempts at devising sauces, and some have
> even turned out OK, but I still feel completely clueless on this
> subject.
>
> The crucial question du jour for me is this: Is it possible to
> abstract some principles of sauce design (as opposed to principles
> of sauce preparation, which are dime-a-dozen), principles that can
> be taught, say, to future chefs in culinary school (or to cook
> wannabes like me), or is sauce design all completely ad hoc, based
> solely on the cook's breadth of experience and innate talent?
>
> Through amazon.com I was able to find three encyclopedic books on
> sauces: "Sauces" by James Peterson, "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul
> Larousse, and "The Complete Book of Sauces."
>
> I'd love to hear your opinions on any of these books. In particular,
> does any one of them (or any other one you know of) take a crack
> at laying out principles of "sauce design"? (If I had to venture
> a guess, I'd say Peterson's book is the one most likely to do this.)
> Or are they all just technique and recipes?
>
> I look forward to your comments,
>
> Regards,
>
> Irv
>

Interesting notion. My first take is that the principles of sauce design
would not be very different from the principles of cooking in general. In
fact how could you separate the two? Sauces do not stand on their own but
are successes or failures depending on how well they complement whatever
they are being put on. A sauce that is terrific on roast pork would likely
be a flop on eggs. You must select and blend flavors for sauces just like
for other non-sauce dishes. My approach to this would be to get a good book
(I have heard good things about the Peterson) and make lots of sauces. As
you gain experience you may start to perceive these general principles that
you are seeking.

--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.