World Sauces and a Sauce Menu
Cooking Skills: Sauces 2
Chapter 8 · World Sauces and a Sauce Menu
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Every cuisine has its own sauces, built from the same few ideas you have used all course: a base (herbs, yogurt, chilli), an acid (lime, lemon, vinegar), salt and heat. In Peru, a green sauce of fresh chilli and coriander goes on grilled chicken and potatoes. In North Africa, a chilli-and-spice paste (harissa) stirs into yogurt and everything. In Thailand, a dipping sauce balances lime, salt, sugar and chilli in a few spoonfuls.
This chapter ends the course with three of these, and then asks you to plan a meal around sauces. Romesco and other nut-and-pepper sauces are in Cooking Skills: Vegetables 2, chapter 7, and sesame and peanut sauces are in Cooking Skills: Noodles 1, chapter 5. Fish sauce is very salty and strongly smelling in the bottle, but in a sauce it tastes savoury rather than fishy.
The method
- Start with the strongest flavour, such as chilli or fish sauce, in a small amount, and build up.
- Taste for balance: sour, salty, sweet and hot should each be there, with none shouting.
- Make sauces just before the meal if they are fresh, and the day before if they are yogurt-based.
- Offer a choice at the table, two or three small bowls, so everyone adds what they like.
- Match each sauce to a role: a creamy cooling one, a sharp one, and a hot one.
| Sauce | Origin | Heat | Goes with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green chilli and lime sauce | Peru | Medium | Grilled chicken, potatoes, eggs |
| Harissa-style yogurt | North Africa | Mild to medium | Lamb, chicken, flatbread, vegetables |
| Thai-style dipping sauce | Thailand | Hot | Grilled meat, fish, rice, salads |
Allergens: fish sauce contains fish; mayonnaise contains egg; harissa may contain sesame or nuts; yogurt contains milk. Always label each sauce.
Blending hot liquids: hot liquid expands in a sealed blender and can blow the lid off and scald you. Let it cool for a few minutes, fill the jug no more than half, hold a folded cloth over the lid, and start on low. A stick blender in a deep pan avoids the problem.
Try it
A Peruvian-style green sauce
Peru's green sauce is spicy and creamy at once. Traditionally it has mayonnaise; here yogurt gives a lighter, tangier sauce. Remove the chilli seeds to make it milder.
Ingredients (6 portions)
- 1 large bunch of coriander (about 40 g)
- 2 green chillies, deseeded
- 2 spring onions
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 tbsp natural yogurt
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch flaked sea salt
- Put everything in a small blender or food processor.
- Blend for 20 to 30 seconds until smooth and pale green, scraping down once.
- Taste, adjust the lime, salt and chilli, and chill for 15 minutes. Keep in the fridge and use within about 2 days.
Chilli and spices: chilli can sting skin and eyes, so wash your hands well after chopping it and don't touch your face. Add heat in small steps, and keep portions for children mild.
Allergens: contains milk.
A harissa-style yogurt sauce
A creamy, red-streaked sauce with warmth and smokiness. Yogurt calms the chilli, so you can be bold. If you have no harissa paste, use chilli paste, or a pinch of chilli flakes with the paprika and cumin.
Ingredients (6 portions)
- 200 g natural yogurt (thick Greek-style is good)
- 1 tbsp rose harissa paste, or chilli paste
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 small garlic clove, grated
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch flaked sea salt
- Stir the harissa, paprika, cumin, garlic and lemon juice into the yogurt.
- Add the oil and salt, and stir until smooth.
- Taste, and add more harissa for heat, lemon for sharpness or salt. Chill for 30 minutes and use within 2 days.
Chilli and spices: chilli can sting skin and eyes, so wash your hands well after chopping it and don't touch your face. Add heat in small steps, and keep portions for children mild.
A Thai-style dipping sauce
A fast, uncooked sauce with four tastes in a spoonful. Taste it, then add small pinches of sugar or drops of lime until nothing shouts. Dissolving the sugar fully matters. Great with grilled chicken or beef, fish, rice and cold noodles.
Ingredients (6 portions)
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander
- Stir the sugar into the warm water, lime juice and fish sauce until it fully dissolves.
- Add the garlic and chilli and let it stand for 10 minutes.
- Taste: add lime if too salty, sugar if too sharp, chilli if too mild. Stir in the coriander just before serving.
Allergens: contains fish (fish sauce).
A sauce tasting board
Cook one simple thing and serve it with three sauces from this course, so everyone builds their own plate. Roast chicken thighs, flatbreads and rice suit all three sauces above. Choose one creamy, one fresh and one sharp, and add the chutney from chapter 6 as a fourth.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 8 chicken thighs, bone in
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp flaked sea salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 4 flatbreads
- 300 g rice, cooked
- 1 batch each of the three sauces above
- 1 cucumber and tomato salad
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6). Toss the chicken with the oil, salt and paprika and roast for 35 to 40 minutes until golden and cooked through, with no pink and juices running clear.
- Warm the flatbreads and rice, and put each sauce in its own small bowl with its own spoon.
- Serve everything in the middle of the table and taste each sauce on the chicken, then mix and match.
Raw chicken and marinades: keep raw chicken and meat on the bottom shelf of the fridge, on its own plate, and wash hands, boards and knives in hot soapy water afterwards. Marinate in the fridge, never on the worktop. Used marinade has had raw meat in it: throw it away, or boil it hard for at least 2 minutes before using it as a sauce.
Allergens: label every sauce for milk, fish, sesame, egg and nuts.
Experiments
Toasted or raw spices
Aroma.
- Toast the cumin in a dry pan for 30 seconds, then use it in half the yogurt sauce; use raw in the other half.
Look for: Toasted cumin has a deeper, nuttier aroma. Raw is sharper and flatter. A short toast improves most spices.
Spice level
Heat.
- Make the green sauce with 1, 2 and 3 chillies, tasting each with a mouthful of rice.
Look for: Heat builds in the mouth after a few seconds. Make the sauce a little milder than you want, because you can add more but not take it out.
Fresh or dried chilli
Flavour.
- Make two dipping sauces, one with fresh chilli and one with chilli flakes.
Look for: Fresh chilli is bright and sharp; flakes are duller, slower and warmer. Fresh is better for a raw sauce.
Your own menu
Planning.
- Plan a meal for friends around three sauces from this course, write down the order and the timing, and cook it.
Look for: Write what worked and what did not. A menu is a skill, and planning is the biggest part of it.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green chilli and lime sauce | ||||
| Harissa-style yogurt sauce | ||||
| Thai-style dipping sauce | ||||
| Sauce tasting board | ||||
| Toasted or raw spices | ||||
| Spice level | ||||
| Fresh or dried chilli | ||||
| Your own menu |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Too hot | Too much chilli | Add yogurt, lime juice or more herbs; serve with bread or rice |
| Too salty (fish sauce) | Too much fish sauce | Add lime juice, sugar and water |
| Yogurt sauce thin or watery | Thin yogurt | Use thick Greek-style yogurt, or drain it through a sieve for 30 minutes |
| Green sauce brown | Left too long, or blended too long | Make it fresh; add acid and blend briefly |
| Bitter sauce | Too much coriander stem or raw garlic | Use leaves, less garlic and a pinch of sugar |
| Sauces clash | Too many on one plate | Choose two or three with different roles |
Allergens: label each sauce for the people eating it.
Keeping sauces: cool a sauce quickly in a shallow container within 1 to 2 hours, press cling film onto the surface to stop a skin forming, chill and use within about 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot, stirring. Milk and cream sauces can split when frozen, so freeze other sauces instead.
- I can make a fresh chilli and herb sauce.
- I can use yogurt to calm heat.
- I can balance lime, salt, sugar and chilli.
- I can plan a meal around a choice of sauces.
- I can say which sauce suits which food.