If you have spent any time on my web site, you know I am a huge fan of preparing sauces…pan sauces, classic French style sauce and everyday simple sauces. As Fernand Point, the man considered to be the father of modern French cuisine said, “It is the sauce that distinguishes a good chef. The Saucier is a soloist in the orchestra of a great kitchen.”

Now that may be taking it a bit far, but I do believe if you know how to prepare sauces, you can turn an ordinary sautéed chicken breast into something special. Same with a pork chop and even a steak that can usually stand on its own. See my Steak with Wild Mushroom Sauce or Grilled Steak with Peppercorn Sauce.

The trick to making great sauces at home is having the right ingredients. The reason professional chefs can serve you an incredible rich, velvety brown sauce in your favorite restaurant is because they have spent hours, sometimes days preparing stock reductions and demi-glaces.

Most of us home cooks don’t have the time or the desire to put the time and effort into making classic stock reductions for soups, stews, braises and sauces. Sure, we have no trouble making a batch of chicken stock for homemade chicken soup but how many of you want to spend two days making a demi-glace? Not me.

Good News For Home Cooks

Good news for us is there are now companies making some very good commercial stock reduction products that we can use to make great sauces in our own kitchens. Some are better than others and it’s my goal this year to try as many products as I can find and give them a taste test.

In the meantime, my current favorite commercial brand is More Than Gourmet’s Demi Glace Gold and any of their other classic stock reductions that include chicken, fish, lobster, veggie, duck, veal and a few others. I have been using these products for years and I can honestly say these products have elevated my cooking more than any other line of products. I can now make the same sauces that I’ve enjoyed in many of the fine restaurants I’ve been fortunate to dine at.

 Now I’m not saying there aren’t better products on the market. I’m sure there are cheaper brands but most of those are pure chemicals and not using all natural products. If there is a brand you recommend me trying, please let me know and I will give it a go.

If you want to learn more about making sauces at home and read more about these products, I suggest you go to www.gatewaygourmet.com. There you will find dozens of sauce recipes, many of them featuring More Than Gourmet’s products, plus ingredient breakdowns and where to purchase them.

Who Said The Holidays Are Over?

Better yet, one of those sources is now offering the entire More Than Gourmet product line at 20% off.  This is an incredible opportunity to try these products and start making restaurant quality sauces in your own kitchen. But you’ll want to hurry because the sale ends this Sunday, January 7, 2007.

So go over to GatewayGourmet.com and take a look at these products and their recipes and if you like what you see, take advantage of the sale going on at ClubSauce.  The sale ends on Sunday and I don’t think you’ll find prices like these anywhere.