“It is the sauce that distinguishes a good chef. The Saucier is a soloist in the orchestra of a great kitchen.” – Fernand Point
So true! You can saute a chicken breast to perfection and make a great meal, but if you know how to make simple pan sauces, you can prepare a hundred different meals. Furthermore, you are going to find every cuisine has it’s own style of sauces, some similar, some completely different.
For example, Italian sauces for pasta like a Genovese sauce are much different from classic French sauces like a demi glace sauce. A simple soy ginger sauce for Chinese dumplings looks and tastes different from an Indian curry sauce. Even barbecue sauces can be different depending on where you live.
So here are some of my favorite sauces from various cuisines that you can enjoy with your favorite meals.
Horseradish Cream Sauce = Perfect Companion for a Beef Tenderloin A simple meal for a large get-together is roasted beef tenderloin. Season a trimmed filet Mignon, toss it into the oven and in no time you have a meal for many. A good tenderloin is fantastic all by itself or maybe with a little extra […]
Riccioli Pasta with Wild Mushroom Sauce & Grilled Chicken Needed a “quick & easy” recipe for dinner last night. My wife pulled out a bag of frozen chicken tenders from the freezer in the morning and marinated them in balsamic dressing before heading out to work. She “mentioned” we should use up the fresh, wild […]
A Great Meat Sauce with Pasta Recipe I love Bolognese Sauce when the weather drops below 40 degrees like it has here in Philadelphia. Normally I serve it with penne but I recently ordered a case of pappardelle pasta from Amazon and my wife thought it would be a good idea to make some room […]
Tomato Pesto Sauce I have a recipe for Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta that calls for using a commercial brand of Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto or your own homemade version. Unfortunately the recipe didn’t make it in the transfer to the new site so here it is. For the record, this pesto goes great on pasta but […]
A Mushroom Cream Sauce This weekend we had friends over for a dinner party and I wanted to share with you the wild mushroom cream sauce that we served on a fine commercial penne pasta imported from Umbria, Italy. We were thinking of making our own homemade fettuccine pasta but I thought the penne would […]
Making Pasta with Garlic & Oil Super – From Simple to Special Once you know how to make the Basic Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil, you can change the flavor of the dish dramatically by simply adding any combination of ingredients you would like. It might sound like a stretch to say that this […]
Four Recipes for Cooking With Hot Peppers By contributing writer Mark R. Vogel Some Like It Hot Do you like hot food? I mean really hot food? Are you a chile head? Then let’s talk hot peppers. Chile peppers, of which there are almost 200 varieties, have been cultivated since 6200 B.C. All chile peppers […]
How to Make Roasted Garlic Puree Even if you are not a fan of garlic, you may be surprised how much you like roasted garlic and roasted garlic puree. The roasting process takes some of the bite out of garlic giving it a mellow, milder flavor that’s great for adding to other dishes or just […]
How to Make a Simple Pan Sauce at Home “If you want to elevate your cooking skills to a new level and up your culinary game, learn how to make a simple pan sauce.” With this technique in your cooking bag of tricks, you can turn a simple pan-fried steak into a mouth-watering meal, a […]
A Simple Tomato Sauce Recipe One of the most important items I have on hand at all times is my Basic Tomato Sauce. Sometimes called Salsa Di Pomodoro but more often called “Italian Gravy” by my Italian friends, this sauce is the start of many great recipes. Once a month, usually on a Sunday, I […]
I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me... Read More
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