sauce, liquid or semiliquid mixture that is added to a food as it cooks or that is served with it. Sauces provide flavour, moisture, and a contrast in texture and colour. They may also serve as a medium in which food is contained, for example, the velouté sauce of creamed chicken. Seasoning liquids (soy sauce, hot pepper sauce, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce) are used both as ingredients in cooking and at table as condiments.
Many sauces begin with a roux, a mixture of flour and fat that is cooked for a few minutes to eliminate the raw taste from the flour and to enable it to absorb a maximum amount of liquid. For brown sauces the roux is cooked until the flour begins to colour. To the roux is added the liquid component of the sauce: milk or cream, stock, wine, pan juices from a roast, etc. Seasoning and solids (e.g., onion, mushrooms, bits of truffle) are then added and the sauce is cooked to the desired thickness. The French white sauce, béchamel, and brown sauce, espagnole, are the bases of dozens of complex variations. Some sauces are thickened by the addition of bread crumbs.
Sauces thickened with egg yolks include mayonnaise and its variations, which are cold emulsions of egg yolks and vegetable oil, and hollandaise and its variations, which are hot emulsions of egg yolks and butter. Typical additions to these sauces are herbs, garlic, orange rind, or minced vegetables. Greek avgolemono sauce of stock, lemon juice, and egg yolks is extensively used with lamb, vegetables, and fish.
Butter, heated with herbs and flavourings, forms versatile sauces for fish, vegetables, poultry, and organ meats. Sometimes the butter is allowed to brown (beurre noir) for a distinctive taste that is sharpened with lemon juice, vinegar, or capers. For beurre blanc, a reduced seasoning liquid is beaten into softened butter before it can melt completely. Hard sauce, or brandy butter, is a stiff mixture of powdered sugar, butter, brandy, and spice that is served with mincemeat and Christmas puddings.
Oil and vinegar sauces, such as vinaigrette dressing, are most often used with salads and cold dishes. English mint sauce for lamb has a vinegar base, as do green sauces such as the Italian salsa verde and Argentine chimichurri, both served with plain-cooked meats.
Tomato sauces are purees of that vegetable with herbs, spices, other vegetables, and sometimes ham or bacon. Bolognese sauce is the classic Italian meat sauce for pasta, a tomato sauce with minced beef. Mexican salsa cruda is an uncooked mixture of chopped tomatoes, onions, jalapeño peppers, and cilantro, or coriander leaf, that is extensively used as a table condiment.
Fruit purees may be called sauces. Applesauce, cranberry and lingonberry sauce, and rhubarb sauce function as condiments with rich meats.
Dessert sauces include boiled custard, or crème anglaise, chocolate sauces (usually made with sugar, cream, and butter), and fruit sauces. Fruit sauces are often made by mixing the fruit or fruit juice with sugar, spice, and liqueurs. Cooked fruit sauces are thickened with cornstarch or arrowroot powder, for a delicate, transparent finish. A family of sweet sauces is made by cooking butter and sugar until the sugar begins to caramelize.