SAUCE IS a word we often associate with food, but its derivative, 'sauciness', has long been associated with one's distasteful attitude. It is derived from a French word originating from the Latin word salsus, meaning 'salted'. In food service, the person who specialises in making sauces is a saucier.

Sauces are integral to every cuisine around the world. A sauce is a liquid or semi-solid used to enhance foods or help prepare other foods or meals. Sauces are rarely consumed by themselves and are used to add flavour, visual appeal and moisture to food. In most cases, the cook or saucier generally makes sauces just before serving the food. Sauces for salads are called salad dressing; those made by pan-glazing are called pan sauces.

Roman tradition

Sauces have a long history dating back to 200 A.D. when the Romans used sauces to disguise the taste of the food and possibly to conceal doubtful freshness. Highly flavoured sauces often containing as many as a dozen ingredients were extensively used to mask the natural flavours of Roman food. The most commonly used seasoning was liquamen, the nearest equivalent today being a very strong fish stock, with anchovies as its main ingredient. This was so popular that it was commercially-produced in many towns in the Roman Empire, according to Marian Woodman, writing in Food & Cooking in Roman Britain.

French Cuisine

In France, the use of sauces dates back to mediaeval times and the sauces have become a defining characteristic of French cuisine. The great August Escoffier, 'King of Chefs and Chef of Kings', said sauces were the secret of the supremacy of French cuisine over all others.

There are four variations of French sauces:

Allemande - made from white stock and thickened with egg yolk.

Béchamel - made from milk, thickened with roux.

Espagnole - made from brown stock, thickened with roux.

Veloute - made from white stock, thickened with roux.

What is a roux? A roux is a mixture of flour and fat, such as butter, vegetable oil or lard. The mixture is thickened and added to liquids to make sauces and gravies. Flour and water mixed together is the traditional roux to make gravy.

Traditional gravy

In Britain and North America, gravy is a traditional sauce used in roast beef, chicken turkey and lamb dinners. To make gravy, mix the roux by combining flour and water with the drippings remaining in the pan after the meat has been removed. The drippings should be boiled before the roux is added in small amounts, stirring continually to keep it smooth until it thickens.

Ketchup

Commercial preparations like ketchup is also a popular sauce used on foods such as French fries, burgers and hot dogs. Other commonly used sauces are mustard, custard, Worcestershire and fish and meat sauces. In Mexico, a traditional sauce called Mole is made from chocolate and chillies. Oriental cuisine depends heavily on the use of sauces for the distinctive taste of the food such as soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce or oyster sauce.

Sauces are essential to desserts and sweet endings as they create need for more of what is considered 'sinfully delicious'. A rum sauce is versatile to use with any dessert or assorted fruits.

Making healthier sauces

Several persons are sceptical about making sauces with fat, heavy cream or butter as many traditional sauces are nutritionally unsound. There are ways to make rich, creamy sauces without the fat, however.

Use silken tofu and soy milk blended with onions that were slow-cooked with onions and garlic over low heat to release the flavours, which makes foods just as tasty as when fats are used. For even more flavour to the soy, add fresh herbs to the onions while cooking.

Soy or cow's milk can be blended with broad beans to make a base for a healthy cream sauce. Once again, adding slow-cooked onions and herbs will add even more flavour. These two methods will all thicken sauces without the additional thickening.

To thicken a sauce without using flour, an excellent alternative is to mix a little arrowroot with water. Add to sauce at the end and continue to cook for just about three to four more minutes, giving it time to thicken. Add a little at a time, so as not to make it thicker than you want. (www.whfoods.org)

Salsas and reduced sauces

There are other tasty sauces that are not creamy. These include salsa, pesto, and reduced, lighter fruit or vegetable-based sauces.

Salsas make a terrific healthy topping for many foods such as fish, chicken, legumes, and egg dishes such as frittatas. Salsas are especially easy to get creative with, depending on the flavour you want. Salsas lend themselves to the use of raw ingredients, adding flavour as a topping. Salsas are sauces that are essential in the cuisine of Latin America. Most of these contain tomato, onion and spices. Some thicker sauces contain avocado.

Pestos are another great way to make healthy sauces. They are not only very flavourful but the fresh herbs which they use are incredibly beneficial medicine. Olive oil makes pesto even healthier as it lowers blood cholesterol.

Using fruits in season in lighter, reduced sauces can only add seasonal variation to your range of sauces.

Heather Little-White, PhD, is a nutrition and lifestyle consultant in the Corporate Area. Send comments to editor@gleanerjm.com or fax 922-6223.

MCT Photo

A molasses sauce is brushed on to New York Strip steak.

Otaheite Hot Sauce

4 otaheite apples

1 cup orange juice

5 tbsps sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp thyme, crushed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp chilli pepper

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Core and finely dice apples. Combine with other ingredients and simmer slowly over medium heat until reduced to half the original volume. Serve with poultry, fish, peas and beans.

Grilled Chicken inRed Wine Sauce

Preparing everyday foods with a sauce can be a delight for the entire family, for example, Grilled Chicken in Red Wine Sauce.

1/2 lb chicken breast

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp fish and meat sauce

3 tbsps soy sauce

1 cup red wine

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Clean chicken breast and make some slits on the surface with knife.

2. Marinate chicken with salt, pepper and fish and meat sauce for 30 minutes.

3. In a saucepan, mix soy sauce, red wine and oregano put it on slow flame. Cook until it thickens.

4. Meanwhile, grill the chicken breast by brushing some olive oil in it.

5. Place the grilled chicken in a serving dish and pour the hot wine sauce over. (www.ocado.com)

Delicious Rum Saucewith Hot Bread Pudding

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp dark Jamaica rum

2 tbsp sugar

A pinch of cinnamon

Method

In a small saucepan, blend the skimmed milk, evaporated skimmed milk, cornstarch, rum, sugar and cinnamon. Simmer over medium-high heat. Once sauce comes to a boil, remove from heat and stir constantly so sauce will not become lumpy. Foam forming on the sauce is normal and will disappear when cooling.

To serve, drizzle over hot bread pudding slices.