Posts Tagged ‘emulsion’

Sauce Dreams

When I was in culinary school many moons ago, I fell in love with the idea of being a saucier. In fancy restaurant kitchens long ago, there were many chefs in the kitchen, so many that they were referred to as the ‘brigade’. One of the chefs in that brigade was the sauce chef or ‘saucier’. This person, as the name implies made all the sauces to be used during service. In order to make good sauce, one starts with a good stock. So this person made all that as well. I have always loved making stock.

Conquering Homemade Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a magical food. A true example of culinary alchemy- taking three disparate and separate ingredients- egg yolks, acid and oil, and mixing them to a beautiful, luxurious ‘sauce’. It can morph from a simple sandwich spread to a binder for a potato salad. Thinned out with a bit of liquid and it becomes a sauce for fish or vegetables. The addition of aromatics and herbs and it becomes even for exciting. I didn’t always have this enthusiasm for mayonnaise though. As a child, I wasn’t crazy about the mouthfeel, that rich oiliness was too much for my simple palate.