Sauces & Spreads: Expert Guides and Resources

Deglaze a pan by moistening and then scraping up the browned bits of food that stick to the bottom of the pan. These deglazed browned bits are loaded with flavor. By deglazing the brown bits, you can transform them into a delicious sauce:Remove the meat, poultry, or fish from the pan onto a serving platter and immediately add liquid.

Apple butter is kind of a cross between a jam and homemade applesauce. The rich flavor and wonderful aroma of this apple butter can transform a plain piece of toast into something decadent. Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour, 10 minutes Processing time: 15 minutes Yield: 6 half-pints 8 large apples (about 4 to 4 1/2 pounds) 3 1/2 cups apple cider 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon kosher or pickling salt 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3-inch cinnamon stick Peel, core, and slice the apples.

You can find all kinds of sauces for food, but sauce serves one purpose: to enhance the dish it's served with. Think of a sauce as a primary liquid and flavored with ingredients and seasonings. For example, your sauce can be based on wine or stock, enhanced with thyme and pepper, and finished with a swirl of butter.

Basic brown sauce derives from the 19th-century espagnole sauce, whose major ingredient was Spanish ham. Most brown sauces are based on a reduced stock of beef or veal. So, brown sauce is usually a meat-based sauce. The term stock means a liquid that results from boiling bones, water, vegetables, and seasonings.

Egg-based sauces are (you guessed it!) based on eggs rather than on meat stock or butter and cream, although most egg-based sauces also contain butter, stock, and/or cream. Here are the two most common egg-based sauces: Hollandaise sauce: Your first introduction to hollandaise probably came when you went with your parents to a fancy brunch that included eggs Benedict.

Most white sauces, in all their incarnations, are based on a roux (a flour-based paste). White sauces vary in what you add to the roux. The most common type of white sauce is a béchamel sauce (pronounced besh-ah-MEL). Béchamel sauce, with its buttery, faintly nutty flavor, is the base of hot soufflés and such homey dishes as macaroni and cheese and pot pies.

When pears are ripe, get busy making this flavorful pear chutney. This recipe for pear chutney calls for a spark of heat from cayenne pepper to balance the sweetness from golden raisins and brown sugar. The chutney makes a great dipping sauce for homemade egg rolls or an accompaniment to roast pork. Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 2 to 2 1/2 hours Processing time: 15 minutes Yield: 4 pints 3 pounds pears 2 cups apple cider vinegar 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar 1 onion 1 cup golden raisins 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper Peel the pears with a vegetable peeler or a paring knife.

Onion marmalade? For Christmas? You bet. Gift recipients will love this delicious sweet and savory onion condiment that’s slowly cooked to release all the natural sweetness. Its flavor also gets some help from raisins and brown sugar and a little tang from balsamic vinegar. Sweet onion marmalade goes particularly well with ham and pork, but a naked hamburger or hot dog would also savor its cover.

Flavored oils in pretty bottles make wonderful, inexpensive Christmas gifts. The light oniony flavor of chive-flavored oil enhances salad dressings. But don’t stop there. Try dipping bread in it. Brush it on fish or poultry before grilling. Pour some in a pan before you scramble eggs. Even drizzle some over a baked potato.