Cookerati

If you are like me, not a trained chef and know only the basics about preparing a sauce, this book is for you.  It is a fantastic book for giving you the basics and then helping you build using those basic sauces to create something more complex.  The book starts out with broths and easier sauces and then builds. Some of these sauces will take hours to make building on one primary sauce to make a more in depth sauce.  I made the veloute, which came out velvety, just as described and then the next week went to a college visit that served the same sauce only with a lemony take over chicken.  Before making it myself, I wouldn’t have been able to identify the sauce never mind know that I could actually do it.

It isn’t a quick and easy book.  Some of these sauces start out based on a broth, or another sauce that takes hours to cook down or thicken.  Also, it can take ingredients that aren’t on your pantry shelf or in the fridge, so it may take some planning to come up with a sauce, as well as the perfect dish.  Thank goodness throughout the book there are pairings and suggestions for the sauces. Then in the back of the book is matching sauces to foods(a food/sauce index) . If you want lamb – try these sauces, for example.  Then of course you have the regular ingredient index too.

This is a comprehensive sauce book (to me).  It covers equipment, the basic elements, stocks, white sauces, vinaigrettes, coulis, berry sauces, chutneys, dessert sauces, chocolate sauces, and more.  I recommend this for someone who wants more depth to their sauces than the average cook might experience.  Though, it’s not a fast and easy recipe book, it will help to improve the quality of your sauce.  My grade A. The directions are very clear and thorough, easy to follow, though you may need more equipment or have to bulk up your pantry or fridge to complete the sauces.