Don't be saucy with me béarnaise!
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i know this!!!!
Side Score: 8
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I enjoy sauces, respect some are hard to do right, and enjoy good French cooking (and that's usually where they're most famous). But here's the thing - philosophically I believe more in simply using the best ingredients and letting them shine their most, as opposed to transforming butter, cream, flour, etc, into the new star of the dish which you'll dip those ingredients in. If it's a case of the sauce fully incorporating into the main dish then I like that, because then you're elevating all the quality ingredients to reach a chosen status. But to just make a sauce for the sake of a sauce I'm not as convinced of the necessity. Side: i know this!!!!
Hello G: The other day I found some turkey and frozen peas in my refrigerator.. So, I whipped up a simple white sauce with half milk and half chicken broth.. I added the turkey chunks and frozen peas and folded 'em into buttered noodles. I have NO idea what you call it, but it was delicious.. Without the sauce, it would have been blahhh.. excon PS> Didja notice I didn't hit the dispute button?? I'm getting better.. Side: i know this!!!!
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Excon, You bring up a fantastic point about the power of sauces. Food that is bland, ingredients that are insufficient in amount for making a portion, and even foods that are on the edge of being spoiled can be combined with each other, and a sauce can enhance the flavors and bind them together to make delightful meals.
Digression: Soups have a similar power. I grew up with a concept of soup that was essentially a combination of leftovers, vegetables with the bruised or bad bits cut out, and some sort of herb/spice combination to tie it all together. It was different every time, and evolved as it cooked down and things were added. (hence the humor in the question, "Is it soup, yet?" I was flabbergasted the first time I saw a recipe for soup. How could a cookbook author know what leftovers are in my fridge? Side: i know this!!!!
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Grenache, You are right about letting good ingredients shine. The beauty of a sauce is that it can discriminate, one bite of fish has sauce, then the next does not... One of the interesting things about the olfactory aspect of our sense of taste is that it fatigues quickly. After one or two bites, our sense of taste of that set of chemicals decreases rapidly. (This is one reason gourmet eateries have such small servings.) If some of the bites of fish change: one has a dab of sauce, or has a different sauce, and some are plain, our sense of taste fatigues less quickly, and we enjoy the food more. Apparently variety is not just the spice of life. It is also a completely literal seasoning. Side: i know this!!!!
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