Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sauce

What did I eat?

sagejumper — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:33:35 -0800

What did I eat? Fifty years ago, when I was a kid, a friend's Japanese mother made us a snack. She pulled 2 plain, fist sized rice balls from the fridge and sprinkled a dark green, watery sauce on them. It was salty and fishy tasting. It may have had some dark green flecks in it. I've seen nothing like it in Asian markets, and I think it may have been homemade, for it was poured from a wine bottle with a metal liquor spout tube. I've wondered for years.

Need urgent help in making gravy from scratch!!

heartofglass — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 03:40:21 -0800

Need urgent help in making gravy from scratch!! So I followed a friend's suggestion and started making gravy from scratch for a meal for approximately 60 people. I should have made this in advance but I thought it was much simpler!

Basically, since we had no way of getting juices from roasting anything, her suggestion was to cook bones (cow) for hours with a mix of seasonings, celery, carrot and onion. I did this, discarded the whole mix and obtained a kind of stock that is brownish in colour.

Then, to thicken it she advised me to make a roux (butter + flour). I did this (with about one and a half blocks of butter) and added in the stock, with some more carrot and celery and onion. She said I should cook this whole thing for another couple of hours and wait for it to reduce and then I would have the gravy.

What I am staring at now is a not-dark-enough and not-thick-enough mixture. Is there any way I can salvage this? I have only 4 hours before I have to start serving. Should I add salt? What about the caramelised onions?

Thanks for reading this!

Ducks are for quacking, not for cooking

Helga-woo — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:37:49 -0800

What can I use as a vegetarian substitute for duck pan juice so that I can make a tasty fruity sauce for my halloumi? I'm going to be grilling the halloumi, and I want to serve it with a fruity, sweet, sour sauce. I've found this recipe, which is perfect as it's simple and I have all the ingredients, apart from the duck juice.

Can I substitute vegetable stock (probably made from bouillon powder)? Or something else? I'm not above roasting some veggies and deglazing the pan. But I'm not sure either of those will get close to the oomph of duck juice.

Or can you suggest another recipe as an alternative? I've got time to dedicate to this, so it can be something complicated... (You get bonus points if your sauce is a fruity, chili sauce)

I'm a no meat, no fish veggie.

Help me get my red enchilada sauce on!

ersatzkat — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:51:14 -0800

I have a terrific jar of a sort of paste that my husband made from dried New Mexico and guajillo chiles that were skinned, seeded, reconstituted, blended into a puree, then strained (or perhaps run through a food mill - I was asleep). I'd like to use this paste as an ingredient in an awesome red enchilada sauce. Do you have recipes to share?

chocolate sauce uses

mightshould — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:55:17 -0800

My neighbors gave me a jar of homemade chocolate / fudge sauce for my birthday. (Good neighbors aren't they?) I need ideas on how to use it. Other than direct spoon feeding into comotose land or IV drip, I'm short on creative ideas.

It's about 3 cups full of chocolaty goodness.

While I do have ice cream handy there has to be a better way to enjoy this wonderful gift without having to make a run to the store tonight. They're sure to ask tomorrow and, besides, the chocolate is sitting there silently mocking me.

All ideas for immediate and future uses will be enjoyed. Feed my imagination please.

Hot sauce recipes sought. All kinds. That is all. Thank you.

beshtya — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:11:46 -0800

Hot sauce recipes sought. All kinds. That is all. Thank you.

Help me find the ultimate secret ingredients to make the ultimate (tomato based) BBQ sauce

Elfasi — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:05:55 -0800

As a connoisseur of barbecue sauce, on a lifelong quest to either find or replicate the best barbecue sauce I ever tasted, I keep coming back to the same thing: What exactly is the key ingredient or ingredients in a barbecue sauce that really make it special? What ingredients really make the difference between a good sauce, and a really great sauce? And just how much of a difference does it make to actually cook it and reduce it rather than mix it cold? Askmefi hivemind, help me out! A long time ago where I live in the UK, a barbecue sauce went on sale. Old Ranch House Smokey Barbecue Sauce. It came and went from the shops over the years and finally vanished forever around the late 2000s. It was a reasonably thick tomato based, tangy, irresistible concoction that was best used as a condiment, though it made a fine marinade too. I kept the last ever bottle that I found (washed out), and the ingredients are:

Water, sugar, tomato purée (18%), acetic acid, worcestershire sauce, salt, stabiliser:xanthan gum; onion powder, hydrolysed maize protein, hickory smoke flavour, ground garlic, antioxidant, ascorbic acid, spices

This is the point at which I started thinking, just what exactly is the vital ingredient in that lot which makes it so special compared to anything else I ever tried? The hickory smoke flavour, perhaps? Or the combination of the onion powder, garlic, magic spices? How much of that list can I just ignore as your typical mass produced preservative stuff? I'd love to somehow replicate it and reproduce that exact flavour, but it seems more realistic to try and just figure out which kind of ingredients to focus on and experiment with my own recipes.

So, mefites who mix or cook your own tangy, tomato based barbecue sauce condiments (and it has to be a good condiment above all else), how would you reverse engineer that sauce? What ingredient(s) stands out to you? Or just in general, what do you consider to be your barbecue sauce ingredients that have the biggest impact on flavour? And how much of a difference does it make to cook a sauce rather than just mix it?

If you are outside the UK and you have specific products to suggest as ingredients, please give me a little background so I can go about finding them or recreating them over here. I'm thinking for example that hickory smoke flavour could exist all kinds of ways from all kinds of different manufacturers. Thanks!

teriyaki

lamp — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:45:52 -0800

Please give me your best teriyaki sauce recipe. I can't find my old teriyaki sauce recipe but I know that it included kombu. Do you have a kick-ass recipe?

Help me make Ottawa's famous Lebanese garlic sauce!

smitt — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:12:06 -0800

This post made me long for Ottawa's awesome Lebanese food, especially garlic sauce. Help me make it for myself! I grew up in Ottawa, and fortunately go a few times a year to visit my folks.

Everywhere I go, I try to find shwarma that compares, or even resembles what the Lebanese restaurants in Ottawa do.

Can someone direct me to recipes to make my own Ottawa style, Lebanese garlic sauce?

Pasta Sauce Recipes

FunGus — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:02:22 -0800

Easy, awesome pasta sauce recipes please. A friend of mine was complaining recently about the complexity of all the dishes she learned to prepare at a Italian cooking course recently.

My question: what are some easy and awesome recipes for pasta sauce.

Bonus points for recipes that don't involve pork or alcohol (we live in a gulf country and both of these are expensive).

Thanks in advance hive mind!

Do you know of any Thanksgiving songs?

rageagainsttherobots — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:47:11 -0800

Do you know of any Thanksgiving songs? As usual, Christmas songs are already being played everywhere. Christmas is already invading turkey time. Where are my Thanksgiving songs?

Cranberry Sauce Disas... Mishap

Marky — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:43:15 -0800

I think my cranberry sauce is too sweet... Help! Made the cranberry sauce tonight using the America's Test Kitchen recipe: 1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup water, pinch of salt, 12oz cranberries. Simmered and stirred for about 10-15 minutes, added 2 tbs orange juice and some orange zest.

It's ok, but it's much sweeter than usual. I really like it more tart than sweet.

Can this be fixed? I thought about throwing in another half a bag of cranberries and cooking some more, or chopping up a Granny Smith apple and adding that in. Maybe add some nutmeg. I don't know how well these ideas will work.

An other suggestions? (No, I'm not going to the market to get a can of Jello style sauce.)

What is this sauce?

serazin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:54:13 -0800

What is this delicious sauce from Gujarat? A friend who bought it for me said it is pretty ubiquitous at restaurants and in homes. To my North American palate it tastes similar to marmalade, but spicier, funkier, and deliciouser. Would love to know what it's called, where to buy it (I live in the Bay Area but would resort to the internet), and ideally, a recipe so I can make more myself.

Slow cooking : science me please!

travertina — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:31:29 -0800

Can I reuse cooking sauce from last time when slow cooking? It sounds terrible, but I can't think of a good reason not to try this. Am I not thinking this through?

My new favorite thing to cook in my slow cooker is sweet italian sausage. Add onion chunks, bell pepper strips, cover with a big jar of tomato sauce, and enjoy the tasty magic after 6 hours on low.

I don't find that I eat much of the cooking sauce though, so I have about a quart leftover each time. Can I freeze this, and thaw and reuse the next time?

Heat without the sour

cronholio — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 04:48:34 -0800

I love making my own hot pepper sauces but I'm not happy that I have to use vinegar as a preservative as I don't like the sour taste that much. If I use a lot, it ruins the taste, if I use less, the sauce won't stay fresh as long. Does anyone have a recommendation for something I can substitute the vinegar with, maybe even something synthetic (if it's harmless)?

Share your hot sauce recipes

Aizkolari — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:45:36 -0800

This is the thread where you tell me how to make hot sauce. I like hot sauce, from the complex, slightly funky Sriracha to the vinegary Crystal to the more traditional Mexican Tapatio and Cholula. As I also enjoy cooking, I would like to make my own sauce, but internet searches have not turned up results to my liking. So, Mefites, please hit me up with your favorite recipes, tips, and tricks for making your own homemade hot sauce, be it super-hot, fairly mild, or anywhere in between. If there is a site or forum out there that specializes in this kind of thing, I'd love to hear about that too.

Your best dips to go with raw or steamed vegetables!

whatzit — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:58:51 -0800

What are your best dips to go with raw or steamed vegetables? As part of bringing lunch to work everyday, I'd like that many of those lunches consist of raw or steamed vegetables with a simple sauce or dip. I'm very open-minded to ethnic flavors, spiciness, sweet and umami flavors... surprise me! My preferred vegetables are bell peppers, cucumber, and broccoli, but you are welcome to convince me of other optimal pairings. Limits? I hate eggplant and pickles and pickled things, and don't like very eggy things. Recipes based on a name-brand pre-made products are out because I probably don't have access to it (e.g. Kraft Ranch Lite Dressing).

On the other hand, I'm not actually a vegetarian or anything special, so something requiring animal products is fair game.

What do I do with all this red sauce?

honeydew — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:04:09 -0800

I have about three gallons of truly excellent homemade tomato sauce. What can I do with it if I don't eat pasta?

I feel saucy

ducktape — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:56:58 -0800

I'm a good cook, but one thing I've never even really bothered with are sauces. What are your favorite sauces that can be made at home, and so good that you would consider eating a turd if the divine sauce was poured on top.

Mama's secret recipe

These Premises Are Alarmed — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:25:00 -0800

Does a typical east-coast independent neighborhood pizza place do anything to its tomato sauce (or other ingredients) between the can and the pie? When at a basic Italian (or Greek) restaurant / pizza joint anywhere from MA to DC, are the ingredients completely commodity - dough, sauce, etc, from Sysco or another distributor? Or is anything customized at the locations or made from fresh ingredients?

I realize there are more 'craft' places (I love Louie and Ernie's in the Bronx) where they make their own dough and sauce, but I'm talking about the typical strip-mall or corner-store locations that sell by the slice.

Persimmons on your pasta.

blackcatcuriouser — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:05:18 -0800

I once ate pasta with a delicious persimmon + tomato marinara. I can't find any persimmon marinara recipes for it online. How can I recreate it? I know it contained tomatoes, persimmons, olive oil, fresh basil. I make my own tomato sauce often, so that part is pretty easy. (This usually consists of Pomi tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, basil, a touch of sugar.) I just don't know how I should incorporate the persimmons or how to cook with them in general. I know they're very sweet and want to get the flavor without overdoing it on sweetness.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

What to do with a lot of naga jolokia chili peppers

hydrophonic — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 09:45:17 -0800

Our CSA gave us 2 1/2 pounds of extremely hot peppers, mostly naga jolokia. I'd like to make a hot sauce that I can give away at Christmastime. What do I need to know to make a sauce that will keep unrefrigerated? I'm open to other applications as well. With this amount of heat, I'd expect that whatever I make will be used very slowly, like a drop or two at a time. So it's important that it will keep. I'd also like to be able to ship it. I don't have a grill, drier, or equipment for fermenting or canning. We keep our regular store-bought hot sauce on the shelf after we open it, but recipes for homemade hot sauce usually say to keep it in the fridge.

Help me find a substitute for Taco Bell Fire Sauce that is available for purchase

namesarehard — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:54:11 -0800

What is the closest thing to Taco Bell Fire Border Sauce that I can find on the market? Ok, I'm in love with this stuff. I would put it on ice cream, if I could. It makes all of my lean, healthy food taste heavenly. I called up Taco Bell and Kraft Foods, an they will not sell it to me in bulk. Has anyone come up with a working substitute that's available commercially? I've tried trader joe's jalapeno pepper and chili pepper sauces and they're not the same. Anything thoughts?

It's delicious, but what is it?

heyforfour — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:39:52 -0800

Help me approximate an amazing ricotta-featuring cheese sauce! I am attempting to re-create a pasta dish for someone's birthday, from their favorite restaurant in the city we no longer live in. (For extra bonus points, if anyone has been to Guido's in Providence, RI, I am talking about the white sauce in their "Fettuccine sauce" pasta.) Most importantly, the sauce has a distinctive grainy texture beyond your typical homemade cheese sauce. It's at least partly ricotta-based (and "not an alfredo", says the waitress), and very creamy. Also very garlicky. Does this sauce have a name?

Googling gets me mostly lasagna recipes and 'diet alfredo' which this is decidedly not, so I turn to you! I'd love to hear your cheese-sauce recipe suggestions, or even tips for incorporating ricotta into a white sauce. Will it explode? I can make a reasonable roux-based cheese sauce from scratch but this kind of innovation is a little beyond me.

How can I make my own pourable chocolate topping?

Zaire — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:40:17 -0800

I've tried unsuccessfully to find a recipe for a pourable chocolate sauce/icecream topping that I can put in bottles to give as gifts. You know the kind... the pourable gourmet sauces you get in gift hampers, etc. All I can find are recipes you put in jars and that need reheating to be pourable.

How to the boutique sauce manufacturers do it?? ;)