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Sauce

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Description

Liquid, cream, or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods

Technical

In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. Sauce is a French word probably from the post-classical Latin salsa, derived from the classical salsus 'salted'. Possibly the oldest recorded European sauce is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Romans, while doubanjiang, the Chinese soy bean paste, is mentioned in Rites of Zhou 20.

Sensory Profile

Aroma ()

butterysharpfruitycheesyvanilla-like

Wine Analogy

Like a full-bodied Chardonnay with buttery notes

Coffee Analogy

Similar to the velvety mouthfeel of espresso crema

Perfume Analogy

Complex as an oriental fragrance with top and base notes

Culinary Applications

BéchamelFranceMother sauce for creamy dishes
Mole PoblanoMexicoComplex flavor foundation
TeriyakiJapanGlazing and flavor carrier

Dietary

VeganVegetarianGluten-FreeHalalKosherdairyeggswheat

Research Evidence

Safety thresholds

Mexican tabletop sauces commonly contain enteric pathogens

location: Guadalajara restaurants

Contamination with E. coli was common in samples of Mexican tabletop sauces from Guadalajara restaurants. These sauces commonly contained enteric pathogens.

home processing had a significant effect reducing residues in tomato sauce and strawberry jam

Home processing of fortified tomato and strawberry samples had a significant effect on reducing residues in tomato sauce and strawberry jam, where the reduction reached 100%.

What science says

compound effect

3-Chloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) is a heat-produced contaminants formed during the preparation of soy sauce and was found to be a by-product of acid-HVP-produced soy sauce in 1978.

3-Chloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) is a by-product of acid-HVP-produced soy sauce

flavor pairing evidence

indigenus amino acid/peptide sauces and pastes with meat-like flavours - Chinese soy sauce, Japanese shoyu, Japanese miso

Chinese soy sauce has meat-like flavors

Handbook of indigenous fermented foods1983
process mechanism

Southeast Asian fish sauces and pastes, and related fermented foods

Southeast Asian fish sauces involve fermentation

Handbook of indigenous fermented foods1983
compound effect

Large amounts of acids, large numbers of carbonyls and sulfur-containing compounds, such as, dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, and 3-(methylthio)propanal, as well as many types of nitrogen-containing compounds are thought to be major contributors to fish sauce odor.

volatile compounds contribute to fish sauce odor

flavor pairing evidence

In Southeast Asia, the most preferred seasonings containing umami are fish and seafood sauces, and also soybean sauces.

umami taste is found in fish and seafood sauces

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