Considering the astonishing number of savory sauces that exist–there are estimated to be well over 800 in French cooking–it comes as a relief that there are only a handful of dessert sauces.
Interestingly, despite the recent revolutions against classical traditions in cooking–nouvelle cuisine, neue kuche, nuova cucina–desserts and sauces have been left relatively untouched.
Four sauces that are used over and over have become the ”classical repertory.” And they are so manageable that a dedicated cook could learn them easily.
THE BIG FOUR
The big four dessert sauces are chocolate, vanilla or custard, fruit, and sugar-based sauces such as butterscotch and caramel.
Almost everything else is a variation of one of these or calls for the same cooking techniques. Once the basic sauce is mastered, it is easy to create variations.
CHOCOLATE SAUCES
A basic chocolate sauce is so simple to make it`s difficult to imagine anyone would buy a ready-made one. Variations include chocolate, fudge and mocha.
CHOCOLATE SAUCE
About 1/2 cup
Preparation time: 3 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 tablespoons strongly brewed coffee
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into large pieces, optional
1. Chop the chocolate coarsely then melt over hot–not boiling–water with the coffee.
2. For added richness stir in butter, a piece at a time.
This hot fudge sauce may be cooked so that it will harden on ice cream:
HOT FUDGE SAUCE
About 1 cup
Preparation time: 3 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 12 minutes
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1. Chop the chocolate in a food processor; put in a double boiler over
(not resting in) hot water and melt. Immediately add the butter, stirring constantly. Add the water, sugar and corn syrup.
2. Heat to a boil over a low direct heat; do not stir. Cook 5 minutes for regular hot fudge sauce. Cook 8 minutes for a sauce that will harden over ice cream. To keep warm, put in hot but not boiling water.
CUSTARD SAUCES
The best of all classic dessert sauces is the custard-based creme anglaise–English cream. This is the base of more sauces than any other. It is wonderful served plain over cake, ladyfingers or macaroons. It also is lovely with fresh fruit, souffles, bavarian creams or fritters. This sauce is used at room temperature; thus if one wishes to use a hot sauce, this is not the one. But custard sauces are the most difficult. I probably see more mistakes made with a custard sauce that any other cooking technique.
What causes the problem is that to obtain the velvety custard consistency the egg-based sauce must be heated until it thickens–a few degrees too high and one has scrambled eggs. So I share a little trick that works beautifully, and makes this easy to do.
A custard sauce simply is eggs or egg yolks, sugar and milk or cream beaten then heated until the custard thickens enough to coat a spoon. It does this at about 175 degrees, but if it has been beaten too much at the beginning, when the sauce cools it will be thin as milk.
A hint from the ingenious Dr. Edouard Pomaine, a French cooking expert: A teaspoon of flour allows the mixture to be heated to a boil without curdling. The flour lowers the boiling point to a temperature slightly below that at which eggs scramble.
Here is Pomaine`s version of creme anglaise.
CREME ANGLAISE VANILLA SAUCE)
About 1 1/2 cups
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon flour
2 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring; see note
1. Heat the milk to the boiling point. Meanwhile beat egg yolks with the sugar until mixture falls from the whisk in ribbons and is canary yellow. Then add the flour and beat again.
2. While whisking, pour the boiling milk over the yolk-sugar mixture, then return to pan. Stirring, preferably with a wooden spoon that has a flat edge to scrape the bottom of the pan, heat just to a boil. Immediately remove from heat, whisking to cool. Pour through a fine sieve for the best texture. Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Note: For a chocolate sauce, add 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, to the hot sauce and stir until melted. Mocha sauce: Add 2 to 3 teaspoons powdered instant expresso coffee. Orange: Add 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur.
FRUIT SAUCES
Fruit sauces are generally used for dessert made with starches, such as bread puddings, rice puddings and fritters. They work equally well with pancakes, crepes and waffles. There are two kinds of fruit sauces: sweetened fruit purees and sweetened fruit juices that are thickened with arrowroot and cornstarch.
APRICOT SAUCE
The most important fruit sauce is apricot, which is used both as a sauce and as a coating on tarts for nonred fruits such as apples, pears and the like. It can be made with dried fruit, or, more easily, apricot jam. Either way, this is an example of a sauce made with a fruit puree.
This sauce is easily produced by taking a cup of apricot preserves, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of water, then heating over a low heat. Strain to remove the fruit, which may be chopped in the food processor and used as a jam. Add 1 tablespoon of kirsch if desired, or more water if it becomes too thick.
RASPBERRY (MELBA) SAUCE
Here is the simplest way to make a lovely raspberry sauce, often called Melba sauce for Nellie Melba, the famous Australian opera singer after whom chef Escoffier named the famous dessert, peach Melba:
Start with a package of frozen raspberries packed in syrup. Simply defrost and puree in a blender or food processor. Strain to remove the seeds. It is important to taste this and adjust the flavorings; there should be a good raspberry taste. If it is too acidic, add sugar and blend again, adding about 1 tablespoon of sugar at a time.
Strawberry sauce is made the same way.
Cardinal sauce is done similarly, with a combination of raspberries and strawberries.
BASIC FRUIT SAUCE
About 1 1/4 cups
Preparation time: 8 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons fruit juice
1/4 cup sugar, if juice is unsweetened
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 pinch cream of tartar
1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch
1. Mix 1 cup fruit juice, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and heat to a boil. Mix arrowroot with remaining 2 tablespoons fruit juice and add to boiling juice. Cook until clear and slightly thickened. Serve hot or cold.
SUGAR SAUCES
There is no basic sugar sauce, but there are many sauces made with various sugar bases. Maple syrup makes a lovely sauce as is, for instance. Caramel is a classic European sauce, while butterscotch is perhaps the American equivalent.
CARAMEL SAUCE
About 1 1/2 cups
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
1 cup sugar
1 pinch cream of tartar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup water
1/2 to 1 cup whipping cream
1. Pour the sugar and cream of tartar into a heavy stainless steel saucepan. Carefully pour the 1/3 cup water around the ”mountain” that the sugar creates. Put over a medium heat; do not stir.
2. After about 2 minutes, if the sugar is not dissolving, very carefully and slowly stir the center of the sugar just enough to dampen it. Then let it cook, about 10 minutes, until it reaches a lovely amber color. Immediately, off the heat add the additional 1/2 cup water very carefully: It will steam up so it should be handled with great care. Stir in the optional cream until it has a smooth pouring consistency.
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE
About 1 1/4 cups
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup whipping cream
1. Simmer the first 3 ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan 3 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Stir in cream until smooth.
Basic hard sauce is used for steamed puddings such as plum pudding.
BASIC HARD SAUCE
About 3/4 cup
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 stick
1/2 cup confectioners` sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring: rum, orange-flavored liqueur, etc.
1 Cream butter until very soft. Gradually add the sugar until well whipped. Add the flavoring. Chill 1 hour before serving.
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