Want to make your own sauce or sauce? So pay attention to that

It’s easy to make a sauce or gravy from a sachet. But it’s often tastier and more fun to make it yourself. We give tips and tricks that you can pay attention to, so that you put a good and tasty sauce on the table.

Sauce too thick

To make a sauce, for a stew or a meat, you need butter, flour and stock as a base. Other ingredients can be added to taste. The butter must first brown in the pan, then the flour is added. This mixture is called a roux. The flower must be added in 1 time and then it is well stirred. Failure to do so can cause it to clump. Make sure the roux is thoroughly cooked.

Also, when too much flour has been added, lumps may form. This makes the sauce too thick. When there are no more lumps, add the broth to the pan. Do this shovel by shovel. This way you can get the right thickness and desired taste. Does the sauce seem a bit too runny at first? This is usually done by leaving the sauce on the heat for a while. It often thickens further. The sauce has become too thick? Then add some broth. Do not add more flour at this stage, as this will cause lumps.

Letting the tomato sauce cook too long

A simple tomato sauce, for pizza or pasta, is easy to make yourself. A number of tomatoes (fresh or canned), onions, garlic and olive oil form the basis. Other ingredients can be added to taste. The sauce does not need to simmer for a long time at all. Many people think that a tomato sauce has to stay on the stove for hours. But that’s not the case with a simple tomato sauce. It’s not good for the taste. It is best to let this sauce cook for 15 to 20 minutes maximum. The taste of tomatoes then disappears and leaves something sour. Looking for a tomato sauce recipe? Robèrt van Beckhoven shares his tomato sauce on a pizza.

However, there are a number of tomato sauces that need to simmer longer. Think of a classic bolognese sauce, called ragù in Italy. This one needs to be on the heat for more than 15 minutes because the meat needs to soften and the flavor needs to blend with the sauce.

Too flat cheese sauce

When making cheese sauce, the main ingredient is cheese. It seems logical, but a lot can go wrong here. The base of the sauce is butter, flour, milk and cheese. As with the sauce, the roux must first be cooked. Then add the milk while stirring. And finally the cheese.

The right type of cheese is important. It is better to use 2 types of cheese. A Hollandaise cheese sauce is tastier if it contains both young and old cheese. The young cheese melts well, but does not have much flavor. Old cheese melts less well, but has a lot of flavor. By adding the young cheese first, the old cheese can be better absorbed. This reduces the risk of lumps.

But other types of cheese can also be used in a sauce, as long as they have some flavor. Consider a slightly older cheddar or other spicy cheese. Although cheddar melts less well than typical Dutch cheeses.

Choose the right ingredients to stir

Whisks, ladles, spatulas, ordinary spoons. There are many different types for mixing a sauce. And it also has an effect on how a sauce ultimately turns out. A cheese sauce becomes very sticky. Therefore, it is better not to use a plastic spoon here. In general, all sauces go well with ladles or wooden spatulas.

(Source: Culy, Cooking Fans, FavorFlav. Photos: Shutterstock)