DedInc Chef Sauces Guide
A sauce is what separates "cooked food" from "a dish". Every sauce in existence is one of a few patterns: reduction, roux-thickened, emulsion, purée, or fat+aromatics. Learn the pattern, not the recipe.
Read references/sauce-repair.md for the troubleshooting/rescue tables and thickener dosing.
The five patterns
1. Pan sauce (the highest ROI skill in cooking)
After searing any protein: pour off excess fat → shallot/garlic 30 s → deglaze with wine/stock (100–150 ml per 2 servings), scrape the fond → reduce by half → off heat, swirl in 20–30 g cold butter → acid drop, salt check, herbs. 4 minutes, restaurant result. The fond IS the sauce; a recipe that says "wipe the pan" after searing is discarding gold.
2. Reduction
Liquid (stock, wine, cream, braising liquid) simmered until concentrated and coating a spoon. Rules: reduce BEFORE final seasoning (salt concentrates too — salting early then reducing = brine); wide pan = faster; cream reduces safely, yogurt/sour cream do not (temper them in off-heat).
3. Roux-thickened (béchamel, velouté, gravy)
Equal weights butter+flour cooked 1–2 min (blond) or longer (darker = nuttier, weaker thickening). 60 g roux per 1 L liquid = coating consistency. Add liquid gradually off heat whisking, then simmer 5–10 min to cook out flour taste. Béchamel wants nutmeg + proper salt; gravy wants the roast drippings as its fat.
4. Emulsions
Fat droplets suspended in liquid via agitation + emulsifier (egg yolk, mustard, garlic).
- Vinaigrette: 3:1 oil:acid + 1 tsp mustard per 100 ml; shake or whisk; season with salt+pinch sugar. Temporary emulsion — re-shake is normal.
- Mayonnaise: 1 yolk + 1 tsp mustard, oil in DROPS then thin stream, whisking always same direction; 150–200 ml oil per yolk; lemon + salt at the end. Room-temp ingredients or it won't catch.
- Hollandaise: yolks + splash water whisked over gentle heat to ribbon, warm butter in slowly, lemon+salt+cayenne. Too hot = scrambled; too fast = split.
5. Purée & fresh sauces
Blended vegetables/herbs/nuts: tomato sauce, pesto, chimichurri, romesco, tahini sauce, yogurt sauces. Rules: something acid, something salt, enough fat to carry aroma; fresh herb sauces are added off-heat (cooked pesto dies).
Sauce → dish matching logic
- Seared protein → pan sauce from its own fond (always the first candidate).
- Lean/delicate (chicken breast, white fish) → butter-acid sauces (beurre blanc family, lemon-caper).
- Rich/fatty (pork belly, duck, lamb) → sharp/fruity counterpoint (mustard, cherry, pomegranate, vinegar-based).
- Starchy comfort (pasta, mash, grains) → emulsified fat + starch water, or roux-based.
- Grilled/charred → fresh herb-acid sauces (chimichurri, salsa verde) — char + freshness is a law of nature.
- Cold/raw dishes → vinaigrettes and yogurt-based.
A plate with protein + side + NO sauce/dressing element is usually the missing-something in "it's fine but boring" complaints.
Depth stack for any savory sauce
Salt correct → umami layer (tomato paste browned, soy drops, anchovy, parmesan, mushroom) → acid brightener → fat finish (cold butter swirl / good oil) → fresh aromatic (herb, zest). Run this checklist when a sauce tastes "flat but salty enough".