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Last weekend I made sauces. My better half & I indulged in homemade sauces:
- top left: yoghurt based mayonnaise
- top right: sauce hollandaise
- bottom left: remoulade
- bottom right: mayonnaise.
It sounds a little too much (at 1st sight!), but I had planned our weekend meals ahead & thought it would be nice to have home-made sauces for brunch & dinner. So I started to prepare the sauces – full aware that I’ll have to store them until their grand appearance on the table. (Meaning I could try at the same time how sustainable my efforts would be…)
Furthermore I had read in the food blog universe recently quite a lot about approaches to simplify resp. speed up preparation of special sauces that originally require lots of time & skills. Reliable sources are Emmi kocht einfach, Die Jungs kochen und backen or The View from Great Island & a lot more…
…& finally I worked w/ the classic mayonnaise approach & a yoghurt approach so that I could compare the results. (W/o spoiling anything: both approaches made very fine & delicious sauces – full marks for each sauce!)
What do we need for the adventure in sauces?
It’s mainly:
- eggs
- oil
- yoghurt
- butter.
(Shame on me that I forgot to add a bowl w/ butter to the overview… I was sure I missed something when I started, but… it just happened!)
The next step is the equipment we’ll need…
I’ve got quite a selection of egg whips – forget them!
I won’t start making my homemade sauces from scratch in a bowl w/ an egg whip… stirring, whisking… more whisking…
Instead I relied on my handheld immersion blender (see also my information on equipment). What we’ll need for its outstanding performance is – of course – an adequate container. Best is you use the one which was originally delivered together w/ your handheld immersion blender (i. e. small diameter, rather high – where the handheld blender fits perfectly & may be moved up & down w/o bespattering your kitchen counter).
For a start I made mayonnaise. Simple classic mayonnaise. For about a small jar of mayonnaise you’ll need:
- 1 egg (at room temperature!)
- 200 – 250 ml oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp vinegar
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt.
Put everything in the container & blend for some seconds. The mess transforms almost at once into mayonnaise. Move the blender once up – that’s it!
Keep in mind:
- I used an oil w/o any taste of its own – you may also use olive oil or any other oil you prefer, however, the mayonnaise will absorb its special flavor.
- If using only 200 ml oil the mayonnaise gets thicker, if using 250 ml it’ll get fluffier, however, not runny!
- I used French sweet mustard. You may use any mustard you like – you may also add 1 tsp of mustard if you like.
- I used a white wine vinegar… same procedure as for oil & mustard.
I stored the mayonnaise in a glass jar in my fridge for use when brunching or for happy hour snacks or whatever. The mayonnaise will be fine for at least 4-5 days.
Now we’ll proceed to sauce hollandaise.
The basics are:
- eggs
- butter.
…& it’ll get warm, hot…
We need:
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 125 g butter.
Concerning the mustard take whatever mustard you like.
Start w/ melting the butter; the butter may come to the boil, but only for a second… Set aside.
The rest marches in our container & the immersion blender will mash it perfectly. You’ll need only some seconds… Then you can pour the melted butter – still warm – into the container. At once start working w/ the handheld immersion blender. Some seconds later resp. some up & down movements later it’s ready for serving!
What a miracle! The sauce is fine for 2-3 servings.
We had sauce hollandaise w/ green asparagus, fresh young potatoes & ham – for dinner. So my sauce hollandaise marched in the fridge for some hours. The sauce thickened in the fridge, but remained as smooth as before.
When reheating I used my microwave – very carefully. I set the microwave to medium temperature & started it for about 30 s. Then stirring. Another 30 s, another stirring. Finally the sauce was hot & less thick, but… I added 2-3 tbsp hot water from my asparagus pot to make it somewhat more liquid. It worked.
For the record:
The reheating of sauce hollandaise works fine when doing it very, very carefully. If you heat it up too quick & too strong the sauce will lump!!!
Let’s proceed now to the sauces based on Greek yoghurt.
I tried a simple mayonnaise:
- 2 hard-boiled eggs – only the egg yolks!
- 4 – 6 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 150 – 200 g Greek yoghurt.
Start w/ mashing the egg yolks, adding all the rest (except of the yoghurt) & mash & mash (w/ a fork). Finally add the Greek yoghurt & mix until creamy.
For the record:
If you are trying tartar sauce as the pros do you start w/ hard-boiled egg yolks as well – adding oil & vinegar & mustard… for the basis. Then follow finely chopped spring onions & chives. In this yoghurt mayonnaise we take Greek yoghurt instead of oil.
The yoghurt mayonnaise is rather soft, but not runny – it depends on the amount of Greek yoghurt. When resting in the fridge the yoghurt mayonnaise thickens a little.
What did I do with it?
I made a potato salad w/ spring onions, radishes, tomatoes, cornichons (pickled gherkins), fresh cucumber, some canned tuna… & the yoghurt mayonnaise. My supply of yoghurt mayonnaise was fine for a potato salad for 3-4 servings. After assembling the salad I let it rest in the fridge for some hours – the potatoes soaked up the liquid. For serving it’s best to bring the potato salad to room temperature.
Last, but not least there is remoulade (also based on Greek yoghurt, not on mayonnaise as conventional).
Yes – I did it before (see rough remoulade). So this isn’t any news to you – I did it exactly the same way as before.
…& we had a simple dinner w/ fried fillet of fish, fresh potatoes & remoulade.
At the end of my sauce weekend cooking adventure I assembled all my sauces… (Don’t forget to store them appropriately – they are homemade: some w/ raw eggs, all w/o any preserving agents!)
…& don’t forget that any homemade sauce may get its very special flavour depending on the oils, the mustard, the vinegar, any spices, any herbs…
The businesswoman w/ too many office hours thinks
Fine – of course I stored them appropriately! (Although their lifetime was rather short…)
