Sauces are the unsung heroes of the culinary world—simple additions that can elevate any dish from ordinary to unforgettable. Whether you’re drizzling a velvety white sauce over vegetables, crafting a rich cheese sauce for your favorite comfort foods, or experimenting with bold flavors like herbs and spices, mastering a few basic sauce recipes can open the door to endless kitchen creativity.
Following are two recipes that get used in my kitchen frequently. They are base sauces that help bring together a dish with minimal effort. The sauces themselves do not require a lot of technical skill and steps. They are mostly thrown together but will require the mincing of fresh onions, garlic or ginger root; ingredients that are essential for creating meaningful and flavorful dishes. When you go to the trouble once, for a large batch of sauce and then use that sauce over five or six meals, that one-time effort seems well worth it!
These two Asian sauces portray two completely different flavor profiles; a peanut sauce and a brown sauce. Suggestions on how the sauces can be used are also included.
WHAT SAUCES CAN I FREEZE?
If you are ever in doubt as to whether a food item or a particular sauce can be frozen, look at frozen dinners at the market. What foods and sauces have they included in their preparations? You can do the same. A white sauce might be an exception. Fortunately, it is easy to throw together so making it fresh each time is ideal.
ASIAN BROWN SAUCE (about 3 quarts)
This sauce does a good job of mimicking the darker brown sauces found on Asian menus.
½ cup sesame oil
2 cups unseasoned rice vinegar
2 cups aji mirin
2 ½ cups soy sauce
1 1/3 cups hoisin sauce
1 1/3 cups oyster sauce
6 ounces fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
¼ cup cornstarch
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Directions:
In a large kettle combine all ingredients. Whisk often while bringing things to a boil.
Simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3. Remove from heat and cool. Divide into usable portions (perhaps one or two cups each) and freeze.
Places to use the Asian brown sauce:
1. Stir-fry: The procedure here is the same as the peanut sauce. In a wok or another suitable pan, flash cook the vegetables over extremely high heat and then at the end of the cooking period, add desired amount of brown sauce to coat vegetables and cooked noodles, if using noodles. If not using noodles, then serve over rice.
2. To create the most amazing sauce for orange chicken, simply add some finely grated orange peel to the sauce while cooking the vegetables and meat.
3. Add a cup or two of sauce to flavor a soup. It will add a resounding depth to what otherwise might be a neutral or weak base.
4. This also is great as a dipping sauce or used as a teriyaki sauce for baking chicken and other meats.
SPICY PEANUT SAUCE
(Recipe makes about 10 cups)
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup minced garlic
½ cup minced fresh ginger root
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth or water
2 cups creamy peanut butter
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
3 tablespoons sambal oelek (rooster sauce), or ground fresh chili paste
2 ½ tablespoons sesame oil
2 limes, small- to medium-size, juiced
Directions:
Before beginning, make sure garlic and ginger are minced and measured. This can be done ahead and held for several days.
In a large saute pan and over medium heat, heat oil with garlic and ginger. Cook and stir until translucent and aromatic. Add remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cool and then divide into usable portions and mark, date and take to freezer.
It is always best to freeze in smaller, rather than larger, quantities. With this quantity of sauce, you may wish to divide the recipe into ten one cup portions. If you need more than one bag for a meal simply pull more bags from the freezer.
Places to use the spicy peanut sauce:
1. Stir-fry: In a wok or another suitable pan, flash cook vegetables over extremely high heat and then at the end of the cooking period, add desired amount of peanut sauce to coat vegetables and possibly noodles as well. Thin with water, if needed, or thicken by simmering the contents of the pan further. Garnish with cilantro and crushed peanuts (see photo on opposite page).
2. Base for Thai pizza: Take some of the frozen sauce and perhaps simmer it further to thicken it up so it can act as a base for a Thai pizza. Use as you would tomato pizza sauce.
3. This sauce can be a dipping sauce for spring rolls, or brushed on as a grilling marinade for chicken satays or any number of Asian meats.