Classic Sauce Making Flashcards

What ratio of fat to flour is standard for making a roux?

Answer: Equal parts by weight

A classic roux uses equal weights of fat and flour.

As a roux cooks darker from white to brown, what happens to its thickening power?

Answer: It decreases because the starches break down

Longer cooking degrades the starch, so darker roux thickens less but adds more flavor.

A recipe calls for 'monter au beurre' as the last step of a pan sauce. What does this mean?

Answer: Swirl in cold butter off the heat to add gloss and body

Mounting with butter finishes a sauce with shine, richness, and slight thickening.

Which mother sauce is unique because it is an emulsion rather than a starch-thickened or reduced sauce?

Answer: Hollandaise

Hollandaise relies on an egg-yolk-and-butter emulsion instead of starch or reduction.

What is beurre manié and when is it used?

Answer: A kneaded paste of raw butter and flour whisked in to thicken a sauce at the end of cooking

Beurre manié is an uncooked butter-flour paste used for last-minute thickening.

Why should tomato sauce simmered for hours be cooked in a non-reactive pot such as stainless steel?

Answer: Tomato acidity can react with aluminum or cast iron, causing metallic flavors

Acidic tomatoes leach metal ions from reactive cookware, tainting flavor and color.

In classic sauce work, what does 'nappe' consistency mean?

Answer: The sauce coats the back of a spoon and holds a line drawn through it

Nappe describes a sauce just thick enough to evenly coat the back of a spoon.