I Am Saucy

BY LIAM CANNON, POS TECH

I am saucy! Now say that in your best Michael Keaton Batman voice. You can put your hands on your hips if you want. The term saucy refers to a person with a bold and lively personality. Culinary sauces can do the same for food, turning your entree into an epicurean masterpiece. Sauce is a French term derived from the Latin salsus, meaning salted, indicating its flavor enhancing capabilities. Sweet and savory sauces are present in almost all cuisines around the world. Some of the oldest known sauces come from the ancient Romans. Mustard, not unlike the condiment we have today, was made by crushing mustard seed and combining it with fermented grapes into a paste. The most popular sauce was garum, a highly pungent liquid made from small fish, like anchovies, mixed with the intestines of larger fish and salt, and fermented in the sun for up to two months.

Although the French did not create the first sauces, they were responsible for establishing the principal sauces that all present-day sauciers must master. (As you can probably guess, a saucier is a chef who specializes in sauces.) While the French created hundreds of sauces used globally in one form or another, there are five primary sauces known as “grand” or “mother sauces.” Any sauce derived from one of these is a “daughter,” “secondary,” or “petite” sauce. Béchamel—a white sauce of milk thickened with roux. King Louis XIV’s court chef Francois Pierre de la Varenne (1615-1678) probably created the sauce, honoring the Marquis Louis de Béchamel, a French financier and patron of the arts. Espagnole—a brown sauce of reduced stock and tomatoes, thickened with brown roux. For the wedding feast of King Louis XIII of France and Princess Anne Mauricia of Spain, her cooks made a sauce combining France’s brown sauce with Spanish tomatoes. Velouté—a blond sauce made by reducing clear stock (from un-roasted bones) and thickening it with a white roux. Tomate (you say tomato, I say tomate)—a tomatobased sauce made with pork belly, onions, bay leaves, and spices. Hollandaise—a warm emulsion of butter, egg yolks, and lemon juice, originally called sauce Isigny after a town in Normandy known for its creamy butter. During WWI, butter production ceased in France, so it was imported from Holland, hence the name change. Although not an official mother sauce, the honorable mention award goes to…mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil, egg, and vinegar or lemon. When the list of mother sauces was being decided, there was quite a debate whether to include mayonnaise. Everybody loves mayonnaise, so many countries and regions claim to be

its creator, with elaborate stories about where the name comes from. Its name, though, probably comes from the old French word “moveu,” meaning “egg yolk.”

I must admit that when I was a kid, I enjoyed going to fast-food restaurants. My parents liked eating out too, although it didn’t happen frequently as the painful memory of food rationing during WWII still had its grips on them. To be fair, fast-food places then were not the fast-food establishments of today. The phrase just meant they prepared meals more efficiently to shave off some of the wait time—early McDonald’s called it their “Speedee Service System.” Back then, when we went to A&W for frosty mugs of root beer and ate the Mama, Papa, and Baby Burgers, we watched the cook make the hamburgers from fresh meat.

I remember seeing for the first time a futuristic looking restaurant with the strange yellow—sorry, golden— arches coming right out of the building. I thought that the burgers were a little plain with their single patty, chopped onions, two pickles…and no sauce! Still, not bad for fifteen-cent burgers. I had to wait until 1968 and the Big Mac before I got a good sauce. In my opinion, it’s the sauce that made the Big Mac famous.

Willard Scott, famed weatherman for the Today show, used to be a real Bozo. Eventually, McDonald’s asked Scott to stop clowning around and come up with a mascot for them. In 1963, Scott made his first appearance as Ronald McDonald. During my teen years, we moved back to my dad’s ancestral home in Nevada, where no fast-food restaurant existed. When an Arby’s opened up in Las Vegas in 1968, my dad and I took a road trip to check it out, 2.5-hours each way. The first thing that greeted us when we walked in was the wonderful aroma of freshly prepared roast beef. After ordering our sandwiches, we watched the cook slice the roast beef right in front of us. One bite and we were in love. The sandwiches were wonderful, but that peppery sauce is what got my attention. Before we left, my dad ordered enough sandwiches to put in our freezer to last us a year. It became an annual event.

I prefer not to eat at these places any longer, but those two sauces from McDonald’s and Arby’s kept calling to me, so I made it my mission to try to create organic homemade versions. I tried several recipes from the internet, but they came up short. After a lot of experimentation, I finally came up with the following recipes I would like to share with you.

You will note that I also include a recipe for French dressing. It’s one of the ingredients for the sandwich sauce. I tried using store-bought dressing or just adding the dressing ingredients directly into the sauce recipe, but neither technique gave me the result I wanted. Timing is a key component to this recipe. After making the French dressing, you must wait at least one hour before using it as an ingredient in the sauce, and the final sauce tastes better if you let it sit for an hour. Enjoy….

Liam’s French Dressing

Ingredients

½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup ketchup ½ cup sunflower oil 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar ¼ cup yellow onion, mince 1 teaspoon paprika ½ teaspoon granulated garlic ¼ teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon sea salt

Preparation

Thoroughly mix all ingredients. Allow to sit for at least one hour before using to allow flavors to meld.

Liam’s Sandwich Sauce

Ingredients

½ cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons French dressing 4 teaspoon sweet pickle relish 1 tablespoon whiteonion, minced 1 teaspoon whitewine vinegar 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation

Combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Allow to sit for at least one hour to allow flavors to meld.

Roast Beef Sandwich Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup organic ketchup 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 4-6 tablespoons water* 4-5 drops cayenne-based hot sauce 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic 2 tablespoons brown sugar** 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium/low heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, especially the last 10 minutes. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Use within 1-2 weeks.

Notes:

* Use filtered water because chlorinated tap water will change the flavor, adding just enough to achieve a pourable but still thick sauce. The sauce will thicken more when cooled. ** If you don’t have brown sugar, maple syrup is a good alternative.