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By John Ash
Published 2004
The addition of a simple and flavorful sauce can make the difference between something ordinary and a memorable dish. Many feel that sauce-making is complicated and beyond the scope of the average cook. Well, it’s not. Several years ago I participated in the revision of the Joy of Cooking and one section that I took on was sauces. Lots had changed since 1974, the last time the book was updated. Italian cooking had replaced French as our European touchstone. Ethnic flavors and techniques from Asia and Latin America had become an integral part of American cuisine. And the identification of “sauce” with butter and cream, elaborate stocks, long reductions, and the technical demands of something like hollandaise, had been severed. The lightening, brightening, and expansion of our idea of sauces is one of the best culinary developments of recent decades; take advantage and see how sauces can enliven a meal without a lot of additional effort.