Asian Sauces

Many classically trained cooks are perplexed when confronted with an Asian sauce recipe. Not only are the ingredients sometimes completely unrecognizable, but the approach and logic are profoundly different from those used in making Western sauces. Unlike European sauces, especially French classic sauces, which are designed to concentrate the flavors of the main ingredients (in integral sauces) or at least emulate the flavors of the main ingredients through the preparation and careful reduction of stocks (in nonintegral sauces), Asian sauces are designed to accent or contrast with the main ingredient. Japanese cooks use dashi, a smoky fish broth, for both meats and fish; Southeast Asian cooks flavor most of their curries, soups, and stews with fish sauce; Indian cooks use elaborate combinations of spices; and Chinese cooks are likely to use an array of bottled sauces, often in subtle and delicious combinations, but again as an accent to, rather than intensification of, the main ingredient’s inherent flavor. With this in mind, it’s essential for the cook who sets out to make an Asian sauce to avoid masking the flavors of the main ingredient with too many strong or disparate flavors. Although Asian sauces don’t emphasize the careful sculpting of the main ingredient’s inherent flavors in the way of classic French sauces, the best Asian sauces use their own palette of ingredients with great subtlety and finesse to accent the main ingredient without masking its flavor or appearance.