Homemade sauces

Former Member

Okay this comes off that food you cant stand thread,

I tend to use ready made sauces for things like spaghetti bolognese etc but i wouldnt mind trying to make my own as it would work out cheaper. I

've tried before, yanno chopped tomatoes and you throw in a load of crap to try and make it taste half decent but its never really that great so i go back to the ready made stuff.

So who makes there own sauces? And how do you make them ?

Former Member

It's easy to make your own sauces... Shop a load of tomatoes up, fry them up with some olive oil, garlic, herbs, bit of salt and pepper and you have yourself a nice tomato sauce. Can finely chop onion into that too... Cook the onion first to soften it up before the tomato cos they take longer to look.
And add water if you want it runnier.

Former Member

Got another one...

Cheese sauce:
Heat milk up in a pan (don't let it bubble)

Then fill half a glass with milk, add one and a half heaped table spoons of cornflour (and a teaspoon of mustard powder for flavour) and stir.

Slowly add the glass of liquid to the warming milk while you stir until it thickens.

You can add herbs and stuff to that for extra flavour too.

Former Member

Lu_C wrote: »

It's easy to make your own sauces... Shop a load of tomatoes up, fry them up with some olive oil, garlic, herbs, bit of salt and pepper and you have yourself a nice tomato sauce. Can finely chop onion into that too... Cook the onion first to soften it up before the tomato cos they take longer to look.
And add water if you want it runnier.

I will try this tonight. I'm sure this is what i have been doing but it still tasted pretty plain maybe what i'm used to is that processed taste... not used to fresh taste.

Former Member

If I'm making a bolognese type sauce, then I'll use passata (tomatoes which have been pureed and sieved, found in most supermarkets) instead of tins of tomatoes. I'll also only add minced garlic about 10 minutes before the sauce is ready as I find the flavour gets lost in the sauce fairly early on, and if it's added to hot oil it tends to burn.

If you find that you're not used to the taste, get used to tasting the food and seasoning it as you go along. I sometimes fry off some pancetta first (or dice up some bacon if you've got it handy) as that'll give you an extra bit of saltiness, knowing that it's fresh without all the added stuff that you get in ready made sauce. Don't forget things like herbs - dried oregano, fresh sage and fresh thyme add loads of flavour.

Former Member

Yeah I always make my own sauces like Tomato based one and Cheese sauces they are so simple.

For Tomato based sauces: -

All you need: -
Tinned Chopped Tomatoes,
Fresh/Dried Basil (Or anyother herb of your choice),
Onion,
Garlic,
Anyother Vegetables you would like.

Brown the Chopped onion in a sauce pan. Once that is done put the tin of chopped tomatoes in. Leave to simmer of a few minutes and the garlic chopped/ crushed. leave to reduce. Then right before you are going to . serve it add the fresh basil/herb. If using dried basil/herd you can add whenever you like. It is only that with fresh Basil it losses flavour and it is cooked.

Let me know if you want to know anymore.

Former Member

Lu_C wrote: »

Got another one...

Cheese sauce:
Heat milk up in a pan (don't let it bubble)

Then fill half a glass with milk, add one and a half heaped table spoons of cornflour (and a teaspoon of mustard powder for flavour) and stir.

Slowly add the glass of liquid to the warming milk while you stir until it thickens.

You can add herbs and stuff to that for extra flavour too.

I forgot the bit about slowly adding grated cheese....

Former Member

Lu_C wrote: »

Got another one...

Cheese sauce:
Heat milk up in a pan (don't let it bubble)

Then fill half a glass with milk, add one and a half heaped table spoons of cornflour (and a teaspoon of mustard powder for flavour) and stir.

Slowly add the glass of liquid to the warming milk while you stir until it thickens.

You can add herbs and stuff to that for extra flavour too.

Surely this should have some cheese in it? or the name is a little misleading..

Former Member

I like to make a quick sauce with fried onions and mushrooms - lots and lots of mushrooms :cool: If you have used a pan to cook meat in eg steak fry the mushrooms and onions in that and add any juices from the meat. Once everything is softened I add creme fraiche. This is yummy with the meat OR if youve done it without meatyness just use it for pasta.

Fried leeks are nice added to a basic white sauce - with or without the addition of cheese.

Former Member

Dude, tinned tomatoes are the issue. Even expensive tinned tomatoes have that watery, sharp, almost-metalic taste. To get rid of the wateriness cook off the water by letting it simmer for a while, or use passata like someone mentioned above - but even that can need cooking down sometimes. The sharpness can be got rid of with something that's sweet and I often use just a dessert spoon of Heinz tomato ketchup - I know this sounds barbaric, but because Heinz make their ketchup far too sweet (imo) it balances out the bitter sharpness of the tomatoes.

Other than that, find some herbs you like and bung in with a load of onions and garlic for a reasonable tomato sauce.

Former Member

The sharpness can be got rid of with something that's sweet and I often use just a dessert spoon of Heinz tomato ketchup - I know this sounds barbaric, but because Heinz make their ketchup far too sweet (imo) it balances out the bitter sharpness of the tomatoes.

:yes: a knob of butter does the trick too

Former Member

icey wrote: »

Surely this should have some cheese in it? or the name is a little misleading..

Read the post above yours you numpty. :razz:

Former Member

Mmm...I'm getting hungry again!

All good ideas!
There are books that have loads of recipes. But why pay when you can get them here for free?

Former Member

go_away wrote: »

:yes: a knob of butter does the trick too

Ah, good shout. I'll give that a go next time; fat always tastes good!

Former Member

If you want, I can give you the recipe for my homemade love sauce. It's surprisingly easy to make. Just shake up a few ingredients, voila.

Former Member

Make a stilton cheese sauce. Add cream and blue stilton till it all melts, then add lots of mushroom and you have stilton mushrooms, yummy!