Meat sauces

Meat dishes on the table - everyday or holiday - appear with enviable regularity. Properly cooked, they always deserve their portion of attention and admiration. But they often lack a small, but very important detail: the sauce. It is he who is able to change the classic taste of even the simplest dish.

How to choose the right sauce for meat?

If you interview the usual housewives who are not related to the art of cooking, it turns out that the most popular additive to meat is ketchup. And this often completes the range. Someone can replace it with tomato paste, but rarely are they looking for something else. But what a variety of sauces actually exist that can please even the most fastidious gourmet! How to understand them? How to surprise home and sudden or long-awaited guests?

There are no special rules - sharp, sour and sweet tastes are combined with meat; any spices, berries, fruits and vegetables are good for him. But there are several recommendations from eminent chefs that facilitate the selection.

Meat, prepared with a large amount of fat (fried or baked in it), should not be combined with sauces, which include milk and its derivatives - sour cream, cream, kefir. Protein and fat entering into the compound, badly affect the state of the gastrointestinal tract. It is better to pay attention to the sweet and sour berry or spicy gravy. They may contain lemon juice or vinegar. These ingredients will facilitate the absorption of heavy dishes.

Boiled or baked without additional fat, meat, as well as stewed on water, is ideally combined with cream sauce. In them, by the way, you can bake it: it will be the best option for preserving the juiciness of a lean piece.

In the preparation of meat sauce, there are also a few tricks and rules that you need to know. For example, fruit and berry variations are usually based on sour species (cranberries, currants, lingonberries, savory apples, and cherry plums). It is important to create a homogeneous consistency. To this end, first, the berries and fruits are boiled, deprived of their skin, where this is possible (removed from apples before cooking, from the plum after blanching), and then passed through a blender or whipped with a mixer.

In creamy and vegetable sauces, a mixture of flour and oil, which is prepared in advance, often becomes the base. Flour is poured into a hot skillet and roasted for several minutes. This is usually done on dry dishes, but in some cases the oil is preheated on it. And only after such a procedure, the flour is transferred to the rest of the ingredients of the sauce.

Sour cream sauce for meat: the best variations of the recipe

Sour cream or cream sauce, as already mentioned, it is desirable to use for boiled meat or when baking and stewing. It also goes well with any fish. He certainly has a lot of variations. After all, sour cream can be called all versions that are based on this fermented milk product.

Classic version

Composition:

• Sour cream (natural yogurt) - 200-250 ml
• Garlic - 3-4 cloves
• Greens to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp.
• Salt - to taste

Cooking:

1. In a small deep cup (better plastic) semi-liquid sour cream or natural yogurt is laid out.
2. Garlic cloves are peeled, finely cut and passed through a press. Favorite greens taken on 1 beam. The classic additive is dill and cilantro. They need to be cut as small as possible and put in a cup of sour cream and garlic.
3. Add sugar and a pinch of salt, then whisk the mixture with a whisk or mixer at low power. Serve to the finished meat or soak the pieces in the sauce before baking.

American version

Composition:

• Fat-free sour cream - 150-200 ml
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves
• Mayonnaise - 1 tbsp.
• Greens, salt, pepper - to taste
• Dry mustard - 1 tsp.
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp.

Cooking:

1. In a plastic cup, chopped garlic mixed with salt and mash with a fork. It is required to turn it into a soft mass. The same can be done with a press.
2. A pinch of black pepper and paprika pour into a cup. A bunch of parsley and dill is carefully crushed with a knife and sent there too. Additionally - some Siberian green onions and some dry mustard. All this is poured 1 tbsp. mayonnaise.
3. Now lemon juice is poured into the mixture, after which sour cream with a low fat content is added. Its amount depends on the density of the sauce you want to get.
4. The original recipe uses buttermilk, which is easily made at home: in 1 tbsp. Milk is divorced 1 tbsp. vinegar, and the product is left in a warm place for 15-20 minutes.
5. If necessary, add a little more salt and seasoning to the sauce. Next, the cup must be cleaned in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. Like the previous sauce, you can serve the American to the finished meat, and you can marinate the product in it before baking.

Berry meat sauce: cranberry, lingonberry and cherry plum

Classic Cranberry Meat Sauce done very simply. Berry is taken fresh, and if it is taken from the freezer, you need to let it thaw to remove excess liquid. Its ratio with water will be 2: 1, moreover, it needs to be measured out by glasses. And for sugar - the last ingredient of the sauce - already 4: 1.

First, the syrup is prepared: sugar and water are boiled in a saucepan or a deep cup for 5-7 minutes, while berries are ground at the same time as this mixer. Once they have a relatively uniform consistency, they must be transferred to a bowl of syrup, not removed from the heat. The power is reduced to a minimum, and the mixture languishes for 10 minutes. During this time it should be stirred. This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.

Lingonberry sauce for meat can be prepared by analogy with cranberry, and you can use a more interesting recipe. In this case, the berries are poured boiling water and put in a metal ladle on the stove. Cooking will be 10-15 minutes, until softened. After that, they will pass through a blender. Now it is necessary to introduce additional components - sugar, wine and salt. At 1 tbsp. berries (the original product) requires about 3-4 tbsp. wine and 1 tbsp. Sahara. A pinch of salt, like black pepper. And the final chord can be lemon juice, if you want to add sourness to the mixture.

Sauce for meat with cherry plum popular in Georgian cuisine and in European. The latter, almost unfamiliar to most, is worth considering. Cherry plum (0,8-1 kg) is moved, washed and put into a deep steel cup or pan. It is filled with water (50-100 ml) and boiled for 3-5 minutes, after which it is carefully rubbed through a metal colander, remaining in the same saucepan.

On a slow fire cherry plum is cooked for another 30-40 minutes, and then sugar (50-60 g) and red pepper are poured into it (1 tsp). In another 2-3 minutes, a clove of garlic and 1 tsp are laid out there. dill seed. They, too, should be pre-grind. The final stage - 1 h. L. apple cider vinegar. You can make a variety, if cherry plums are replaced by sour apples.

Meat Sauces: Unusual Recipes for Gourmets

I would like to complete a selection of sauces for meat dishes with several especially exotic versions, which can surprise guests and home or pamper yourself by discovering new facets of taste in familiar foods.

For roasted meats, lemon-onion sauce is an ideal choice. Red onion bulbs (1 kg) are cut and passaged in oil for 3-5 minutes. To do this, you should choose olive oil, pour only 40-50 ml into the pan. Then red wine is poured (75-100 ml), sugar is added (50-70 g), wine vinegar is added (2-3 tbsp). The whole mixture at low power cooks 50-60 minutes. The result should be a jelly-like thick mass. You can keep the sauce for 1 month.

Salsa sauce can be called the best choice for those who appreciate the savory taste. He is advised to serve with already fried meat or marinate in it still raw, preparing to bake the pieces. It is prepared in minutes. In the blender bowl connect anchovies (50-70 g), capers (1-2 tsp.), Mustard (1 tbsp.) And olive oil (3-4 tbsp.). Various spices are poured there. Usually it is mint (15-20 g), parsley (20-30 g), basil (5-10 g), garlic clove. Herbs are torn, garlic passes through the press. All components are ground, after which it is desirable to cool the sauce.

Undoubtedly, to describe all the sauces that can be prepared for the meat dish is a difficult task. However, if you know the key laws and technologies, you can diversify the classic recipes, constantly getting new options for gravy and sauces. By varying the ingredients at your own discretion, you are sure to get something worth seeing.