# What is a Coulis?



## abefroman (Mar 12, 2005)

What is a Coulis? How is it traditionally made? Is it mostly for desert? What are some variations you can do for non desert foods?


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## beefcheeks (Apr 3, 2005)

It's a puree of either fruit or vegetable. Usually colorful in appearance and often used as a sauce with other base sauces to create color and texture contrasts.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

This definition comes from "The Chef's Companion" by Elizabeth Reily.

Coulis (french) "An old culinary term of some confusion; originally the strained juices from cooked meat, then a puree of chickne, game, or fish; now it usually means a bisque or thick sauce or puree, such as tomato."

Today it often refers to a thin puree (or thick sauce) of either vegetables or fruit.


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## nowiamone (Jan 23, 2005)

Abe, I've been watching your questions in the last few threads; You need a to own a **** good cook book. Even a few old issues of Bon Appetit; Food & Wine or Gourmet Magazine.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

NowIamone, we welcome all questions here. Many of us are more than willing to share our experience and knowledge to help others, both professional and homecooks.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

NowIamone, I don't think your last reply was constructive at all. ChefTalk tries to provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere where people who have questions can ask now matter how simple or complex.


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## abefroman (Mar 12, 2005)

I own many cook books thank you. None of them mention Coulis or how to make it, hense my post here.


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## nowiamone (Jan 23, 2005)

Whoa.............. down boys! Actualy meant that to help, it must have read a little sarcastic to all of you! That word that came out in astericks was the spelling equal of dam; and there are all kinds of cook books, but there are really darn good ones also that cover a multitude of excerises. Same with magazines, Food & Wine, etc. is a better recipe, cooking resource than Woman's Day or Good Housekeeping.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

No problem, we just like to keep a friendly atmosphere around here and we tend to err on the cautious side. Thanks for posting a reply and appreciate the help given.


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## cheech (Feb 17, 2003)

To give you some examples that I have used in my restaurant, we had a duck breast for a while served with an apricot coulis, and we have a pesto crusted salmon with a roasted yellow pepper coulis. Both coulis were very tasty and light on the pallet.


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## abefroman (Mar 12, 2005)

You just mix apricot and yellow pepper with cream?


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## chefrjl (Mar 13, 2005)

Apricots, asparagus, tomato, beets, whatever you want to use. Try this, and this is good mental application for future use. Cook, puree, strain, reheat, thicken if needed, chill. Use your cooking liquid as thinner, strain twice, always reduce to thicken if time allows. finished product should be velvety, bold in flavor, and preferably not soupy. But honestly, and probably some of you will disagree, it should be absolutely free of sediment.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Chefrjl, you need to be careful about reducing to thicken, especially after adding certain veggies, as reducing can dull the color. Example, I would never continue to reduce an asparagus coulis after blending as the color can very easily go from vibrant green to olive drab.


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## pgram (Apr 20, 2005)

Use one capsule of ground up ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and it will perserve the color of green vegetables like asparagus, spinach, basil pesto, etc.


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## chefrjl (Mar 13, 2005)

Pgram. I was getting ready to say the same thing when I read your post. my tragic downfall, I assume people already know some of these things. Sorry ya'll, i forgot to add it before.


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## logghib (May 4, 2005)

Cheater!

Blanch it, robot coupe it, push it through a mesh strainer, season, chicken stock to consistency. (This is how I do it, anyway.) If it's too thin, blanch more. (Too thin is rarely a problem, since you'd have to be adding too much liquid.)

Fruit coulis I'll play around with liquids - rice wine for mango, strawberry - verjus for raspberry, tomato, kiwi... etc.


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## cheech (Feb 17, 2003)

If I remember correctly, the apricot coulis didn't have cream in it. The pepper coulis does have cream and several other ingredients. If you'd like, I can find the recipes and send them to you...


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## chefsbb (May 4, 2005)

I have a good one.
Roasted corn and ginger coulis. Great with scallops or shrimp. :chef:


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

One of my favorite sauces is "Corn Cream". Juice a couple ears of corn, separating pulp and juice. Slowly heat the corn juice to a boil. It will thicken considerably. Thin with some chicken stock to consistency, season with salt and pepper, and finish with a little butter. During season this sauce is plenty sweet, out of season I often add (if even using it out of season) just a hint of honey to help the sweetness. Drizzled around the plate, along with some cilantro oil and chili oil really helps play up a Southwestern theme.


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## p-chef 76 (Apr 1, 2012)

A coulis to me is simply a puree that has been forced through a fine sieve and set aside to be used as a base for what ever you may have a need for it. Being a Pastry Chef I mainly focus on fruit puree's.


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Yes, I agree as I make them often at work .

As was mentioned above , a great tasting red pepper or vegetable coulis is great on a plate if you want to make a change from  traditional sauces. Spring and summer is a  nice time to introduce the lighter sides of foods and  the texture of a well rounded coulis is nice on the palate. .

Petals


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## berndy (Sep 18, 2010)

Professional Old- timers from Europe might also remember a coulis created by German Army Cooks towards the end of WW!! ,when food supplies ran out and they could no longer get oil to make their needed mayonnaise they were creative and used ordinary tap-water seasoned with vinegar,salt,pepper and mustard,thickened with cornstarch and when cooled was used this paste to stretch or even replace mayonnaise. You had to feed your troops ./img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif


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## netefrog (Apr 11, 2012)

If you ask me a coulis is equal parts juice from a fruit (most likely a berry) and simple syrup, which is equal parts sugar and water reduced by nearly half. I've also seen savory coulis made from grilled or roasted bell peppers. But in my mind a coulis is sweet.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Funny some of the Mayo on the market today if you read the ingredients is almost same thing only they add some pateurized egg. This is the cheap way to make Mayo, right Mr. Kraft??


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## paul alfred (Nov 18, 2011)

What I find amusing is that I made my first coulis at work today (a blueberry coulis to top some brownies with), and then tonight I run across this thread...  I used a cheap (read: out of a box) red wine, a LOT of blueberries, and somewhere in the range of 3/4 of a cup of sugar.  I ended up with about 1 cup of coulis when I was done.  It turned out quite well, and my chef was impressed with it. I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to a lot of sauces, but I'm glad I learned about this one today.  I think I may use it again soon, as I seem to be spending a lot of time on the pastry line...


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Blueberry on top of brownie is not a good choice. Raspberry or strawberry is better.. Color wise and taste wise. Although your berries were good you would even make them better by possibly serving over or under something like a shortcake or even ice cream.


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## berndy (Sep 18, 2010)

And let us not forget to mention all the cheaters who use Melba sauce staight out of the jar instead of mailng rapberry coulis from scratch /img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif


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## paul alfred (Nov 18, 2011)

chefedb said:


> Blueberry on top of brownie is not a good choice. Raspberry or strawberry is better.. Color wise and taste wise. Although your berries were good you would even make them better by possibly serving over or under something like a shortcake or even ice cream.


Funnily enough, I made a strawberry coulis today to go with a few other desserts, including brownies, and I think it worked better than yesterday. Although I like blueberries and chocolate, you are correct about the look...it was very dark and hard to tell that there was sauce on them.


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## tcarmicheal (Sep 28, 2012)

Paul Alfred, I noticed you were a line cook in San Antonio, Texas. I live there too,

May i ask where you work at i'd like to come in and eat at the restaurant if i can...


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## paul alfred (Nov 18, 2011)

tcarmichael, sorry for not responding faster...I've been offline for a bit.  I'll PM you!


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## coup-de-feu (Aug 4, 2010)

That's actually a really good question.  Isn't a vegetable coullis also a soup?  If a fruit coulis has enough acid in it what keeps it from being a gastric?  If same said fruit coulis is just a bit thicker isn't it a chutney?  What is the real difference between a tomato coulis and a tomato sauce - just a bit of spice?  Is Tobasco a coulis technically, or just pepper infused vinegar?  If your sorbet melts is it now a fruit coulis?  Is the only difference between fruit coulis and jam just a bit of pectin?  

There is no one answer.  I say this because I several years ago I spent a few days looking up every name for stock, fummet, boullion, consummee, pot liquer, coulis and every other quasi-defined "fond de cuisine terminology"  that I know of in English and French tracing the terms back to their origins.  What I found is that there is no clear cut definition.   In protest I tossed my notes and decided not to waste any more thought power on debating food terms with people because it's irrelevant;  the words mean what people want them to.  Now I wish I did not toss the notes.  Oh well...

CDF


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## aliya zen (Nov 3, 2012)

A coulis is a sauce made by pureeing and straining fruit or vegetables, also adding icing sugar to sweeten it if the juices are too acid.


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