make ahead sauces

[chef debi]

Welcome James Peterson:
I have ordered your book Sauce - and looking forward to receiving it this week. Just a quick questions.
I am the only Chef at a local fine dining Restaurant - the owner request sauces or gravy with almost every entree and also request the sauces to made ahead of time - due to time constrants of getting food out in a timely fashion. Is there any recommendation as the best way to make sauces ahead of time so they are still good.

 

[james peterson]

Hi,
Most sauces can be made safely ahead as long as they're kept at the right temperature. (I have friends who swear by a thermos for hollandaise and beurre blanc.) The only tricky ones are the brown sauces when they've been mounted with a lot of butter. My only solution is to prepare the sauce base with all the ingredients except the butter and then whisk the butter into some of the base every half hour or so if that's practical. It's also possible to replace butter in brown sauces with heavy cream which can be, of course, reduced and is a lot more stable. On the plate it's hard to tell that the sauce wasn't mounted with butter. Another solution is to just make a sauce with no butter or cream at all-just a simple infusion. Good luck.