sauce

A liquid thickened by a roux, starch, beurre manié, egg yolks or blood, made by adding cream and/or butter or oil to a reduced cooking liquor or other liquid, or consisting of puréed vegetables or fruit. Sauce should have a smooth glossy appearance in most cases and a definite taste and light texture. It is used to flavour, coat or accompany a dish or to bind ingredients together. Savoury sauces are usually based on stock, milk, wine or juices extracted from vegetables; sweet sauces on milk, fruit juice or puréed fruits. Emulsion sauces are emulsions of fat or oil with vinegar or acid, and a few sauces are made by compounding butter with flavourings, by combining herbs and spices with vinegar and/or oil or from a variety of puréed beans, fermented products, nuts and the like.