Any liquid can be reduced just by heating it - but why would
you do it? The answer comes back to two of our old friends,
flavor and consistency (texture). By reducing any flavored
liquid you intensify its flavor and at the same time thicken it.
You can continue this process until what you have left is a
syrup if it contains sugar, or a sauce if it does not. This is
one of the most important tools in the kitchen, believe it or
not, because a great sauce can rescue an indifferent meal. And
literally ANY liquid can be reduced. A few uses Wine is
frequently used in cooking, both as a marinade and as an
addition to sauces for meat. There are some problems with it
though, one of which is that you need a really good wine and
quite a lot of it to produce a reasonable sauce for, say, six
people. On the other hand, if you use pure grape juice and
reduce it to a syrup, that syrup, added to any sauce (or gravy
if you prefer) will lift it into the realms of 'gourmet'. What's
more, you don't have to make your reduction on the night you
prepare your meal. You can reduce a liter of grape juice at any
time to the consistency and flavor you want; then just store it
in the fridge. You can do the same thing with any fruit juice -
prune is sensational - and store it until needed. Just about all
of them will do things for ice cream, pies or tarts that will
have your guests demanding the recipe! Pork with apple sauce?
Use a carton of fresh apple juice from the supermarket and
reduce it. And if you want a real sensation add in a glass of
apple brandy during the reduction process. Are you getting an
idea of how simple this is? Take any carton of fresh stock
straight of the shelf and reduce it. You will transform it into
something even the manufacturer won't recognize. But beware! You
need to start out with good quality in the first place, because
when you reduce a liquid you intensify ALL the flavors, and not
just the good ones. If it's salty to start with, for example, it
will be salty beyond belief by the time you've reduced it even
by half. So if you are going to use a supermarket stock, make
sure it's an extremely good one. And believe me when I tell you
that stock cubes should not be used for reduction sauces.
Thickeners Because you will be tasting as you go (won't
you?), you may find that you get the flavor you want before the
desired consistency is reached. So here's a couple of hints
right now for your sauces. Sweet ones can be thickened
successfully without loss of color by adding in liquid glucose
early on in the reduction process. Surprisingly, this will add
little in the way of sweetness and produces a beautiful velvety
sauce when whisked. For meat sauces, one of the most effective
ways to thicken is to mix corn starch with water and whisk this
into your sauce a little at a time until the required thickness
is reached. You do this at the end of the reduction time. If you
get it wrong and add too much, no problem. Stir in a little
extra water to thin it. Reduction pans Reductions need to
happen rapidly in order to preserve flavors. And the greater the
surface area of the liquid the faster the water will evaporate.
For fast reductions, therefore, I often use a skillet, or frying
pan, only transferring the sauce to a deeper pan when I want to
whisk it. (whisking 'finishes' off a sauce, making it shine)
However you may want to whisk something into the sauce while its
cooking - such as butter or olive oil for example - and for that
I find a small wok is best; one with a handle. A wok is less
likely to reduce so fast that the sauce is burnt while your back
is turned. But try both methods and see which you prefer. You
may even end up using something totally different. There's no
magic to this. Whatever works for you, that's what you should
use, in this and everything else to do with cooking. Just bear
in mind that what you're after is speed and ease of use. As well
as a great tasting result, of course. :>) Keeping For the
most part, reduced liquids can be frozen in cubes and used as
needed. However if the sugar content is high this may not work
too well and they would be better stored, covered, in the
fridge. If they should dry out, simply add a little water and
heat through. Sauces containing meat juices of any kind must be
frozen if you?re going to keep them, and should be brought to
boiling point before being used again. There is no need to thaw
them out to do this, in fact it?s better not to. Simply drop the
frozen cubes into a saucepan, melt them over a gentle heat, and
then bring swiftly to the boil. Why do you do this? To avoid
food poisoning, that?s why. You are making sure that any bugs
introduced into the sauce during the preparation process are
killed off. Don?t worry, this will not be because of anything
you have done wrong (I hope!), but because bacteria are part of
our everyday lives and they exist in every kitchen, however
clean. In fact your food, and especially your meat, is crawling
with wildlife that you will never see. Don?t worry about them.
Careful handling and simple precautions will ensure that these
miniature monsters can never multiply enough to harm either you
or your guests. For more information on the subject, see my
booklet ?Hygiene In The Kitchen?, which is available free
through the Cool Cook?s Club.
About the author:
Michael Sheridan is an acknowledged authority and published
writer on cooking matters. His website at http://thecoolcook.com
contains a wealth of information, hints, tips and recipes for
busy home cooks.
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