5 Sauces That Make Everything Taste Better
A good sauce is magical. It can turn something bland into something spectacular and a simple dish into something gastronomic. Some sauces mainly do that for one specific dish. But there are sauces — such as Sriracha — that make ‘everything’ taste better.
These 5 sauces make everything taste better
1. Japanese gomadare
This sesame dipping sauce is actually intended for shabu-shabu (Japanese fondue). You pour the sauce, which usually consists of sesame paste, oil, dashi, sake, mirin and vinegar, generously over the cooked meat. But gomadare is really not just good with shabu-shabu or Japanese food: it also perks up Chinese hotpot. As well as salads, tofu dishes, roasted vegetables, dim sum, fried chicken, noodles, toasted sandwiches, sandwiches with meat and falafel or shawarma.
2. Belgian tartar sauce
This cold sauce made with mayonnaise, hard-boiled eggs, parsley, tarragon, chopped shallots, finely chopped pickles, capers and chives is mainly known to us as a topping for Flemish fries. The fresh sauce with bite is also great with fried or deep-fried fish and seafood, as well as potatoes in every form.
3. French aïoli
Its nickname is beurre de Provence (butter of Provence), but this garlic sauce is popular throughout the Mediterranean. It consists of crushed garlic, to which egg yolks and salt are added, followed by olive oil drizzled in slowly. Aïoli is eaten at room temperature with cooked vegetables, such as artichokes, and potatoes in the dish of the same name. It is at least as delicious with fries, seafood, on top of thick fish soup, roasted vegetables and potatoes — such as Spanish patatas bravas.
4. Bavarian sweet mustard (Bayerischer süsser Senf)
The spicy, sweet mustard from Munich that is traditionally eaten with Weisswurst is made with the same mustard seeds used in the local Weisswurst and liver cheese. Its inventor was Munich native Johann Conrad Develey, who in 1854 was the first to add vinegar, sugar and spices to mustard and gently reduce this mixture with salt and onion. Indeed, it is delicious with the specialties of this southern German city, but also with Dutch stamppot, on a smoked sausage or cheese sandwich, at a barbecue, on a hot dog or hamburger.
5. Chinese oyster sauce
There is a good story behind every Chinese dish or sauce. This one goes as follows: Lee Kum Kee, the founder of the famous Hong Kong sauce factory, accidentally left his oyster soup on the stove more than 100 years ago. The soup reduced to a thick, dark sauce that tasted surprisingly delicious. Slightly saltier than hoisin sauce, oyster sauce has since become one of Lee’s biggest-selling products worldwide. It goes well on all things Chinese, such as steamed vegetables à la pak soi and Peking duck, but it is also suitable for marinating ribs or a piece of meat. Just to name a few.
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