Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making

Discovered this by accident when Googling a lamb recipe, loads of useful classical theory and practice, no dud information in here (which can't be said of many cookbooks)

Good reference

The third edition of *Sauces* was released in 2008. This edition is by far the most helpful yet. It is exhaustive with regard to the sauces of french/continental cuisine as this is the tradition in which Peterson was trained, and in which he has developed the most expertise. However, despite that being his primary background, Peterson also includes discussion of many other types of sauces, from Mexican salsas and moles to Japanese dashi and teriyaki sauces; from Indian curries to Italian ragùs. There is an obvious emphasis on the continental tradition, and thus the majority of the book deals with such sauces and recipes. There is much less time and space dedicated to other international/ethnic culinary traditions, but the included info is valuable despite being limited. If, though, (for example) you primarily want to have an exhaustive list of recipes for Thai curries or Ethiopian wats, you might consider instead looking into cookbooks more specifically tailored to those cuisines. The text includes backgrounds of sauces, their relationships to one another, and, of course, recipes. The third edition brings back the valuable charts, diagramming sauce derivatives, relations, and additions, which had been omitted from the second edition. (Do not underestimate the value and utility of these charts!) This edition also includes dozens more recipes, but Peterson did not exclude any of the texts from previous editions that the current form could be as complete and useful as possible. Besides recipes, the book begins with a chapter briefly outlining the history of sauce-making from the Greco-Roman eras until today. This is followed by a chapter on equipment, describing both the necessary and the merely helpful, for sauce-making. The third chapter details ingredients used in sauces. Then the main body of the text discusses the sauces themselves, organized by various categories. The book also includes an index and glossary which I've found to be quite useful. This book is, at times, a bit on the technical side. Thus it is probably better suited for the intermediate or advanced cook. Professionals often keep a copy for reference, but beginning or novice home-cooks might find some of the content a bit too intimidating. This work rightfully deserves its reputation as the most authoritative and the definitive book on the subject of sauces and sauce-making.

This book is too good. It has everything in it that you'd want to know about sauces. I'd like to see modern Hydrocolloids in the book. But this is no detraction. It is thorough and has great history.

Basic sauces are always good for fundamentals.