How to get your French sauce right

French cusine is storming the cityand our panel of experts, Chef Satbir Bakshi from The Oberoi and the duo fromthe French bistro Chez Vous, Frederic Fernandez and Satyen Melwani teach you howto get your sauces and techniques just right. Fernandez says, “The basis of French cooking is the sauce. The base of most begins with a roux which is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally clarified butter. It forms the base of three mother sauces, béchamel,velouté and espagnole.”Frederic Fernandez and Satyen Melwani get your techniques in place-Most French food uses baking or a combination of pan searing and baking— cooking time is minimal with a focus on protecting the internal flavourof the main ingredient which maybe the meat or any vegetable. -Oneof the most flamboyant and glamourous cooking techniques used is Flambeing.Pastis — a traditional fennel flavoured liqueur is warmed and then pouredover a cooking dish close the the finish. The volatile mixture can then be litup using a match stick or the burner. Contrary to common belief that this isdone to burn off the alcohol, the actual reason is to caramelize the ingredientsby flaming them a little. The French love caramelisation — This brings onan addition of sweetness and is present in many of our dishes such as thecaramelised onion tart of the prawns flambeed in Pastis. -Poachingis a short cooking method to simmer food and bring out a tender texture.-Braising uses a flavoured liquid as a medium in which food iscooked slowly, to accentuate the flavour. -Broiling and grilling arenearly identical cooking methods where an oiled piece of food is cooked overdirect and moderately highheat.Thebest looking sauce is also the most difficult to make. Hollandaise is pleasantyellow in colour and has a mayo-like texture. It’s prepared using eggs,vinegar, shallots, black pepper corn and oodles of clarified butter. Theingredients are whisked constantly over a double-burner until its consistencystarts to change and it turns creamy.: It feels rich onthe tongue and leaves a mild sour aftertaste.: Eggs benedict,salmon.One of the earliest sauces to be made, commonly known as whitesauce. It's made using flour, butter, milk and cream. Milk is simmered for a fewmintues and added to the roux while continuously whisking to avoid lumpformation. :Béchamel is smooth on the tongue due to the presence of velvety cream. Ithas a milky aroma and a slightly raw aftertaste coming from the flour.: Cannelloni,mushroom, chicken.Another name for espagnole is brown sauce. The thick, viscous sauceis made with roasted meat bones, tomatoes, celery, bay leaf, pepper corn,carrot, boquet garni (tied bunch of herbs) and water. It is classically used asa base for sauces such as pepper and bordelaise.: The sauce has aluscious buttery glaze top and an earthy, roasted meat-like flavour with aslight tang introduced by the tomatoes.: Chicken, lambchops.Velouté is French for velvety. Made with equal portions ofbutter and flour, the sauce is white with a tinge of brown. Velouté canbe made using chicken, fish or mushroom stock depending on your taste andpreference. Ensure you whisk continously to avoid lumps.: Due to theabundance of butter, it has a rich thick texture.: Poached and steamchicken, fish.The base sauce for our favourite Penne Arrabiata is the tomatosauce. Predominantly consisting of juicy Roman tomatoes, Tomate has evolved intoprovencal, amatriciana and puttanesca sauces. The traditional recipe is a medleyof garlic, onions, celery, leek, peppercorn, bay leaf, carrots and tomatoes ofcourse! : The redsauce is chunky and tangy. If made well, it leaves a slightly piquant aftertasteof bay leaves. :Pizza base, penne, macaroni, bakeddishes. Chez Vouspresents a signature French-style baked Crab with coconut Crabe farcià la créole servis en habit, sauce rougail (pimencrasé)French Caribbean style stuffed crab Served with its Rougail crushedchilly sauce :Make sure you cook with lemon and coconut milk and add chives only in the endonly after the mix is cold or else the chives will wilt. Heat oil in a pan andtemper chillies. Add chopped onions and garlic and sautee for a few minutes.Then add carrots, rosemary, thyme and sautee for another few mintues. Add crabmeat and cook on medium heat. As it starts slightly sticking to the bottom ofthe pan, add coconut milk and lemon juice. Check for seasoning,add breadcrumbs and blend into the mixture. Let it cool and then add chives,parsley and mix again. Stuff the mixture into crab shells. Just before serving,add powdered coconut on top and cook in the oven for a minute and half or untillight browning occurs. Serve hot.300gmscrab meat60gms carrot10 gms chilly10 gms garlic peeled60gms onion5 gms thyme (chop rough)5 gms rosemary (chop rough)50gms chivesjuice of three limes30 ml coconut mil30 gms breadcrumbs15 ml milk3 crab shells