Sauces can make the simple sublime. Whether they’re sweet or savoury, basic or complex, based on butter, oil or purée, they dress our meat and vegetables to create a memorable dish. Here are my favourite sauce recipes.
Alabama White Sauce While Alabama white sauce is a classic barbecue sauce, it’s also delicious as a dipping sauce for fried food like chicken or fish. It makes a delicious salad dressing too (try it with coleslaw)! It originated at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, one of America’s oldest pit BBQ establishments, opened in 1925. Bob […]
Coriander & Mint Sauce This slightly spicy coriander & mint sauce is a riff on hari chutney, the traditional accompaniment to that colourful crunchy Indian street-side snack, chaat. My recipe is inspired by a sauce Ajoy Joshi serves at Nilgiri’s Indian Restaurant in Cremorne. I was tempted to call it a chutney, until I remembered […]
Prawns with Strange-flavoured Dressing The odd name of this classic Sichuan sauce (also used in bang bang chicken) comes about because the combination of flavours is a strange one that shouldn’t work, yet does. Strange or not, the prawns with strange-flavoured dressing are in a salty, sweet, nutty, tangy, spicy, numbing sauce that definitely tastes […]
Prawns with Bottarga Butter Prawns with bottarga butter is perfect for a quick and tasty dinner – even more so if you keep a roll of bottarga butter in the freezer! Use this recipe as inspiration for all sorts of flavoured butter to melt over seafood, meat, poultry or vegetables – or toss through freshly […]
North Carolina-style BBQ Sauce In the American South, barbecue sauce is as controversial a subject as the barbecue itself, perhaps even more so with regional variations being fiercely defended as the best, the original and the only sauce worth having. My North Carolina-style BBQ sauce is inspired by the mustard-based sauces of North Carolina. This […]
Albóndigas de Atún (Tuna ‘Meatballs’) Albóndigas, meatballs, are a classic part of the Spanish tapas repertoire and are also popular in Mexico where they’re served in soup. As a tapa they’re usually coated in a thick tomato sauce, I love to add a pinch of smoked paprika (sweet or spicy, depending on who I’m cooking […]
Tuna Tataki Tataki literally means ‘pounded’ but in Japanese cooking it usually refers to meat or fish that’s been lightly seared then thinly sliced, so that it’s just cooked on the outside and still raw on the inside, like this tuna tataki. Some sources claim ‘tataki’ refers to the traditional accompaniment of pounded ginger, others […]
Churri Churri is the traditional accompaniment to Indian biryani and roasted meats, the fresh herbs and tangy yoghurt and buttermilk brighten up the slow-cooked meat and rich onion. Use a natural pot set yoghurt if possible, like the buffalo yoghurt from Vannella Cheese, and a natural buttermilk like Pepe Saya’s. Churri keeps well in the […]
Teriyaki Salmon Skewers I love grilled salmon, especially when it’s basted with the salty-sweet-umami-rich sauce used on these teriyaki salmon skewers. The sauce can be made and skewers threaded ahead of time, so this is a great quick and easy dish for entertaining too. Serve it as a starter, or add steamed rice and a […]
Fish Katsu Sando Use any firm, thick, white-fleshed fish for these delicious sandwiches which are traditionally made with pork schnitzel (tonkatsu). Crumbed prawns or chicken work wonderfully too – it’s really all about that spicy tonkatsu sauce. I like mine quite spicy, and serve extra Japanese mustard on the side, but you can tone it […]
