Charcuterie_ The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing - Michael Ruhlman [129]
Carolina-Style Barbecue Sauce
Cumberland Sauce
Orange-Ginger Sauce
Horseradish Cream Sauce
Basil Cream Sauce
Spicy Tomato Chutney
Corn Relish
Green Tomato Relish
Onion-Raisin Chutney
Bourbon Glaze
Marinated Olives
German Potato Salad
Sweet Pickle Chips
Condiments and sauces are essential for most charcuterie items—they finish a plate, complete it, adding the final seasoning, acidity or sweetness, moisture, richness, and visual and textural elements, no matter whether a chunky salsa, a refined reduction, or a flavored mayonnaise. Among the first information culinary students learn is the unspoken rule that no dish, from beginning of the meal to the end, is served without an accompanying sauce of some sort—one reason why the saucier is a position of high esteem in a classic French kitchen. Sauce is what makes a dish excellent rather than good. A sausage may be tasty, but it’s better with some mustard. A plain slice of veal terrine is fine, but spoon a pool of orange-ginger sauce beside it, and it’s complete. When you’ve taken the time to craft a terrine, the specialness of that preparation all but demands an equally cared-for sauce.
Brian and I have tried to give a variety of all-purpose sauces and condiments—from chutneys to mustards to mayonnaises and vinaigrettes—as well as sides such as potato salad and pickle chips, that happen to go especially well with the food in this book, from a fancy pâté en croûte to a rustic smoked pork shoulder.
When deciding on a type of sauce, ask yourself how you want to elevate the dish. Should the sauce be sharp like a mustard or a vinaigrette, or should it be rich and creamy like an aïoli? Should it be salty or sweet, thick or thin, with fresh herbs or without? We’ve made certain recommendations for which foods and sauces to pair, but most sauces are infinitely adaptable to variations, depending on the cook’s mood and the particular nuances of any given dish. And though we’ve made this the last chapter in the book, sauces should not be an afterthought, or put together only if there’s extra time when the real cooking’s done. Sauces are fundamental to excellence in the kitchen and at the table.
BASIC MAYONNAISE
Mayonnaise is one of the great all-purpose sauces. Americans tend to think of it in terms of a sandwich spread or something to turn cold starch items like boiled potatoes or macaroni into salads. But at heart it’s a sauce that can be varied for just about anything, with a few additions: for pork, for example, try adding cumin, cayenne, and lime juice; for fish, saffron and garlic; for chicken, lemon juice and tarragon; and for beef, just horseradish. If you need to make an elegant sauce in thirty seconds, mayonnaise is the way to go.
Anyone who likes to cook should be able to make a good mayonnaise. Hellmann’s is a decent everyday mayonnaise and fine when making a mayo-based sauce on the fly or for slathering on a BLT or fried egg sandwich. In Michigan, the jarred sauce of choice seems to be Miracle Whip, a sweeter-style mayo that we find harder to recommend. Making your own allows you to tailor it to your own tastes, and when you use a fresh neutral oil, such as a good vegetable oil or canola oil or grapeseed oil, and fresh seasoning, the result is far better both in flavor and in texture than grocery-store mayonnaise.
We recommend using yolks only from organic eggs, or of eggs from known local farmers, when making mayonnaise. We’ve never had a problem with bacterial contamination. It is still a possibility, however, so it’s prudent to avoid feeding infants or the infirm raw egg products.
Mayonnaise can be made using a whisk or with a mortar and pestle, if it’s the right size and shape—the traditional method for making aïoli. Mayo made in a mortar and pestle is as smooth and rich as face cream. Make your mayonnaise this way, and you too can develop forearms like Popeye. For quantities larger than a cup, a food processor or a standing mixer will work. Any way you choose to achieve a stable emulsion is fine.
The basic ratio for mayonnaise is one yolk per cup