3 Homemade Sauces to Refresh Your Cooking Routine

Tamarind Sauce

A tart but sweet Asian inspired sauce with a bit of funk that’s great in lettuce wraps, with rice noodles, fish, and of course, chicken or beef skewers.

Zhoug

A bright green, spicy herb, vinegar sauce from Yemen that’s glorious with eggs, a dipping bread, falafel, sandwiches, and wraps. You may have seen people talk about how much they love the version popularized by Trader Joe’s.

Toum

A garlic mayo-ish sauce that’s perfect for adding into soups, pasta, chicken… basically, anything if you’re a garlic lover!

Notes

Mise en place.

When making sauces, the best way to set yourself up for success is to have all of your ingredients and tools ready. For sauces like Toum, which might use a new method for you, it may take a read or two through the directions before getting started. Having everything pre-measured or ‘mise-en-place’ ensures nothing gets left out.

Duralex makes a set of nesting bowls that not only includes large mixing bowls perfect for stirring together sauces, but also baby bowls that everyone loves for measuring small amounts of spices. As a side note, we love Duralex products in general (bistro glasses!) And this set of nesting bowls is an essential addition to a kitchen that actually gets used.

Invest in squeeze bottles.

Any sauce that requires emulsification has directions for a very slow, steady addition of oil in a whisked or food processed stream. To ensure you’re not rushing your sauce and cause it to break, use a squeeze bottle like the chef’s set from OXO to add oil slowly and in a controlled way.

We typically have two or four squeeze bottles running around our kitchen at any given time for everything from simple syrup for coffee and cocktails to sauces more in the style of what’s used when you go to fast-casual places and they add dressing drizzles on your salads or wraps. OXO’s have interchangeable heads so you can use a tip that’s better for oil, or better for sauces on either size container.

Consider purchasing an herb saver.

For sauces like Zhoug, which uses two types of leafy herbs, consider an herb saver. When it’s not garden weather here in Virginia and I can’t go pick only what I need, I typically end up having herbs go bad in my fridge.

An herb saver like this one from OXO ensures proper airflow and hydration at the same time (the basket keeps herbs away from the sides and bottom of the container with easy handles for pick up). If you’re like me, an herb saver is a smart waste-conscious purchase.

Make in batches.

If you’re into batch making meals for the week, add one or two of these sauces into your routine! You’ll love this small tweak that makes standby cooking methods you’re using feel new!