LITTLE ROCK — Time to concentrate, not on recipes with lots of ingredients, but on reductions.
A reduction may be the simplest solution to saucing. The technique involves decreasing (reducing) the amount of a cooking liquid by heating it until some water evaporates, which thickens the liquid and concentrates its flavor.
Cook or roast most meats or poultry and you’ll have pan juices for turninginto a sauce. Credit cooks in the Middle Ages with figuring out that “by boiling off unwanted water” they could thicken meat broths and concentrate flavors, writes Harold Mc-Gee in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Much later, nouvelle cuisine champions Paul Bocuse, Michel Guerard and the Troisgros brothers favored reductions to “give depth to lastminute pan sauces.”
How you use reductions is limited only byyour creativity. James Peterson’s Essentials of Cooking is proof, with recipes for beurre blanc (reduce white wine, white wine vinegar, shallots; whisk in butter) and sauces for stove-top steaks using reductions. His steps for sauteed chicken breasts are a model for other meats - beef, pork, lamb or turkey (as steaks, chops or cutlets). Saute meat until browned and cooked to desired doneness; set aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon fat from pan, sautean aromatic element (onion, garlic, shallots), then deglaze (with red wine, cognac or water), loosening pan bits, reducing liquid. Add broth and reduce to a sauce consistency, before finishing with herbs, vegetables and a bit of butter or cream.
A fruit reduction is even simpler: Add 1/2 cup water to fresh berries or chopped stone fruits. Cook to soften slightly. Stir in a tablespoon or so of sugar, then cook to reduce, thickening liquids slightly.
Food, Pages 38 on 05/23/2012