Chef  John Vargo

Imaginative variations of these sauces can create infinite possibilities for the preparation of your seafood purchase!

I chose these ten because if you can understand the preparation method of each, you will gain the courage to experiment with their technique to create your own signature recipes.

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• Remoulade

Know as tartar sauce in English, this classic sauce is the perfect accompaniment to fried fish and shellfish.

Ingredients:

1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise

1 whole sweet gherkin or dill pickle (The French use cornichons- the tiny dill pickles they serve with country pate')  if you use cornichons, use two.                                                         1 Tablespoon cape

½ lemon – juiced

1 Teaspoon fresh chopped parsley or dill

1 Teaspoon Frank's hot sauce

Technique: In a food processor, put all ingredients together and puree until desired texture is achieved.

Remove to a clean glass canning jar and place the lid on securely. Refrigerate until service. Stores well.

• Cocktail sauce

This is another classic sauce that while incredibly simple to make, has innumerable uses for raw and cooked shellfish. It is also well regarded as a delicious dip for fried fish and hush puppies.

Ingredients:  

1 cup of Heinz ketchup

¼ cup prepared horseradish  Note: use more or less to taste.

½ lemon juiced

Technique: Mix all ingredients together with a whisk in a small glass or metal mixing bowl. Remove to a clean glass canning jar or serving bowl. Refrigerate until service. Stores for up to one week.

Note: The lemon juice will cause the sauce to firm up in the container. Just stir vigorously to smooth out.

• Hollandaise

One of the classic French five mother sauces. The father of classic French cooking August Escoffier identified 5 sauces that if mastered, would serve as the basis for making a large variety of secondary sauces. For example: For sauce Bearnaise, Escoffier calls for starting with the recipe for Hollandaise, to which the cook adds a vinegar reduction with chopped shallots, tarragon and black pepper.  For sauce Choron, chopped fresh tomato concasser ( skinless and de-seeded chopped tomato) is added to the Bearnaise. The versatility and richness of Hollandaise is what earned it a place in our list of 10 essential sauces. Serve Hollandaise or one of it's many children with delicate fish preparations such as sauteed, steamed, or poached fillets.

Ingredients:  

4 egg yolks

6 oz. Melted butter

1 lemon juiced

1 Tablespoon of water

Dash of Tabasco sauce

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Technique:  

Place egg yolks in a medium stainless steel mixing bowl.

Add water and mix with a whisk over a double boiler until yolks are cooked but still smooth. This requires constant whisking to avoid overcooking the eggs.

Once eggs are at the desired temperature, place the bowl on a kitchen towel to keep it in place.

Pour in the melted butter very slowly while whisking continuously to avoid breaking the sauce. This technique is called emulsification- bringing eggs and fat together to create a smooth, stable mixture.

Once all of the butter has been incorporated, add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Finish with a dash of Tabasco sauce.

Serve immediately or keep warm until fish is cooked. Thin with water a drop at a time if necessary.

• Beurre blanc

While not one of Escoffier's five mother sauces, Beurre blanc deserves its place here on the list for much of the same reason as Hollandaise. It's versatility as a mother type sauce, as well as it's rich, creamy flavor, make it a great go-to sauce for grilled, steamed, or poached seafood.

Ingredients:    

2 Tablespoons of minced shallot or onion

1/3 cup of white vinegar

½ cup heavy cream

1/3 pound of good quality butter – cut into ½ inch diced pieces

Salt and pepper to taste

Technique:  

In a small saute' or saucepan,  place the minced shallots and vinegar.

Place on the stove with medium-high heat.

Reduce the vinegar/ shallot mixture until the vinegar is nearly gone.

Immediately pour in the cream, and bring to a boil. After about one minute of a rolling boil, the cream will be slightly thicker from reduction.

While the cream is still boiling, whisk in the butter pieces a few at a time. Once half the butter is used, remove the sauce from the heat, and continue whisking in the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Note: once the sauce is made, you can customize it with chopped fresh herbs such as dill or tarragon, or chervil. Also, you can experiment with different kinds of vinegar such as red wine, sherry,  balsamic, or raspberry. The addition of capers to a balsamic version of this sauce is delicious on grilled Yellowfin tuna or wild Alaskan salmon.

• Vinaigrette

Chef Jean Jorges Vongerichten in his groundbreaking book Simple Cuisine- The Easy, New Approach To Four-Star Cooking, introduced a breath of fresh air and lightness to the French cuisine vocabulary.  His tool kit involved the use of fresh vegetable juices and kinds of vinegar to create dramatic plate presentations with “broken vinaigrettes”. The effect of intensely fused fresh flavors, as well as the broken lava lamp look of his vinaigrettes, were revolutionary at the time. By reducing the vinegar to a caramel-like consistency, and simply pouring in an infused oil, he was able to transform a simple grilled fish fillet into a visual and flavorful masterpiece.

Ingredients:

Good quality vinegar such as balsamic, raspberry, or sherry

Or juices such as carrot, arugula, beet, etc.

Oil such as Extra virgin olive oil, hazelnut, walnut, or grapeseed oil

Technique:  

Mix and match a variety of vinegar and oils, at a ratio of 1 part vinegar or juice to 2 parts oil. Even this formula is not set in stone, as some preparations may call for a higher proportion of juice or vinegar to oil. Your personal taste is the only guide. Use this type of sauce sparingly, to offer a “burst” of flavor and drama to your seafood presentations.

• Brown butter

Brown butter is a simple yet dramatic preparation.  To prepare, simply put the desired quantity of butter in a saucepan and heat gently over a medium-low flame until the butter turns dark brown (but not burnt!). The French refer to this preparation as Beurre Noisette- or hazelnut butter, as the resulting product has a nutty-sweet flavor.

Simply spoon a small amount of the brown butter over lightly sauteed fillets of fish.  Garnish with a lemon slice, and you have seafood nirvana!

Note: for a great variety of Hollandaise, brown the butter before whisking it into your cooked egg yolks. Result- nutty, rich golden hued Hollandaise sauce!

• Picatta

In this version of lemon-herb butter, capers are added for tanginess and texture. Typically, in a picatta presentation, the seafood is dredged in an egg- cream savory batter, sauteed in butter, and then topped with the sauce. The crispy egg batter soaks up the sauce and creates a flavor that has been a favorite staple of quality restaurants forever.

Ingredients:  

¼ pound of good quality butter

1 Tablespoon of minced shallot or onion

½ cup of dry white wine

½ lemon juiced

2 Tablespoons of capers

1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh Italian parsley

Technique:  

In a small saucepan put the butter, shallots, and wine.

Bring to a rapid boil, to cook out alcohol from wine.

Remove from heat and add capers, lemon juice, and chopped parsley.

Serve over fillets of mild-flavored fish that have been sauteed in an egg/cream batter (Think French toast batter). Garnish with lemon slice and sprig of parsley.

• Mignonette

This sauce is a celebration of the humble- sexy oyster. The classic version simply requires a good quality vinegar such as sherry or red wine, to which is added: minced shallots, tarragon, and a generous quantity of cracked black pepper. The sauce is served on the side of a plate of glistening freshly shucked oysters presented over crushed ice.

• Fruit or vegetable salsa

Just got your hands on some beautiful mangoes, watermelon or sweet corn? Fresh in-season fruits and vegetables can be combined with lime juice, cilantro, and green onions to give your summer grilled lobsters, scallops, or steak fish a fresh simple garnish.

Simply cut the ingredients into bite-size pieces, combine with freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, and chopped herbs. Set aside while you grill your seafood to allow flavors to mingle.

The variety of fresh vegetable or fruit salsas is infinite, and should only be limited by whatever is ripe, fresh, and in season.

• Lemon or lime juice

When you are treating yourself to a new variety of oyster or trying out some sushi-grade fluke, why cover up that great fresh flavor with anything but a simple squeeze of tangy, fresh lime or lemon juice?

Seafood purchased from a reputable fishmonger should only need a squeeze of juice to highlight its superior flavor.

Bon Appetit!

Chef John Vargo

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