Spicy sour-milk garlic sauce with spices and herbs. Tsakhton

It has already become a habit, and even a stereotype, that sauce is something that you need to pour plenty of food over, otherwise it is impossible to eat it. Rarely, when understanding the sauce is more than mayonnaise from the nearest supermarket or ketchup from a bag. However, one of my acquaintances claimed that ketchup, mayonnaise and in equal proportions were top notch for the sauce, until he tried cucumber sauce, garlic and sour milk.

In fact, a sauce or gravy is a fairly thick seasoning, an addition to dishes (usually main ones). The task of the sauce is to give the dish juiciness and richness, and, often, to increase nutritional value. In addition, indirectly, the sauce performs an additional function of improving appearance dishes. The sauce is often not only served with the main course, but can also be used to prepare the dish itself. For instance, . In the Pacific Islands, dishes of meat and vegetables stewed in coconut milk are very popular, and coconut milk then acts as a sauce, or from herbs.

The thickness of the sauce usually varies greatly depending on the dish, and the same sauce can be very thin or very thick. Liquid Foundation sauces: from ordinary water, to very complex or exotic compositions. The so-called "additional part" - chopped products (meat, fish, cheeses, vegetables, mushrooms, etc.), spices, and other additives. Quite often, sauces are additionally made thick by adding flour, starch.

Cucumber sauce is found in french cuisine. It is customary to distinguish several types of "basic" sauces. They either act on their own or are used as a basis for the preparation of more complex "derivative sauces".

Surely everyone has heard of bechamel, espanol, veloute sauces. These are the main sauces. By the way, normal tomato sauce and mayonnaise are also among the main sauces.

A separate category of sauces is dressings, or salad dressings. Perhaps the most famous salad dressing- vinaigrette sauce. It is a mixture of olive (Provencal) oil and wine vinegar. However, one usually uses the usual vegetable oil for salad dressing. Another famous salad dressing is sour cream, or thick dairy products. And no one bothers to add additional components to the dressing - lemon or Orange juice, greens, grated cheese.

Oriental cucumber tzatziki sauce (jajik, tzatziki, tzatziki - and many more pronunciations). It is believed that tzatziki is Greek sauce. I won't argue, maybe it is. But I have tried variants of this sauce in many countries of the East, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. And everywhere the locals are convinced that their people are the ancestor of this dish. Greek tzatziki is more of an appetizer than a sauce. Although about the consistency, it can be anything. In Bulgaria, sour-milk okroshka -, according to the recipe, is almost similar to tzatziki. They are different from the one we love. In the summer heat on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, I personally really like to eat a plate of ice tarator. A thicker version, almost already an appetizer with a composition similar to that of tzatziki, is very common in Turkey - cacik (Turkish cacik). In the same Bulgaria, "" is very popular - thick like pate, prepared from sour milk.

Today we will prepare cucumber sauce and garlic, based on homemade sour milk, using most of the ingredients inherent in tzatziki.

Cucumber sauce. Step by step recipe

Ingredients (2 servings)

  • Sour milk 0.5 cup
  • Garlic 1 clove
  • Cucumber 1 pc
  • fresh mint 1 branch
  • Dill 3-4 sprigs
  • Arugula to taste
  • Salt, black pepper, sweet paprika, dried herbs, olive oil Taste
  1. Sour milk is perhaps the most difficult part of the recipe, although cucumber sauce is an easy dish. When I was little, milk was sour almost always. It was hard enough to buy milk from the store to get it home in time, and it didn't curdle when boiled. I remember how my mother, before boiling store-bought milk, always heated a little milk in a spoon. And only after the control, put the milk to boil. Now the milk does not want to turn sour at all. Even outside the refrigerator. However, you can always choose a worthy manufacturer whose milk behaves like milk. Recently, normal yogurt, excellent sour milk, has appeared on sale. By the way, very useful product, unlike kefir of an incomprehensible composition and method of production.

    Ingredients for sour milk sauce

  2. Cucumber - fresh, green, young. Peel the cucumber, make sure there is no bitter taste. The cucumber should be finely chopped so that the cucumber sauce is with small pieces, barely noticeable. Do not grate, but cut into small cubes. Place the sliced ​​cucumber in a small bowl or bowl. Chop a few fresh mint leaves and add to the cucumber. Salt, pepper. I advise you to add a pinch of dry fragrant herbs(basil, oregano) and, optionally, a pinch of sweet ground paprika. I mix all the spices and grind in a mortar to make it homogeneous. Mix the garlic sauce ingredients with the cucumber and leave for 5 minutes.

    Peel the cucumber, make sure there is no bitter taste. Cucumber should be finely chopped

  3. Dill - only green leaves (the stems are coarse and it is better not to use them), chop with a knife. Grate garlic on a fine grater. Add everything to the cucumbers. Pour in a quarter teaspoon olive oil and mix. Next, add half the arugula leaves, picking them with your hands (do not cut with a knife). Stir and start adding sour milk. The amount of sour milk - to taste. Dilute the cucumber sauce with sour milk to the desired consistency.

    Stir and start adding sour milk. The amount of sour milk - to taste. Dilute with sour milk to desired consistency

It's no secret that with a well-chosen and well-prepared sauce, almost all dishes become tastier. However, not all modern housewives agree to spend a lot of time and effort on preparing gravy. They want to find a recipe to make delicious sauce from available products in a relatively short period of time. Such recipes exist. It is absolutely easy to prepare a completely versatile and not too high-calorie sauce made from milk, butter and flour. It belongs to classical cuisine and is considered the main sauce, that is, it can not only serve as gravy, but can also be used to prepare other sauces and dishes. This sauce is versatile: it can be used for baking or as a gravy for meat, fish, pasta, vegetables, and if you cook it thick, it will become an excellent filling for donuts.

Cooking features

As already mentioned, the process of preparing milk sauce is not very difficult and does not take much time, but the hostess cannot do without knowing some of the subtleties.

  • The amount of flour used in a recipe depends on how thick sauce you want to cook. To make a thick sauce for a glass of milk, you need to take a third of a glass of flour, that is, about 50–60 g. as a gravy, a liquid sauce is most often made, for which a tablespoon of flour with a slide (about 20 g) is taken for two glasses of milk. Quantity butter usually coincides with the amount of flour used, that is, for a thin sauce you need 20 g of oil, for a medium density sauce - 40 g, for a thick one - 60 g of oil.
  • In order to prevent the formation of lumps in the preparation of the sauce, the flour is initially calcined in a dry frying pan. This should not be done for long: as soon as a nutty aroma appears, the pan with flour is removed from the heat. The cooled flour is transferred to a saucepan and proceed to the next stage of preparing the sauce.
  • Milk is introduced into the sauce in small parts, each time whisking the contents of the saucepan with a whisk until a homogeneous mass without lumps is formed.
  • The next step is to add the butter cut into pieces. As soon as the oil has dissolved in the sauce, it can be considered ready. However, even after that, you can enter additional ingredients: herbs, seasonings, salt or sugar. In this case, you can cook the sauce a little longer.
  • Some recipes suggest thickening the sauce not with flour, but with eggs or starch. In this case, the technology will be slightly different. If used egg yolks, then the sauce is heated in a water bath or very low heat, while trying not to bring it to a boil. If starch is indicated in the recipe, then it is poured into hot sauce, previously dissolved in cool water.
  • Ingredients such as vinegar or lemon juice when preparing a milk sauce, it is better not to use it, as the milk may curdle.

milk sauce they are most often used hot, pouring them over dishes before serving. Most often used for meat classic version sauce, for fish - sauce with garlic, for pasta - with cheese, and for desserts - sweet milk sauce.

Classic milk sauce recipe

  • wheat flour - 20-120 g;
  • butter - 20–120 g;
  • milk - 0.5 l;
  • nutmeg (optional) - on the tip of a knife;
  • salt or sugar - to taste;
  • greens (optional) - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Sift the flour and pour into the pan. The amount of flour is determined based on how thick the sauce you want to cook. Most often they make a sauce of medium density, which requires about 40 g of flour.
  • Put the flour pan on the fire. Ignite the flour, stirring, until a nutty smell appears.
  • Remove the pan from the heat, pour the flour into a saucepan and wait a couple of minutes until it cools down.
  • Light a fire under the saucepan and start pouring milk into it in a thin stream, while whisking it with a whisk.
  • Cut the butter into thin slices and dip them into a saucepan with sauce. Stir to make it dissolve faster.
  • Add salt or sugar, depending on what dish you are preparing the sauce for. If you do not plan to serve it with dessert, you can additionally add pepper and finely chopped or chopped herbs with a blender. Pleasant aroma add nutmeg to the sauce.
  • When the sauce has thickened sufficiently and the added salt or sugar has dissolved in it, remove the saucepan from the heat.

After that, the sauce can be used immediately for its intended purpose or poured into a saucepan and put on the table so that guests can pour it over the dishes served to them on their own.

Milk sauce with ginger and garlic for fish

  • flour - 20 g;
  • butter - 20 g;
  • milk - 0.25 l;
  • parsley - 20 g;
  • ginger root - 10 g;
  • garlic - 1 clove;
  • salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Peel and grate the ginger root.
  • Pass the garlic through a press.
  • Finely chop the parsley with a knife.
  • Roast the flour for a nutty flavor. Remove from heat for a while.
  • Return the skillet with flour to the stove. Introduce milk in small portions. Remember to beat it with a whisk so that there are no lumps. If, nevertheless, it was not possible to avoid their formation, strain the sauce through a sieve and return to the stove.
  • Add the ginger, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to the sauce. At the same time put a piece of butter in it.
  • Continue heating the sauce until the oil has dissolved in it. All this time it needs to be stirred.

Milk sauce prepared according to the above recipe will be a good addition to fish dishes.

White sauce with onions and mushrooms

  • milk - 0.25 l;
  • flour - 40 g;
  • butter - 40 g;
  • onions - 100 g;
  • champignons - 100 g;
  • salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Peel and finely chop the onion.
  • Wash, dry the mushrooms with a napkin. Cut them into small cubes.
  • Melt the butter in a frying pan, put the onion and mushrooms in it and cook until the liquid released from the mushrooms has evaporated.
  • In a clean frying pan, heat the flour for a minute. Pour milk into it in a thin stream, constantly whisking it with a whisk.
  • Add mushrooms and onions to the sauce, stir.
  • Cook until the sauce thickens sufficiently.

This sauce goes especially well with meat and vegetables. It can be made only with mushrooms or only with onions. In this case, the amount of mushrooms or onions can be increased one and a half to two times relative to the amount indicated in the recipe.

Milk sauce with cheese

  • milk sauce prepared according to classic recipe, - 0.3 l;
  • hard cheese - 50 g;
  • butter - 20 g;
  • broth - 100 ml.

Cooking method:

  • Boil the broth, mix it with the sauce. Heat the resulting mixture over low heat.
  • Finely grate the cheese and send it to the sauce. Heat the sauce, stirring, until the cheese has melted.
  • Remove the sauce from the stove, add a piece of softened butter to it, beat with a blender.

This sauce goes well with potatoes, pasta, vegetable casseroles giving them a creamy cheese flavor.

Sweet milk sauce

  • milk - 0.5 l;
    • flour - 30 g;
    • butter - 30 g;
    • sugar - 60 g;
    • vanillin - on the tip of a knife;
    • cinnamon (optional) - a pinch.

    Cooking method:

    • Boil milk by adding sugar to it. Wait for it to dissolve. Cool to room temperature.
    • Fry the flour to a caramel shade and pour milk into it in a thin stream, whisking it constantly.
    • Add vanilla, cinnamon and thinly sliced ​​butter.
    • Continue heating the sauce, stirring, until it has an even, thick consistency. During this time, the butter should completely melt.

    This sauce can be poured over cheesecakes, pancakes or pancakes. If you want to use it as a filling, you need to take 4 times more flour and butter when cooking.

    Milk sauce is a versatile seasoning that can be served with side dishes, meat and fish dishes, and even desserts. It is prepared quickly and from available products. Even an inexperienced hostess can master the technology of making the sauce.

    Variety of usual foods the best recipes milk sauce. On our website - wonderful options with fresh, sour and soy milk. With herbs, garlic, spices and butter, croutons, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Classic Bechamel, Cheddar, Blue Cheese and Caesar. Dessert sauces with raisins, oranges and vanilla.

    A sauce is not an independent dish, but something that can shade and ennoble the taste of the main one, add a certain delicacy and even completely change it. The peak of popularity in the invention of sauces was in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Since seasonings were very expensive then, the authors of sauces were mostly rich nobility.

    The five most commonly used ingredients in milk sauce recipes are:

    Interesting recipe:
    1. Pour milk into a saucepan.
    2. Put an onion, cloves, bay leaf there.
    3. Warm up but do not boil the milk.
    4. Cut off the crust from the stale bread.
    5. Put it in the milk-spicy mixture.
    6. After it is completely absorbed, boil.
    7. Remove laurel and cloves.
    8. Boil again, stirring thoroughly.
    9. Cool a little and beat with a mixer.
    10. Add butter, nutmeg. Salt and add freshly ground black pepper.
    11. Serve warm.

    Five of the fastest milk sauce recipes:

    Helpful Hints:
    . If the milk sauce is not stirred while heating, it can stick to the bottom of the saucepan and even burn.
    . In addition to nutmeg, you can add curry, Provencal herbs, basil. Depending on the seasoning, a completely different flavor tone will be obtained.
    . The sauce is ideal for fish, meat, vegetables.