Sweet and sour sauces are components of ready meals made from meat, fish or poultry. They can also be used as a marinade, in the process of stewing or baking the main course.
With the word sauce, there are a lot of associations associated with something incredibly tasty and spicy. Sweet and sour sauces can be an important addition to any dish, allowing you to make its taste rich and emphasize certain flavor notes. In essence, sweet and sour sauces are a seasoning that has a liquid consistency and a pronounced sourness in taste. They are formulated to improve the palatability of food, to whet appetite and even to stimulate digestion.
The main component of sweet and sour sauce is a liquid base, water or wine. Depending on the application, a distinction is made between thick sauces, liquid and semi-liquid. The sauce is thickened with flour or starch. Various vegetables, fruits and spices are used as additional components. Sweet and sour sauces can be hot or cold.
The specificity of their application depends on the thickness of the sauces. Liquid ones are used for the cooking process, for example, the simplest option is blanched tomato paste with sugar, with the addition of wine or water. Flour is not used in this case.
A thick sweet and sour sauce is served already with the finished dish. High quality flour is taken as a basis, which must be sautéed in oil and diluted in the correct proportion with water or wine. Depending on the dish to which the sauce will be served, various fruit, vegetable and berry additives are used. For example, pineapple and curry sauce is perfect for chicken, and cranberry or lingonberry sauce is great for meat. For desserts, sweeter ingredients are used, such as peaches or raspberries. White or red dry wine will add sourness to these sauces.
Sweet and sour sauces are also usually distinguished by colors, for example, white, red and yellow. Their color is given by vegetables and fruits, as well as certain seasonings - adjika, curry, red pepper, turmeric and others. You can experiment with flavor notes by adding lemon juice, orange zest, cognac or liqueur to the sauce.
The range of application of sweet and sour sauces is unusually large. With them, any ready-made dish can be made a work of culinary art.
