Cooking Lessons Classic Sauce Making 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What ratio of fat to flour is standard for making a roux?
- Equal parts by weight (Correct answer)
- Two parts flour to one part fat
- Three parts fat to one part flour
- Four parts flour to one part fat
Correct answer: Equal parts by weight
A classic roux uses equal weights of fat and flour.
Question 2: As a roux cooks darker from white to brown, what happens to its thickening power?
- It decreases because the starches break down (Correct answer)
- It increases dramatically
- It stays exactly the same
- It thickens only cold liquids
Correct answer: It decreases because the starches break down
Longer cooking degrades the starch, so darker roux thickens less but adds more flavor.
Question 3: A recipe calls for 'monter au beurre' as the last step of a pan sauce. What does this mean?
- Swirl in cold butter off the heat to add gloss and body (Correct answer)
- Brown the butter until nutty
- Strain the sauce through cheesecloth
- Whip the sauce until foamy
Correct answer: Swirl in cold butter off the heat to add gloss and body
Mounting with butter finishes a sauce with shine, richness, and slight thickening.
Question 4: Which mother sauce is unique because it is an emulsion rather than a starch-thickened or reduced sauce?
- Hollandaise (Correct answer)
- Espagnole
- Velouté
- Tomato
Correct answer: Hollandaise
Hollandaise relies on an egg-yolk-and-butter emulsion instead of starch or reduction.
Question 5: What is beurre manié and when is it used?
- A kneaded paste of raw butter and flour whisked in to thicken a sauce at the end of cooking (Correct answer)
- Browned butter used for finishing fish
- Butter clarified for emulsions
- Frozen butter grated over pastry
Correct answer: A kneaded paste of raw butter and flour whisked in to thicken a sauce at the end of cooking
Beurre manié is an uncooked butter-flour paste used for last-minute thickening.
Question 6: Why should tomato sauce simmered for hours be cooked in a non-reactive pot such as stainless steel?
- Tomato acidity can react with aluminum or cast iron, causing metallic flavors (Correct answer)
- Stainless steel conducts heat faster
- Reactive pots make the sauce too thick
- Non-reactive pots prevent evaporation
Correct answer: Tomato acidity can react with aluminum or cast iron, causing metallic flavors
Acidic tomatoes leach metal ions from reactive cookware, tainting flavor and color.
Question 7: In classic sauce work, what does 'nappe' consistency mean?
- The sauce coats the back of a spoon and holds a line drawn through it (Correct answer)
- The sauce pours like water
- The sauce is thick enough to hold a spoon upright
- The sauce has been whipped to peaks
Correct answer: The sauce coats the back of a spoon and holds a line drawn through it
Nappe describes a sauce just thick enough to evenly coat the back of a spoon.
Cooking Lessons Classic Sauce Making 4
What ratio of fat to flour is standard for making a roux?