35.2 Dessert sauces

The common dessert sauces and how to plate them are in see chapter 22: Dessert sauces and see chapter 28: Sauces on the dessert plate.

Crème anglaise goes further than a sauce. Vanilla is its classic flavor, but coffee, spices, chocolate or a liqueur work too. Add more yolks and heavy cream and it becomes the base for French ice cream. Add more yolks with gelatin, whipped cream and a flavor and it becomes Bavarian cream. Keep it at or below 85°C (185°F) as it cooks, the same ceiling as other custards. see chapter 7: Eggs

Sabayon is yolks, sugar and a flavor whisked over simmering water until thick, then whisked until cool. It is often made with a sweet white wine or a spirit. Spooned over fresh fruit and browned under the grill, it is called a gratin. Italy's version, zabaglione, uses Madeira wine.

Fruit butter holds no butter. The name describes its thickness: whole fruit cooked down and reduced, puréed if you want it smooth. A fruit sauce is a purée cooked with starch and usually served cold. Hard sauce is butter, sugar and flavoring, often liqueur, piped and chilled, then set on a warm steamed pudding just before it goes out.

Safe handling for egg sauces

Crème anglaise, curd and sabayon are all cooked egg mixtures, which means 74°C (165°F), held for 15 seconds or more, and the two-stage cooling rule for any made ahead. A crème anglaise served warm from a hot-holding unit must stay at 60°C (140°F) or hotter. Put it in only once it is already at 74°C (165°F); a holding unit is not built to reheat cold food.

Sauce on the plate

A few rules guide the sauce on a dessert plate.

• A pool of sauce need not cover the plate. A smaller pool keeps the sauce from swamping the dessert, and some modern plates use very little sauce at all.
• Whatever the amount, choose for balance.
• Keep the sauce less sweet than the dessert, so the other flavors come through.
• Taste comes before looks.