Dessert Sauces

The historical evolution of sauce development, especially dessert sauces, is difficult to track due to the lack of ancient manuscripts that remain for study. Sauce historians began analyzing the cooking styles of the ancient Greeks mostly through the writings and teachings of Archestrate. However, she wrote more about the procurement of ingredients rather than the techniques of cooking.

Much knowledge of sauce making in ancient Roman times was provided by the teachings of Apicius, a chef and gourmand who historians believed lived sometime between about the 1st century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. He wrote two cookbooks, one on sauces and a second that incorporated the sauce recipes, known as De re Coquinaria ("On Cooking"). Reviewing his translated ancient manuscripts reveals the usage of both sweet and savory ingredients, such as honey, spices and herbs, in sauce making. The sauces were found on savory as well as sweet dishes.

Today, dessert sauces are used primarily to enhance the sweet product. For example, pairing chocolate pot de crème (a creamy, rich custard) with crème anglaise (a rich custard sauce) or chantilly cream (lightly sweetened, and sometimes flavored, whipped cream) provides contrast and offsets the extra sweetness and bitterness in the chocolate. But, if paired with a fruit coulis (a thick purée) or compote, the slightly acidic note from the fruit will tone-down the pot de crème's sweetness.

My first childhood experience with making a dessert sauce occurred when I was merely two years old. Having escaped the clutches of my baby-sitting aunt, I crawled into the cupboard, got a box of gelatin dessert mix, procured some water and found a convenient spot on my parent's Oriental rug and quickly began mixing my concoction. What a sticky mess that was ... but more importantly, it marked my first culinary learning experience. While I did not realize it the time, this was my inner chef calling.

Years later, after culinary school, I learned that while savory sauces are grouped into mother-sauce categories, dessert sauces are not. They are merely classified and categorized into the following: egg-based sauces, chocolate-based sauces, caramelized-sugar sauces, and fruit-based sauces. Dessert sauces are a creative component and function as a topping, filling or decoration. In the retail and foodservice arena, manufacturers offer a plethora of dessert sauces in various flavor profiles packed in trendy, labor-saving squirt bottles, aseptic packaging, and consumer-friendly, convenient, plastic pouches.

Advances in manufacturing as well as packaging technology in recent years now make it possible to closely replicate classical culinary techniques of egg-based dessert sauces in the manufacturing plant without overly compromising taste, texture and mouthfeel.

The traditional ingredients in crème anglaise are cane sugar, egg yolks, milk and vanilla bean. Its flavor profile is derived from the egginess, creaminess and fatty mouthfeel these ingredients contribute. To keep the integrity of this classical sauce in a manufactured product, mouthfeel, viscosity and flavor cannot be compromised.

So, what can a processor do to manufacture a product with those noted, from-scratch attributes? First and foremost, adhere to the integrity and standards of the classical culinary technique while also balancing cost parameters. For example, to insure a creamy, fatty mouthfeel, a blend of gums and starches can be developed that addresses the appropriate time, temperature and processing technique required for the product. These not only stabilize the finished product, but careful selection can mimic some of the ingredients' mouthfeel.

Milk is the dominant ingredient that contributes the sauce's creamy and lactic qualities. Using real milk in processing can cause problems due to storage and/or handling and processing issues, such as potential scalding, but it is highly recommended when manufacturing crème anglaise. Alternatively, if a formula dictates that dry mix must replace the liquid milk, a tight specification is also necessary to develop the right creaminess.

Using raw, liquid egg yolks in a plant can sometimes prove problematic. However, replacement ingredients, such as dry egg yolk powders, are available. A mix of both wet and dry egg yolks is preferable in processing environments to maintain both the mouthfeel and viscosity requirements.

Today's chefs are taking crème anglaise to more-advanced culinary altitudes. For example, they might substitute the vanilla traditionally found in crème anglaise with herbs and spices, such as lemon thyme, lemon grass, lavender, spearmint and basil to create an offbeat, original take on this classic sauce.

The French make sabayon -- also known as zabaglione in Italian and zabaione in the United States -- a foamy, cooked, egg-based dessert sauce that traditionally uses wine as the main flavor component. Sweet sabayon is derived from eggs, wine and cream, whereas its savory counterpart is derived from a stock-and-herb-flavored sauce. This is one of the few sauces where the wine flavor profile is not lost but remains quite intense. Although both sweet and savory versions of sabayon exist, one of the most-common versions of sabayon is flavored with sweet Marsala wine. Another interesting variety uses Champagne in place of sweet Marsala. Sometimes these sauces are further flavored with fruit after the cooling process. Sabayons and zabagliones typically accent cake, fruit, ice cream or pastry.

When we think of chocolate sauces, chocolate syrup probably brings back childhood memories of opening cans of Hershey's syrup and pouring hesitating, lavalike layers of gooey chocolate syrup on top of ice cream. Over the years, cans transformed into consumer-friendly plastic squeeze bottles. These days, multiple manufactured chocolate sauces enhance the rich and unique dessert platforms that surround us.

In the test kitchen, making chocolate syrup requires sugar, cocoa and bittersweet chocolate. But when translating this into a manufactured product, corn syrup replaces most of the sugar, and the syrup might require the addition of emulsifiers, such as polysorbates or lecithin. Also, many manufacturer formulas will omit the bittersweet chocolate in favor of an all-cocoa sauce. When formulating, it is important to balance the cocoa and sweetness profile.

Traditional chocolate sauce is derived from heavy cream, butter, egg yolks and melted bittersweet chocolate. Parameters, such as time, temperature and viscosity, are as important as ingredient selection. Cost parameters are closely evaluated.

Observing retail and even foodservice inventories gives way to a whole new library of sweet and savory manufactured chocolate sauces. Take for example the Prager Winery & Port Works, St. Helena, CA. Prager produces a shelf-stable sauce that pairs savory and sweet ingredients. Its chocolate Port sauce is a marriage of their Port wines with a chocolate carrier. Pairing this sauce with other items, such as fresh fruit, egg-based sauces and caramelized-sugar sauces, can yield unique culinary delights. Consider the possibilities: vine-ripened strawberries with caramelized-chocolate pot de crème, lemon-basil crème anglaise, and chocolate-enrobed mille-feuille wafers finished with a wild-berry-cappuccino foam.

Caramelized-sugar sauces are simply browned refined sugar combined with fruit, cream or water. Caramel sauce is a popular complement to desserts. This brown, sweet, velvety sauce results from the Maillard reaction that occurs during heating when the sugar transforms into a thick, gooey mixture.

From a manufacturing perspective, when developing caramelized-sugar sauces some of the sugar is typically replaced with corn-syrup solids to prevent burnouts, which result in off-flavor profiles. Adding flavors and colors helps manufacturers achieve the overall desired characteristics and create a better-tasting sauce. Manufactured caramel sauces are common in foodservice and on retail shelves in today's world. They are available in different flavor profiles, viscosities and qualities.

Caramel sauces provide that extra touch of brown, earthy, caramelized burnt notes to a dessert. They give a dessert an extra richness, lift and panache. Caramel can pair with chocolate in many imaginative and ingenious ways. Adding savory ingredients, like rosemary, purple basil or lemon thyme, to a basic caramel sauce further extends a dessert-sauce application and heightens the senses and overall flavor profile.

Fruit-based sauces can complement a wide variety of desserts. A typical fruit sauce's natural acidic character makes it an excellent accent to numerous desserts. Typically, fruit sauces are made with either a purée or coulis. A purée is simply that -- a natural, unstrained purée of a fruit. A coulis is a strained purée. Sweetening a purée or coulis will depend upon the application. When sweetening these sauces, use sugar syrup in the mixture in order to fully incorporate the sweetener. The amount of sugar syrup used will depend on the ripeness of the fruit used -- the more ripe a fruit, the more sugar (fructose) it contains. Also, in many cases, adding a small amount of acidulant, such as lemon juice or citric acid, will help achieve a superior flavor profile.

The overall flavor profile of a dessert sauce will also depend on the application. A fruit tart or pastry will require a sweetened coulis or purée, whereas a scoop of ice cream tastes better with an unsweetened coulis or purée in order to balance the sweetness of the ice cream. Some chefs and processors will add a fat, such as cream or butter, to add an extra depth of culinary richness. Other accent options include adding flavored brandies, rums or whiskeys -- after the fruit sauce has cooled so as to not strip out the volatiles in the fruit.

The types of fruit coulis and purées are practically endless, ranging from strawberry, blueberry, kiwi, banana, boysenberry, raspberry, pear, cranberry, orange and beyond. Likewise, the applications and flavoring options of these sauces are boundless.

Sauces provide a wonderful complement to desserts and function as topical components, fillings or decorations. Dessert sauces are also a flexible component in dessert formulations because melt out, viscosities and textures can be controlled and/or adjusted in accordance to an end-user's requirements. These sauces, whether sweet or savory, add that extra appeal and value to the overall dessert experience.

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