How do you reduce a cream sauce?

Question

My wife made a cream based sauce last night and the recipe said to "reduce" it. The cream sauce was comprised of some white wine, couple cups of heavy cream and chicken broth (my wife substituted water for the broth)

I looked up how to reduce a sauce, and it basically said to heat it up til most of the liquid evaporates and the sauce gets thicker. Makes sense, but the website I was on said that the liquid should simmer on low heat while reducing. I was doing this but it was taking forever and was still very thin (~30 minutes). I cranked up the heat to high and that sped things up, but I'm wondering what the proper way to do it is.

Should she not have added water? Was there something else we missed? Or does it really take that long to reduce a cream sauce?

Answer

The simple answer is: You reduce a cream sauce the same way you reduce any other sauce, by simmering it until a certain amount of liquid is gone, just like the instructions said. You have to be careful about temperature though, because milk (or cream) can burn at high temperatures, and then your sauce is ruined. You should keep it to a low or at most medium simmer.

Cream sauces normally tend to thicken extremely fast, so the long cooking time is almost certainly due to watering it down. I don't think the water was necessary at all; the chicken broth was probably for flavouring, and although "broth" is a somewhat nebulous term, one would normally expect a broth to contain at least some amount of gelatin, which will cause the sauce to thicken substantially when it cools if you reduce it a lot. Water doesn't, so you've added no flavour and thinned out the sauce.

Basically, you (or your wife) added water for no other purpose than to try to evaporate it later. Water generally doesn't go in a cream sauce. If you don't have chicken broth or can't use it, I would either substitute more wine or just leave it out completely. Usually the only time you substitute water for broth is if it's actually the base of your sauce.

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Is there a method for desalinating bacon?

Question

Bacon contains a rather large amount of salt which can pose problems for people who are trying to find ways to reduce salt in their diet.

Is there some method that can be used to reduce the amount of salt in bacon?

Answer

If you're buying bacon at the store, and trying to reduce the actual sodium in the product you've just purchased - you're out of luck. Like most things, you can't un-salt it. You can reduce the flavor, but in your case, the sodium is still there.

Alternative options include:

• Buy reduced sodium bacon
• Make reduced sodium bacon
• Use less bacon, in order to reduce the total sodium intake.

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How can I make very small quantities of balsamic reduction?

Question

Last night, a dish called for a drizzle of balsamic reduction. I thought that, in order to get a good reduction and not burn anything, I'd need way more balsamic than the recipe called for.

Is there a way to make very small yields of balsamic reduction?

Answer

I've sometimes made small reductions in the microwave. Just put the liquid in a much deeper container than it fits in so it doesn't make a mess, and run it on 50% power, check every 30 seconds or so until it is reduced to the degree you need.

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My tomato sauce is very watery

Question

It has flavor, but its consistency is too thin. Will letting sit over medium low heat evaporate enough to increase its density or is this useless? Would bringing it to a boil help more. I don't want to ruin its flavor and am afraid bringing it to a boil with high heat will do just that.

Answer

Yes, cooking it more to evaporate off some of the liquid will definitely help. This is called reducing a sauce. A moderate simmer would be the appropriate temperature. You want to see occasional bubbles but definitely not a rolling boil. Stir it occasionally, making sure to get the bottom of the pot to avoid any scorching. It is possible to have it be quite liquid on top and rather dense in pockets on the bottom, which can then get well above 212 F and reaching the point of burning.

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