Skip to main content

Cold sauces and dressings

There are a myriad of no-stove-required sauces and dressings that are very popular with cooks.

There are a myriad of uncooked sauces and dressings that are very popular with cooks. These include sauces for meat such as horseradish or Cumberland sauce, vinaigrette or mayonnaise, and their variations, the yogurt, milk or cream sauces and other oil and vegetable based sauces such as pesto, salsa cruda or hummus.

Ideas for Cold Sauces and Dressings

This is a great experimental area for cooks as most prefer their own variations over following a precise recipe, so learn the basics and then fly solo.

Begin with the basic oil and condiments, vinaigrette, French dressing and yogurt based sauces, graduate then to mayonnaise and the cold sauces derived from it - there are many commercial versions of mayonnaise but they are not comparable to a properly home made sauce. Any beginner can make salsa cruda, hummus requires a food processor or blender.

Tip

Store salad dressings containing egg or cream in the fridge. Don't keep mayonnaise it in the coldest part as it may separate, mayonnaise is not suitable for freezing either.

Yogurt Based Sauces for Savory Dishes

  • Make a sauce with yogurt, or sour cream, and chives, seasoned with salt and pepper. This sauce goes well with for boiled or jacket potatoes.
  • Mix crushed garlic, finely chopped parsley and basil, grated raw onion or finely chopped scallions with yogurt. Use this sauce for grilled or roasted vegetables such as grilled eggplant.
  • Try tzatziki.

Sauces for Fruit

  • Mix sugar, lemon juice and freshly grated ginger - substitute with ground ginger, if you don't have it - with a little water. Use it with sliced sweet apples or pears and with more exotic fruits such as passion fruit.