Sauces complement a dish, adding flavor and texture, turning dry, unpalatable food into juicy, appetizing fare.
Sauce basics
Sauces enhance cooked food in many different ways.
The sauce may enrich the flavor of the dish by using some of the cooking liquid and some added thickening.
The sauce may contrast the dish, in the way that a sharp, slightly acidic apple sauce cuts through the richness of pork meat, or redcurrant sauce may complement a game dish and a cold mint sauce enhances lamb.
A strong flavored sauce may boost the mild flavor of the main ingredient, like a cheese sauce does to cauliflower.