How do I recreate a restaurant's sauce if I know the ingredients but not the ratios?
I recently ate at a Mexican restaurant with a delicious sauce. They were willing to sell it to me if I put in a special order, but they insisted it was so easy to make that I should just make it myself instead. I know the ingredients are jalapenos, habaneros, onions, and garlic. There is no water or anything else, just those four ingredients. The end result is a yellowish green sauce with a smooth, almost paste consistency.
I think I can figure out cooking the ingredients and blending them together, but how do I even take a guess at the ratios? None of the flavors were overpowering (it didn't taste mostly like onions or jalapenos or garlic), so there's not an obvious base, but I doubt they're anywhere close to equal proportions either. I don't need the results to be an exact match, but I'd like it to at least resemble what I had in the restaurant.
What's the best approach to this?
Best Answer
First, ask if they cook any of the ingredients.
It's likely that they are all raw.
Next, I would probably start with a mix with an approximate base that has the same color as the original sauce ( e.g. 1:1:1 with one clove of garlic).
Save some of it on the side to use again, then add some of each ingredient to your base. 2:1:1:1 / 1:2:1:1 / 1:1:2:1 etc.
Then taste each one, and that should give you some idea of how to tweak it next.
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Answer 2
None of the flavors were overpowering (it didn't taste mostly like onions or jalapenos or garlic)
That statement provides the key you can work with:
- prepare a bowl of each ingredient.
- make a reasonable guess as to the proportions and mix a sample from a small amount of each.
- taste the sample:
- if one ingredient is very overpowering, discard the sample and start again with much less of that ingredient.
- if one ingredient is slightly overpowering, add more of the others.
- if one ingredient tastes missing (an amazing skill to acquire if one can), add more of it.
Keep repeating this until you can taste all ingredients and none of them are overpowering, and you should be close to your ideal.
Since some of the ingredients are quite strong, be sure to occasionally clear your palate with a drink and bland crackers.
Once you've perfected it, do it once more, but this time carefully measuring the ingredients, and there's your recipe.
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