Condiments, Sauces, Butters, Relishes, & Jelly Recipes


Beef Sauces

Al's Secret Sauce
Awesome BBQ and all-purpose sauce for Pig Pickin dip, pork chops, ribs, and chicken on the grill. Some folks even put it on burgers and steaks.

Blackberry-Wine Sauce
Another wonderful sauce that is good on pork, poultry, and beef.

Blue Cheese Dressing
This blue cheese dressing is so good! My husband loves it!

Cabernet-Cherry Sauce
Another great steak sauce.

Garlic Blue Cheese Sauce
I love blue cheese! This sauce is excellent on both steaks and prime rib.

Horseradish Sauces
These four horseradish sauce recipes are fantastic served with your prime rib roast

Peppercorn Sauce
You'll love the "zip" that the green peppercorns add to this sauce.

Pinot Noir Butter Sauce
This sauce is wonderful on a perfectly cooked steak.

Red Meat Marinade
 

Beverage Syrups

Basic Simple Syrup Recipe
Also know as Sugar Syrup, Bar Syrup, and Rock Candy Syrup, is nothing more than water and sugar. It is the secret ingredient to the best cold homemade beverages, cocktails, and other drink recipes. With this recipe you can make as small or as large a batch as you wish and store it in the refrigerator in a well sealed bottle.
 

Butters

Beurre Monte Butter
Using just a little bit of water helps the emulsion process in preparing Beurre Monte. Whether you emulsify 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) or 1 pound of butter, just a tablespoon of water will do. Any amount of Beurre Monte can be made using this method.

Butter Ghee and Clarified Butter
Regular butter is made up of butterfat, milk solids, and water. Clarified butter and ghee are translucent golden butterfat left over after the milk solids and water are removed. In short, clarified butter is just butter that contains only pure butterfat. It has a higher smoke point than regular butter, thus allowing you to be able to cook at higher temperatures, and won't spoil as quickly.

Flavored Butters (Compound Butters, Finishing Butter, or Beurre Composé)
A compound butter is butter that has been flavored by blending softened butter together with various ingredients. These can be savory or sweet. These tasty butter spreads are ideal for tea bread, muffins, scones, and pancakes.

Truffle Butter
Truffle butter is an excellent and easy way to prepare wild truffles. Nothing is better than a perfectly cooked steak with some truffle butter on top before serving. The ways to use and eat this wonderful truffle butter are endless. Let your imagination be your guide!
 

Condiments

Basil Hollandaise Sauce
This Basil Hollandaise Sauce is great served over fresh vegetables, especially fresh home-grown tomatoes.

Basil Pesto
This delicious pesto will taste great with your pasta, on bread, pizza, toast, baked potatoes, etc.

Cocktail Sauce
Try this sauce with your next shrimp cocktail!

Crème fraîche
Commercial creme fraiche is quite expensive, so the homemade version is a life saver.

Creole Tartar Sauce
From the recipe files of Robert Hammond, chef and owner of The Kitchen at Honeyman Creek Farm in Warren, Oregon.

Faux Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Aged Balsamic Vinegar, or as it is known in Italy, tradizionale, accumulates its flavor in a variety of wooden casks for as long as one hundred years. The result is a very concentrated dark brown, thick sweet vinegar, and it is a great luxury. If you don't have it in your pantry - chefs have learned to do as the Italians so - reduce your balsamic vinegar with a little brown sugar. It's a good second. Great on beef, poultry, pork, and seafood!

Hollandaise Sauce
What would the famous Egg Benedict be without a great Hollandaise Sauce? Also great served on cooked asparagus.

Horseradish Sauces
Three easy-to-make horseradish sauces. Fantastic served with your prime rib roast

Homemade Mayonnaise
According to Julia Child, mayonnaise is something every cook must confidently and rapidly whip up on command with nary a qualm, because it is one of the elemental cookery procedures.

Oven-Roasted Fresh Tomato Sauce
This is the perfect idea for those last of the season tomatoes. This is not really a recipe, but more of a technique that I use for making this wonderful Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce. This is a very simple technique that is subject to endless variation to your taste.

Oven-Roasted Canned Tomato Sauce
Longing for summer tomatoes? When good vine- ripened fresh tomatoes are out of season, use top-quality canned tomatoes and roast them in your oven. Amazing things happen to canned tomatoes when you roast them in the oven.

Simple Basic Tomato Sauce (low fat, low calorie)
This basic tomato sauce can be used for spaghetti, ravioli, chicken Parmesan, or anything else that you want! It is very quick and very easy to make and tastes delicious! Anything from seasoning to spices can be added to flavor the sauce.

Slow-Roasted or Baked Tomatoes
This awesome recipe comes from my friend, Karen Calanchini of Redding, California. Karen says, "These are great served on crusty bread with a little olive oil or as a side dish. This preparation is a welcome relief from canning all those tomatoes or using sun-dried."  NOTE: You can eat these "as-is" from the oven; they are absolutely fantastic.

Tarragon Mayonnaise
Excellent served with poached fish and crab cakes.

Tartar Sauce
You'll never buy tartar sauce from the store again after you taste this delicious, easy-to-make recipe!
 

Thousand Island Dressing
I serve this wonderful Thousand Island Dressing with salads, spread on sandwiches (especially Reuben Sandwiches), and seafood. It is so easy to make and so good!

 

Dessert Condiments and Sauces

Bourbon Butter Sauce
This sauce is sinful - so rich and wonderful! Absolutely great on cakes and ice cream.

Burnt Caramel Cream
Excellent served on pound cakes and over fresh fruit.

Caramel Sauce
You never need to buy prepared caramel sauce again! Making your own homemade caramel sauce is a lot easier than you might think, and it takes practically no time at all.

Caramelizing Sugar
Photo tutorial on how to caramelize sugar. Caramelizing sugar is a term most often applied to melting sugar until it becomes a caramel color liquid.

Chocolate Sauce - A wonderful low fat, low calorie, and low carbohydrate chocolate sauce to serve over fruit, cake, etc.

Crème fraîche
Commercial creme fraiche is quite expensive, so the homemade version is a life saver.

Dulce de Leche (Arequipe and Manjar Blanco)
Dulce de leche, pronounced DOOL-say duh LAY-chay) is a luscious sweetened milk sauce that is literally finger-linking good! The name means "milk sweet," "milk jam," and "sweet milk sauce."

Hazelnut Cream Filling
Recipe is courtesy of Ellen Easton of Tea Travels. This is a great filling for your home-baked Cream Puffs.

Lavender Jelly
This jelly would be wonderful served as a dessert with ice cream, pudding, or cream.

Lemon Curd
A British teatime favorite. This sweet, yet tart, velvety spread is heavenly on freshly baked scones, muffins, and tea breads.

Lemon Sauce
This easy-to-make delicious lemon sauce is great on desserts such as cakes, gingerbread, fresh fruits, and whatever else sounds good to you.

Maple Sauce for Strawberries
Fresh strawberries are absolutely delicious when served with this Maple Sauce.

Marshmallow Fluff/Cream
This is the best recipe that I have ever found to substitute for the store-bought marshmallow fluff. It is very easy to make and so delicious. Use this homemade marshmallow fluff/cream in any recipe that calls for marshmallow fluff.

Mock or Faux Devonshire Cream
An easy-to-make mock Devonshire Cream. Great for your tea party.

Orange Hard Sauce
This easy-to-make delicious Orange Hard sauce is great on desserts such as cakes and gingerbread, and whatever else sounds good to you.

Perfect Chocolate Sauce
Making a great chocolate sauce couldn't be easier! No vanilla and no sugar is added, just high-quality chocolate with cream, water, and a little butter to give just the right texture and taste. This truly is chocolate sauce perfection! Once you fall in love with this chocolate sauce, you might want to keep a jar of it handy in your refrigerator. The velvety sauce is amazingly versatile.

Rose Petal Jam
Enjoy this wonderful jam at your next Afternoon Tea Party.

Zabaglione with Fresh Berries
The French refer to this as Sabayon and it is used as a dessert or a sauce. It is light and refreshing and perfect as warm weather dessert.


Gravy Recipes

Making Perfect Turkey Gravy - Hints and tips for making that perfect turkey gravy.

Milk Gravy - This is the only gravy you want to use when making Biscuits and Gravy. Just like Mom used to make! Check out Mom's Biscuits and Gravy recipe.



Jams, Jellies and Relishes

Basic Berry and Fruit Puree
Simple basic fruit purees capture the sweet/tart balance of the summer fruit to use in fruit drinks, ice cream, sorbets, grantias, and whatever else you might want to use them in.

Cajun Chow Chow Relish
A sweet, hot relish of pickled chopped vegetables. There are probably as many varieties of Chow Chow as there are Southern cooks.

Candied Orange Rind
These delicious candied orange rinds will be a welcome addition to any holiday party menu, tree trimming, or even wrapped to be given as a gift.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
This wonderful recipe is by Brad Bolton of San Diego, CA. The jalapeno jelly is fantastic with cream cheese and triscuit crackers! It looks so pretty in red and green (for Christmas presents in pretty jelly jars).

Lavender Jelly
This exotic and gorgeously pretty lavender jelly will truly delight your taste buds with pleasure. In fact, you will absolutely LOVE the taste! It can be served as an unusual accompaniment to meats, such as lamb or poultry.

New Zealand Mint Sauce
After visiting New Zealand and tasting their wonderful lamb dishes, I put together this mint sauce recipe. Very simple to make and so good! Excellent for serving with lamb.

Rose Petal Jam
Enjoy this wonderful jam at your next Afternoon Tea Party.

Stilton Blue Cheese Relish
Wait until you try this delicious cheese relish!


Lamb Sauces

Lavender Jelly
This exotic and gorgeously pretty lavender jelly will truly delight your taste buds with pleasure. In fact, you will absolutely LOVE the taste! It can be served as an unusual accompaniment to meats, such as lamb or poultry.

New Zealand Mint Sauce
After visiting New Zealand and tasting their wonderful lamb dishes, I put together this mint sauce recipe. Very simple to make and so good! Excellent for serving with lamb.
 


Pasta Sauces

Basil Pesto
This delicious pesto will taste great with your pasta, on bread, pizza, toast, baked potatoes, etc.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce
This is the perfect idea for those last of the season tomatoes. This is not really a recipe, but more of a technique that I use for making this wonderful Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce. This is a very simple technique that is subject to endless variation to your taste.

Parmesan-Asiago Topping
This is very addicting! Serve it as a topping for bread (crostini), tossed with pasta, on a baked potato, spooned over fresh sliced tomatoes, topping for a pizza - the possibilities are endless.

Peanut Sauce
The Peanut Sauce is excellent tossed with only cooked pasta and sesame seeds. Also great on chicken.

Peanut Sauce 2
It's very hard to describe the wonderful taste of this peanut suace. Try it - you'll like it.

Simple Basic Tomato Sauce (low fat, low calorie)
This basic tomato sauce can be used for spaghetti, ravioli, chicken Parmesan, or anything else that you want! It is very quick and very easy to make and tastes delicious! Anything from seasoning to spices can be added to flavor the sauce.
 

Pork Sauces

Al's Secret Sauce
Awesome BBQ and all-purpose sauce for Pig Pickin dip, pork chops, ribs, and chicken on the grill. Some folks even put it on burgers and steaks.

Blackberry-Wine Sauce
Another wonderful sauce that is good on pork, poultry, and beef.

Peanut Sauce
The Peanut Sauce is excellent tossed with only cooked pasta and sesame seeds. Also great on chicken.

Peanut Sauce 2
It's very hard to describe the wonderful taste of this peanut suace. Try it - you'll like it.

Pork Dry Rub Seasoning
My son-in-law, Ben Weller, smokes delicious pork ribs for our family gatherings. This is his Dry Rub Seasoning recipe. Also check out Ben's delicious Smoked Pork Ribs.

Savory Mustard Sauce
My husband and I like to use this Savory Mustard Sauce with our Petite Pork Tenderloin Roast. Give it a try.

Stilton Blue Cheese Relish
This outstanding recipe was shared with me by Kieran Sienkiewicz of Portland, Oregon. Kieran is an outstanding cook and served this excellent relish with a smoked pork tenderloin roast. On it's own, it also makes a wonderful salad or an appetizer relish.


Poultry Sauces & Gravy

Blackberry-Wine Sauce
Another wonderful sauce that is good on pork, poultry, and beef.

Cajun Chow Chow Relish
A sweet, hot relish of pickled chopped vegetables. There are probably as many varieties of Chow Chow as there are Southern cooks.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
This wonderful recipe is by Brad Bolton of San Diego, CA. The jalapeno jelly is fantastic with cream cheese and crackers! It looks so pretty in red and green (for Christmas presents in pretty jelly jars).

Linda's Teriyaki Sauce
This is one of my favorite recipes. I like to grill chicken with this teriyaki sauce.

Making Perfect Turkey Gravy - Hints and tips for making that perfect turkey gravy.

Peanut Sauce
The Peanut Sauce is excellent tossed with only cooked pasta and sesame seeds. Also great on chicken.

Southwest Spicy Sauce
If made properly, this sauce recipe yields a slow heat sauce. At first you might not think it has any heat, but be prepared for at least a little spice to hit your palate slowly. This sauce also makes a great dip with chips.
 

Salad Dressings and Vinaigrettes

Balsamic Vinaigrette
This is one of my favorite salad dressing! It is so easy to make and so good.

Balsamic Maple Vinaigrette
(low fat, low calorie & low carb) - The addition of pure maple syrup brings this vinaigrette to a new dimension.

Basil Infused Vinaigrette
(low fat, low calorie & low carb) - This is excellent served on fresh tomatoes from your garden.

Blue Cheese Dressing
This blue cheese dressing is so good! My husband loves it! Use it on your salads, as a dip, or on your steaks.

Classic Raspberry Vinaigrette
The addition of either fresh or frozen raspberries, makes this dressing exceptional!

Dad's Goop Salad Dressing (low fat)
My friend, Karen Calanchini of Redding, CA, adapted and shared this tasty salad dressing recipe. Karen says, "This is from a good friend of mine and she says it is close to 60 years old and that her dad used to make it. I've created this low-fat version that I use all the time. It is very good!"

Everybody's Salad Dressing
This delicious salad dressing recipe was shared with me by Alleta Huston. Alleta says, "My friend gave me this recipe and it is wonderful with any type of herb vinegar. It's sort of a French style dressing. I gave this dressing out with my herb vinegar this Christmas."

Hazelnut Vinaigrette
The hazelnut oil really gives this vinaigrette a special taste! This recipe is a favorite of my husband.

Honey Mustard Dressing
My husband loves honey mustard dressing and this homemade version also delights him. So easy to make!

Juniper Berry Vinaigrette
Recipe by chef Bruce Naftaly of Le Gourmand Restaurant in Seattle, WA.

Lemon Vinaigrette
This is one of my favorite salad dressing. I'm always making this vinaigrette. It is so easy to make and so good!

Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette
This vinaigrette is so refreshing and is so easy to make and so good. You will definitely enjoy this on your salads.

Pomegranate Viniagrette
(low fat, low calorie & low carb) - Another great tasting slow fat, low calories, and low carbohydrate salad dressing - plus you have all the benefits of the pomegranate.

Poppyseed Dressing
This is the best poppy seed dressing you have every tasted!

Sesame-Dijon Vinaigrette with Capers
Check out this very different, but delicious, version of Honey-Mustard Dressing.

Thousand Island Dressing
I serve this wonderful Thousand Island Dressing with salads, spread on sandwiches (especially Reuben Sandwiches), and seafood. It is so easy to make and so good!

Truffle Oil Dressing
This salad dressing is a wonderful gastronomic experience. The truffle oil provides a new meaning to salads as there is something about the smell that makes you want to throw aside your fork and eat the salad with your fingers!

Vermont Maple Dressing
This is a wonderful salad dressing. It is one of my family's favorite salad dressings and sure to become one of yours.
 

Salsa and Guacamole

Avocado-Corn Salsa
Fresh corn and avocado. Yum!

Brenda's Salsa Recipe
This is my daughter's recipes. Salsa is a delicious uncooked chunky tomato sauce. You can develop a real passion for salsa, since it is low in calories and very flavorful.  

Chunky Avocado Salad - Guacamole Salad
This version of guacamole is fantastic! I really like this chunky version over the mashed ones. It can be served as an appetizer or a salad with either corn or flour tortillas.

Cranberry Salsa with Cream Cheese
This fantastic recipe was shared with me by Carol Reich of Hillsboro, Oregon. Carol won a Dip Contest on the Satellite Sisters Radio Show with this outstanding and also beautiful-to-look-at recipe.

Jicama Salsa
Check out this very unusual and delicious salsa!

Mango and Black Bean Salsa
A wonderful salsa recipe. Also excellent with seafood and fish.

Peach-Avocado Salsa
This recipe was shared with me by my friend, Karen Calanchini of Redding, CA.

Roasted Bell Pepper & Avocado Salsa
Recipe by Chef Sarah Scott of the Robert Mondavi Winery of California.

Roasted Chile Pepper & Tomatillo Salsa
Fiery hot salsa - for those you like salsa hot! So good and so addicting!

Roasted Lemon Salsa
This is an unusual approach that produces a great condiment. Roasting a lemon softens its acidity and adds a toasty note. It's a great topper for broiled or grilled chicken and fish.

Salsa Verde
Salsa verde is to Mexican cuisine what tomato sauce is to Italian food.  Its most popular use is as a chip dip, but also used as a sauce on meats.

Stilton Blue Cheese Relish
This outstanding recipe was shared with me by Kieran Sienkiewicz of Portland, Oregon. Kieran is an outstanding cook and served this excellent relish with a smoked pork tenderloin roast. On it's own, it also makes a wonderful salad or an appetizer relish.

Tropical Fruit Salsa
This fruit salsa is a delicious summertime treat. You can develop a real passion for this salsa, since it is low in calories and very flavorful.
 

Seafood Sauces

Chile-Mint Sauce
This sauce is excellent with seafood. The chile pepper gives that "kick" to liven up your seafood.

Cilantro-Lime Sauce
Cilantro Lime Sauce is excellent serve on any and all seafood. We like to use it on our fish tacos. So easy to make and so good!

Cocktail Sauce
Try this sauce with your next shrimp cocktail.

Creole Tartar Sauce
From the recipe files of Robert Hammond, chef and owner of The Kitchen at Honeyman Creek Farm in Warren, Oregon.

Cucumber-Caviar Sauce
A very gourmet sauce that goes well with either smoked or baked salmon.

Dill Mustard Sauce
The wonderful Dill Mustard Sauce really compliments salmon's delicate flavor.

Dill Sauce
A very easy-to-make gourmet dill sauce that goes well with any type of seafood.

Homemade Tartar Sauce
You'll never buy tartar sauce from the store again after you taste this delicious, easy-to-make recipe!
 

Lemon Sour Cream Sauce
This lemon sauce is especially good with salmon, but goes well with any fish or seafood.

Pinot Gris-Dijon Sauce
A wonderful Dijon sauce that will go with any seafood or fish that you want to serve.

Pinot Noir Syrup
Reducing the pinot noir wine and adding a good quality balsamic vinegar, make for a wonderful sauce to serve with your salmon.

Tarragon Mayonnaise
Excellent served with poached fish and crab cakes.

Thousand Island Dressing
I serve this wonderful Thousand Island Dressing with salads, spread on sandwiches (especially Reuben Sandwiches), and seafood. It is so easy to make and so good!

Truffle-Onion Sauce

This wonderful and spectacular recipe is excellent served with any type of poached fish (especially salmon).
 

Vegetable Sauces

Basil Hollandaise Sauce
This Basil Hollandaise Sauce is great served over fresh vegetables, especially fresh home-grown tomatoes.

Crème fraîche
Commercial creme fraiche is quite expensive, so the homemade version is a life saver.

Hollandaise Sauce
What would the famous Egg Benedict be without a great Hollandaise Sauce? Also great served on cooked asparagus.

Homemade Mayonnaise
According to Julia Child, mayonnaise is something every cook must confidently and rapidly whip up on command with nary a qualm, because it is one of the elemental cookery procedures.

Oven-Roasted Canned Tomatoes
Longing for summer tomatoes? When good vine- ripened fresh tomatoes are out of season, use top-quality canned tomatoes and roast them in your oven. Amazing things happen to canned tomatoes when you roast them in the oven.

Parmesan-Asiago Topping
This is very addicting! Serve it as a topping for bread (crostini), tossed with pasta, on a baked potato, spooned over fresh sliced tomatoes, topping for a pizza - the possibilities are endless.

Simple Basic Tomato Sauce (low fat, low calorie)
This basic tomato sauce can be used for spaghetti, ravioli, chicken Parmesan, or anything else that you want! It is very quick and very easy to make and tastes delicious! Anything from seasoning to spices can be added to flavor the sauce.

Slow-Roasted or Baked Tomatoes
This awesome recipe comes from my friend, Karen Calanchini of Redding, California. Karen says, "These are great served on crusty bread with a little olive oil or as a side dish. This preparation is a welcome relief from canning all those tomatoes or using sun-dried."  NOTE: You can eat these "as-is" from the oven; they are absolutely fantastic.


 


A collection of sauces is invaluable to a cook.

Sauces enable a cook to add the finishing touch to a wide variety of both sweet and savory dishes. A sauce, gravy, or simple glaze can make or break a good meal.


Keeping Sauces Hot:

Sauces to be served hot can be kept in a double boiler over hot water.

Hollandaise and other egg-based sauces should be kept over warm water, otherwise they will become thin or curdled.
 

TIP: I keep my sauces warm in a small thermos container. I can keep them warm for a couple of hours this way.  You can also make a sauce and travel with it.
 



 



 


Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

 

Lavender Jelly
Lavender Jelly

 

Chunky Avocado Salad - Guacamole Salad
Chunky Avocado Salad - Guacamole Salad

 

Thousand Island Dressing
Thousand Island Dressing
 

Crème fraîche
Crème fraîche
 

Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce
 

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
 

Stilton Blue Cheese Relish
Stilton Blue Cheese Relish
 

Homemade Mayonnaise
Homemade Mayonnaise
 

Flavored Butters (Compound Butters, Finishing Butter, or Beurre Composé)
Flavored Butters (Compound Butters, Finishing Butter, or Beurre Composé)
 

Perfect Chocolate Sauce
Perfect Chocolate Sauce

 

Slow-Roasted or Baked Tomatoes
Slow-Roasted or Baked Tomatoes

 

Marshmallow Fluff/Cream
Marshmallow Fluff/Cream