Chef Thomas
Cheese Sauce
A proper cheese sauce, sharp with mature Cheddar and lifted with English mustard, the kind that turns a head of cauliflower into a reason to come home on a cold Tuesday.
Recipe Archive
Sauces & Condiments
Sauces and condiments carry a surprising amount of technique. Find dressings, marinades, stocks, gravies, relishes, and finishing sauces with clear purpose.
710 recipes
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Recipes
Chef Lupita
Chiapas Cochito Adobo Paste
Chiapas' brick-red recado for cochito, built from toasted chile ancho, guajillo, achiote, vinegar, pimienta gorda, and thyme before it stains pork for the oven.
Chef Dean
Chicago-Style Hot Giardiniera
The fiery, oil-packed vegetable relish that defines Chicago's Italian beef sandwich, loaded with sport peppers, crisp celery, and cauliflower in a garlicky, oregano-laced bath of pure heat.
Chef Thomas
Chicken Gravy
A pale golden gravy made straight from the roasting tin, the bird's own juices loosened with stock and a little flour, the whole thing ready in the time it takes the chicken to rest.
Chef Thomas
Chicken Stock from the Sunday Roast Carcass
Yesterday's roast chicken, quietly transformed into a pot of pale golden stock, the kind of Monday morning ritual that turns leftovers into the foundation of a whole week's cooking.
Chef Lupita
Chile Habanero Asado
The Yucatecan table salsa of whole habaneros charred black on a comal, dropped into a saucer with naranja agria and salt, and mashed by each diner to the heat they want.
Chef Lupita
Chile Tamulado Yucateco
Yucatan's pure heat condiment: habaneros charred whole on the comal, then mashed in a molcajete with sea salt and the juice of naranja agria. Served alongside, never poured over.
Chef Lupita
Chileajo Costeño de Guerrero
Guerrero's Costa Chica chileajo is a rough garlic-chile relish, guajillo for body, chile costeño for coastal heat, vinegar for bite, made to wake up fried fish and pulled pork.
Chef Lupita
Chileajo Mixteco
The Mixteca's foundational garlic-chile paste from Huajuapan de Leon, built on toasted guajillo and ancho, comal-charred garlic, and the spice rack of colonial Oaxaca, ground thick with vinegar to coat meats, vegetables, and tortillas for weeks.
Chef Lupita
Chiles de Agua en Escabeche
The chile de agua of Oaxaca's Valles Centrales pickled whole with cauliflower, carrots, and onion in vinagre de piña, set with lard and oregano de Oaxaca. The jar that sits next to the cecina and the tasajo.
Chef Lupita
Chiles en Escabeche Estilo San Marcos
Aguascalientes' San Marcos escabeche is a sharp jar of whole jalapeños, carrot, onion, garlic, laurel, and thyme, built to crown pollo San Marcos, tortas, and any table that respects vinegar.
Chef Lupita
Chiles en Vinagre con Verduras Oaxaqueños
Oaxaca's market jar of jalapeños, carrots, cauliflower, nopales, and onion seared in lard and packed in white vinegar with bay, Oaxacan oregano, and piloncillo. Three months in the refrigerator and they only get better.
Chef Lupita
Chiles en Vinagre Conventuales
Puebla's convent escabeche of whole chiles, sealed in glass jars with vinegar, olive oil, garlic, laurel, comino, and the patience of women who preserved food before refrigeration.
Chef Lupita
Chiles Güeros en Escabeche del Norte
Northern Mexico's pickled yellow chiles with zanahoria, cebolla, and ajo in vinagre blanco. The jar every taquería in Monterrey, Hermosillo, and Chihuahua keeps next to the parrilla, ready to cut through the fat of a carne asada.
Chef Lupita
Chiles Habaneros en Escabeche
Yucatán's pickled habaneros, charred on the comal, packed with red onion, allspice, and oregano yucateco, the shelf-stable jar that sits on every cantina table from Mérida to Tizimín.
Chef Lupita
Pickled Simojovel Chiles (Chiles Simojovel en Vinagre)
Chiapas highland chile simojovel, smoke-dried and cured in vinegar with garlic, bay, carrot, onion, and oregano, made to sit on the table beside beans, eggs, and caldo.
Chef Lupita
Chiles Xcatic en Escabeche
Yucatán's pale-yellow chile xcatic, blistered in lard and steeped warm in a vinegar brine of charred garlic, toasted allspice, and Yucatecan oregano. The chile that sits beside the pavo on every Mérida table that knows what it's doing.
Chef Takumi
Chili-Grated Daikon (もみじおろし, Momiji Oroshi)
A white daikon, a red chili, and a grater. Momiji oroshi looks like a small flourish, but it brings clean heat, fresh bite, and autumn color to the table.
Chef Lupita
Chiltepines en Vinagre Sonorenses
Sonora's table jar of wild chiltepines pickled in vinagre blanco with garlic, oregano sonorense, and bay. The condiment every norteno kitchen keeps within arm's reach of the parrilla.
Chef Juliana
Chimia de Fruta
You don't need a factory jar to put something good on bread. Fruit, sugar, lemon, and patience turn into chimia, the kind of comida de verdade that makes breakfast behave.
Chef Lupita
Chintextle Oaxaqueño
The smoke-dried chile paste of the Sierra Mixe, ground on the metate with camarón seco, toasted garlic, and avocado leaf, then bound with manteca. Travel food that turns a tlayuda into supper.
Chef Thomas
Chip Shop Curry Sauce
A proper chip shop curry sauce made at home in half an hour. Mild, fruity, and the colour of an old penny, the kind that turns a plate of chips into Friday night.
Chef Lupita
Chipotles Adobados Veracruzanos
Veracruz's pantry chipotles, smoked jalapenos simmered whole in vinegar, piloncillo, garlic, chile ancho, and herbs until the adobo turns dark, glossy, sweet, sharp, and useful.
Chef Lupita
Chiapas Charred Breakfast Salsa (Chirmol Chiapaneco)
Chiapas highland chirmol, made with fire-blistered tomato, onion, garlic, and chile simojovel, the morning salsa for eggs, frijoles de la olla, and warm corn tortillas.
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