Sauce Fundamentals – Dips

A sauce can add a new dimension to what you have cooked, be it highlighting the natural flavours or to give the dish a bit more kick out of the usual flatness. There are generally a few kinds of sauces that you will find when having a dinner. But for now, I'll only talk about 1 of them. It's the dip. Dips are perhaps one of the most common sauces around. Do not underestimate how much more complexity it can bring to your cooking!

Dips
What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about dipping sauces? Ketchup, mustard, or chilli sauce? These are the go to sauces when you have bite size fried food. The aim of these sauces is to add more flavour to your fried chicken or sausages. The key when it comes to making such sauces is the intensity of the flavour and the consistency of the sauce itself. The sauce has to adhere to the food, so it generally has to be rather thick. The flavour should be able to cut through the mix if the sauce, instead of the food itself, is the star of the dish.

One of your best friends when making dips is mayonnaise. It can form the base of most of your dipping sauces. Store bought mayo usually has unknown and artificial stuff added to them. To ensure the best quality, make the mayo yourself. It is basically good extra virgin olive oil mixed with egg yolks in a stable emulsion. Just google it and you'll find recipes for homemade mayo. It's simple and will bring the sauce to another level.

Here's a recipe that is pretty much a more luxurious version of the Japanese mentaiko (cod roe) dip. It's recommended for deep fried seafood because the caviar will definitely enhance the flavour of the seafood. Chicken nuggets should work well too.

1.5 teaspoons of caviar (I use red lumpfish for the colour)
3 tablespoons of fresh mayo
1 teaspoon of Mentaiko sauce
1 teaspoon of Japanese citrus soy sauce
A dash of black pepper
A few drops of truffle oil (optional)

It's basically as simple as mixing everything together in a small mixing bowl. Prepare more as needed. The caviar will provide a popping sensation with each bite, along with a good and flavourful fishy kick. The truffle oil helps to lift the flavour and it smells fantastic.

Tip
Always mix your dip well and keep tasting it till you get the flavour you like. And be open to using new ingredients to break the boredom of the same taste all the time.