What is Creole Sauce?
This variation of Creole sauce has a gravy-like consistency. There is another variety made of finely diced bell peppers, onions, and celery with spices. The gravy version is tan-colored with a creamy consistency and flavors that are savory, spicy, and salty with a buttery finish. The sauce is made from a roux into which garlic, onions, paprika, oregano, nutmeg, cloves, and cayenne are added.
What does Creole Sauce Taste Like?
Salty is one of the five main tastes. It has a satisfying and addictive quality with hints of sourness. Salty foods include cheeses, cured meats, chips, and olives. It is used in almost every dish and prepared food. Salt is added to enhance flavor and offer a distinctly salty taste.
Sour is one of the five main tastes. It is tart and bright, sometimes with a mouth-puckering quality. Sour is a naturally occurring flavor found in many foods, including citrus, vinegar, various dairy products, and certain fruits. Sour is used to enhance a dish or drink and is used as both a main and complimentary flavor.
Ingredients
Whole milk is a full fat cow's milk. Milk comes from a cow and is pasteurized and sold as a liquid dairy product. Whole milk is white and has a very thin viscosity. Whole milk has 3.25% milk fat in it and a rich and creamy flavor with a hint of sweetness. It is served as a beverage and is used extensively in cooking and baking as a liquid.
Butter is made from churned cream, usually from a cow. It has a cream color and a texture that is smooth and melts easily. The flavor is mild, creamy and salty. Butter is often sold in square sticks, or as a flat or round block. It is delicious on bread, in baked goods and makes an excellent cooking fat.
Vinegar is made from alcohol. It can be made from wine, fermented apple, grains and other sources. Healthy bacteria is used to ferment this product. The final result is a thin liquid used to season foods. All vinegar is sour. White vinegar has a sharp sour flavor and is clear. Red wine vinegar is a clear red color and tastes a bit more rounded. Balsamic vinegar is dark red or brown and tastes rich, fruity and sour. There are many other kinds of vinegar, each with its own unique flavor profile. Some types of vinegar are suited to specific flavors and cuisines. It is used in sauces and in dishes both sweet and savory.
All purpose flour comes from wheat and though wheat is cultivated all around the world today, it was first cultivated in Turkey 10,000 years ago. All purpose flour is white in color and has a soft texture. This incredibly versatile flour is used in everything from breads, cakes, pastries, crackers, pasta, sauces and much more because of its pleasing and mild flavor that is slightly nutty and buttery. The gluten protein is what helps hold together breads and other products, part of what makes all purpose wheat flour so popular.
Salt is a mineral composed mostly of sodium chloride. It is the main flavoring used in food and is naturally occurring in certain foods, such as cheese, beets, meat and celery, plus many others. Salt is white and has finer granules than sugar. Many commercial salts include iodide, while others exclude it. Most salts are white, while some are naturally pale pink with minerals. Salt brings out the flavor of something and can create a tangy mouthfeel, if used in excess.
Paprika is a spice made made not from one type of pepper but from multiple varieties of sweet peppers and chili peppers. Common paprika is not spicy, but some paprika will be mildly spicy if hotter peppers are used. The pepper is dried and ground into a fine red power used to season savory dishes. The flavor is both sweet and pungent with a hint of bitterness that can emerge when it is cooked.
Garlic powder is made from dehydrated garlic cloves that have been ground into a super fine powder. This powder is a pale yellow/golden color and is used to flavor foods. It works well in a pinch and can be used in many of the same ways that fresh garlic is used. The flavor is milder than raw or cooked garlic and is spicy, pungent and nutty. Garlic granules are another form of dehydrated garlic, but rather than powder it is coarser and has the same function. It is often used on top of fresh pizza, as a light dusting.
Onion powder is made from the bulb vegetable, onion. Onions are round with a thin, papery skin covering their many layers of juicy and crunchy flesh. This flesh, which is white, yellow or red is made by taking dehydrated onion pieces and then grinding them into an extremely fine powder. The powder is a pale golden/tan color. Onion powder has a flavor that is milder than fresh onions, but highly flavorful in a richer and more concentrated way. It tastes both sweet and mellow, with a spicy edge. Onion powder is used as a seasoning for savory dishes.
Oregano is an herb in the mint family and grows on thin and delicate stalks that produce tiny oblong leaves with tapered ends. These leaves are less than half an inch in length. Oregano has a mildly fuzzy texture and is thin and delicate. The green herb has a sharp and peppery flavor that is pungent, slightly bitter, green and a bit minty. When eaten, raw oregano creates a stringent feeling in the mouth. This herb is used in many cuisines and can be found frequently in Italian dishes, such as tomato sauce.
Cayenne is a small and moderately hot chili pepper. When mature it is bright red in color and has a thin tapered body that is between 2-3 inches long. On the Scoville heat scale for hot peppers it is considered 'scorching'. Cayenne has a crunch to it when raw, though is best cooked to reduce the heat of the plant, it is also sold as a powder. This hot pepper is used commonly in Central and South America, as well as Africa.
Nutmeg is the seed of a fruit. The seed has a lacy skin around it, commonly called mace in cooking and is used as a separate spice. Nutmeg is a small, woody spice, with an oblong and muted brown body. Ground nutmeg is a similar color to fresh nutmeg. It is a sweet spice with a warm flavor that is rich and inviting. Nutmeg is commonly used in desserts and can be found in savory dishes as well. Nutmeg is a key ingredient in the flavoring of eggnog.
Cloves are the buds of the Syzygium aromaticum tree. They are dried and can be used whole or ground as a spice. Cloves have a strong, sweet and peppery flavor that can be used in both sweet and savory dishes.
