What does it mean to reduce a sauce?!


Question: I was making alfredo sauce the other day and it called for 3 cups of heavy cream... then it said to reduce it to half of that... why can't you just start with 1.5 cups?? and if it is to thickin it does it just thinking by cooking?


Answers: I was making alfredo sauce the other day and it called for 3 cups of heavy cream... then it said to reduce it to half of that... why can't you just start with 1.5 cups?? and if it is to thickin it does it just thinking by cooking?

Well, reducing it MEANS that you "thicken it by cooking," in a sense.

Part of what makes sauces thicken is that the longer you cook it, the more of the water content evaporates OUT of it, so instead of something watery, it's way thicker and the flavors are more concentrated. So instead of 3 cups of heavy cream, you're simmering the water out of it, so you end up with a cup and a half of REALLY, REALLY heavy cream, sort of.

So "reducing" is simmering until the volume goes down to the amount you need.

The flavor condenses as it simmers, it becomes more concentrated if you let it reduce

reducing it means to cook it until half the moisture evaporates. it makes the flavor more concentrated.

You cook it to where the liquid evaporates.It concentrates the flavor and thickens some when you reduce it.

When you reduce a sauce, it means that you simmer until a lot of the sauce/moisture/water evaporates off.

This will not only intensify the flavour of the sauce, but also thicken it. If you started off with 1.5 cups, it wouldn't have an intense flavour as when you reduce it.

reducing takes some of the water out of the sauce, intensifies the flavor, and as a sideline makes it more difficult for the pasta to absorb the sauce.

It means to let it simmer away until you have half as much as you started with.
It is to concentrate the flavour as much as reducing the quantity.

i guess that means like to make it lighter !!!

To reduce a sauce means to evaporate (usually by boiling) of some portion of the liquid.

I have never heard of doing this with an alfredo...

Your "reduce" the cream by cooking it at a slow simmer. They tell you to reduce it by half so you know about when to stop simmering and proceed to the next step in the recipe. If you just used half the cream to start with, the sauce would not be as rich.

Boil out moisture

Reduce means to cook on low until it is half or whatever it calls for, this makes it rich and tasty!





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