Dining and Cooking
The 5 Fish Sauces Every Chef Needs to Learn
In Seafood Dishes

The 5 Fish Sauces Every Chef Needs to Learn

These are the five fish sauces every chef needs to learn. First up, vinlanc, a French classic. We start with a velute base. First, we make a r equal parts butter and flour. Whisk in fish stock until it’s smooth. Next, we reduce white wine and chilots until it is a syrupy consistency. Strain it into our valute base and then add cream for a balance. Dijon goes in last. We mix it with a little bit of sauce first to stop it clumping. We finish with lemon vinegar and chives. Clean, subtle, and perfect with steamed halibut. M elegant, clean. It’s a classic for a reason. Next, we’re making lobster beast. Rich, intense, and full of depth. We roast our lobster heads with coral along with cooked and uncooked lobster shells. Then we add mirua, tomato paste, rice, cognac, and white wine. We simmer it all with fish stock and herbs to create a rich lobster stock. And then we blitz it all together and strain the whole mix. We finish with cream, butter, and plenty of lemon. Served here with butter poach John Dory. Very robust, packed with flavor. Best way to use all of those shells. Now we’re moving from France to Spain with a simple sauce from the bass country, pill. It’s just garlic, chili, and olive oil. But the secret is collagen. As we gently comfy this fish in oil, the collagen release thickens the sauce naturally. We strain it, add lemon, and stir it until it emulsifies. Simple, yet so much flavor. Intense in garlic. Little touch of heat cuz the chili absolutely banging. Next, we’re going to do a warm tartar sauce. Reduce wine and vinegar with shelots and herbs until syrupy. Then emulsify in cold butter, making a burblanc. We add a splash of cream to stop it splitting. And fold in some diced cornons, chopped capers, herbs, and lemon zest. All the punch of a tartar, just warmer, fresher, and more refined. Served with conf. And finally, chicken butter sauce. In French cooking, fish sauces are supposed to use fish stock. This one uses chicken. We reduce the stock, skim off the impurities, and infuse it with herbs and lemon zest. Then we add a touch of cream, Monte and cold butter, and finish with lemon. Rich, bright, and perfect with monk fish and capers.

33 Comments

  1. @hamsterdave4852

    I would LOVE a video, or at least a dedicated short on that Chicken Butter sauce. I’m hunting for recipes, and I can find mentions of it, but any actual recipes are getting confused with “butter chicken”, because Google is hot garbage any more. All the others I’ve found reasonable looking recipes for, but I love monkfish and am especially interested in trying that chicken butter sauce with capers!

  3. @SowellWasRight

    You look infuriated in that first shot. Like you’re mad at anyone who doesn’t know these sauces. Otherwise great video.

  14. @rzt430

    broil a fish. steam some rice.

    mix soy sauce, vinegar, little bit of lime

    there you go, good shit without any fuckery

  15. @rustyjohnson8431

    I love and respect this channel so much, it’s a wealth of free information with no gatekeeping, no ego, no paywall, or bait, just good knowledge and good teachers

  19. @Rpem10

    i swear if i see someone use a CALCULATOR on the “equal parts” part, I relate.

  23. @cianmoriarty7345

    You know the "scum" is just the gelatine and fat forming bubbles right? It will form as long as there's both and if heated without furious boiling will separate back out again.

  27. @jarniwoop

    I've been cooking various types of fish for a long time and I never knew which type of sauce to use. Thank you!