Soups & Sauces

Sauces: While a sauce is simmering, impurities float to the surface. These impurities form a foam called scum. Skimming the scum off of the surface enhances the clarity and overall quality of the sauce.

Stocks: When simmering stock it is necessary to skim the scum and fat off of the top of the liquid. The scum is coagulated blood and various impurities. If not skimmed, the scum will return to the main body of the stock and make it cloudy. If the fat is not skimmed it will cause the stock to be unnecessarily greasy.

Salt and sugar are opposites. If a sauce becomes too salty, sugar can be added to reduce the salty flavor.