All the sauce recipes you'll ever need

Every good home cook knows the secret's in the sauce...

Barbecue sauce Credit: Mark Roper

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Have you ever read Fanny Flagg's book (or seen the film) Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe? Great book/film about a legendary barbecue café in a little town in a depression-era Alabama.

The whole film is a love letter to the role food plays in everyday life, but it's especially lyrical about sauce.

"The secret's in the sauce," the main character Sipsey is fond of telling anyone who asks why her barbecue is so good.

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Fried Green Tomatoes

Drama • 

1991

Drama • 

1991

There are reasons Sipsey's sauce is extra important that we'd best not get into here (just watch the film, you'll love it), but a 'secret sauce' would be familiar to everyone — every good cook has one.

Without wanting to step on anyone's toes, here are some not-so-secret sauces that really will make the dish.

Straight for the tastebuds

Umami-rich foods have the power to bring out the taste of other ingredients. Consider this sauce your secret flavour weapon. Credit: Adam Liaw

Adam Liaw's umami sauce falls into your tastebuds with the relish of a toddler in a ball pit. Free-flying, life-enhancing crashing.

Chimichurri thing

Asian herbs and fish sauce pair beautifully with chimichurri. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Traditional Argentinian chimichurri sauce, combines fresh herbs, garlic, chilli flakes, spring onion and citrus into a zesty, fragrant sauce. This version adds a welcome Asian flavour twist.

Universally green

Flat roast chook with salsa verde is like an Aussie roast went on a Mediterranean beach holiday.

Chimichurri (see above) is one of the world's great green sauces, but whizzing up fresh herbs into a taste-popping sauce is not new news anywhere. This salsa verde has a Mediterranean feel, or try this Mexican take or one with Spanish flair.

Bearnais-easy

that

The French have long known the power of a good sauce and Bearnaise is one of the greats. Making your own from scratch is bound to be much easier than you think.

Pepper lover

An aromatic pepper sauce is the stuff steak dreams are made of. Here it's all about fresh green peppercorns and an intense lemon finish.

Tomato prideof

Homemade tomato sauce goes with just about anything –snags, eggs or as a tasty extra layer on cheese on toast. Credit: Alan Benson

Go on, make your own tomato sauce! You can mix it exactly to your liking and the 'I made this' brownie points are off the charts.

Fight it out

There's nothing barbecue sauce likes more than to liberally baste a rack of spare ribs. Credit: Mark Roper

Barbecue sauce is the pepper to tomato sauce's salt... or something like that. Most of us have a preference, but some of us like both.

WaldorfSatay-fied

Peanut sauce is great drizzled over salads, on burgers or any grilled meat, or served with satay skewers or vegetables. Credit: Danielle Abou Karam

Every home needs a decent satay sauce up its sleeve and this one ticks all the boxes: it's easy, it's rich, it's creamy, it's nutty, and it's 100 percent moreish.

Dipping away

Panko-crumbed eggplant chips make an excellent introduction to the dipability of tahini sauce. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Once you master a good tahini sauce you'll soon be drizzling, dipping and dunking away. After all, tahini is the powerhouse that makes hummus so moreish, and everyone knows hummus goes with everything.

Sweet but hot

Vietnamese spring rolls are the perfect thing to dip in a homemade Thai-style sweet chilli sauce. Credit: Jiwon Kim

Hands up if you love a sweet chilli sauce! Now hands up if you've ever made your own. Put that hand to work immediately making this sweet but fiery sauce.

Mush be love

Naturally there's a little Adam twist on this bistro classic. Credit: Danielle Abou Karam

Another classic that has steak all wrapped up is mushroom and onion sauce. Paired with a T-bone steak, it's one of Adam Liaw's favourite meals.

Shallotta useits

Ssam-style short rib wraps show off the flavours of shallot and ginger sauce beautifully. This is finger food at it's drippy, licky, sharey best. Credit: Adam Liaw

Once you've mastered an iconic ginger and shallot sauce you'll be making it often. It goes well with fish, meat, vegetables and (if we're being completely honest) a spoon straight out of the jar.

Make it cheesy

Chips with cheese sauce must be the ultimate sundowner snack. Credit: Rachel Tolosa Paz

Here's a way to make even the most simple dish sing: add a cheese sauce. It works with cauliflower and chicken and it's especially good on chips.

Toum good

Feel free to add this creamy Middle Eastern fave to anything you like. Credit: Tammi Kwok

Toum is the definitive garlic sauce that will happily slide onto any dish and make it amazing. Don't believe us? Make a batch and see.

Sweet caramellow

Adding a hint of ginger to a caramel sauce is an act of genius. Credit: Adam Liaw

Let's not forget that sweet sauces are just as important as savoury, especially when they taste as good as this ginger caramel situation. When you have a sauce this good, ice cream is all you need.

Happy ending

Just look at the shine on that chocolate fudge sauce. Credit: The Chocolate Queen

We should end, because after licking this chocolate fudge sauce off our lips we are in sauce overload. Call it a saucy coma and the secret really is in the sauce!