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Much culinary creativity and experimentation comes in the soup, sauce, and gravy categories. Classic sauces are flavorful but tend to have a lot of fat. Many are thickened with roux, a cooked mixture of fat and flour. Others are emulsion sauces, such as hollandaise and mayonnaise that consist of egg yolk and butter or oil. The result is a sauce made predominantly of fat. There are several ways to reduce the fat content of soups, sauces, and gravies:

• Use a reduction of stock. Start with a stock made from vegetables, meat, poultry, or fish and simmer until it is about one-third of the original volume. Stock and broth are nearly fat free because the fat rises to the top and can be skimmed off. In the process of reduction, the stock will develop body and its flavors will intensify. Then, less thickener is needed.

• Use a slurry. In place of a traditional flour-and-fat roux, a slurry (a thin paste made from water or stock mixed with starch, such as cornstarch) can be a thickening alternative. To use a slurry, dissolve starch in cold water and incorporate it into the hot sauce.

• Use skimmed stock. Rather than using a premade mother sauce (a classic sauce from which other sauces are made), make a sauce of pan drippings, wine, broth, or stock, and skim the fat from the top.

• Use less oil in salad dressings by replacing bland salad oils with intensely flavored nut oils, olive oils, or infused oils (oils that have been heated with seasonings for flavor). Also, replace 25 percent of the oil with slightly thickened stock. Note: Remember to disclose the type of nut oil, in case of food allergies.

• To mimic a creamy sauce for macaroni and cheese, for example, blend cottage cheese and strained yogurt, using corn starch as a thickener, if heating.

• In place of heavy cream, use canned evaporated skimmed milk, which mimics the body of cream.

• In a braise or soup, puréeing the vegetables in the cooking liquid thickens the sauce, retaining all the nutrients.

• In place of gravy, fruit coulis (thick puréed sauces), salsas, and chutneys make excellent sauces for meats.

• In béchamel sauce, use skim milk and trans-fat-free margarine.

• Two teaspoons of sour cream or plain yogurt can be added as a garnish on low-fat cream soup to give it the mouthfeel of full-fat cream soup.

• Vegetable jus (the French term for juice) and consommé make great sauces.

• Remember that margarine has the same fat as butter, but doesn’t taste as nice.