Hot sauces are cooked, thickened sauces. Hot sauces are used to enhance or balance the flavour of a dish. They may also add contrasts of colour and texture.

There are various methods for thickening sauces and these are how sauces are classified. Methods for thickening sauces include:

• roux – fat (butter or sometimes lard) and flour cooked together

• starch – starchy ingredients such as cornflour, arrowroot, rice flour or potato flour, mixed with cold water

• reduction – cooking off the liquid until the sauce reaches the desired consistency 

• egg yolks – mixed with a little hot liquid to create an emulsion

• butter – softened and gradually whisked in

• purée – sauce ingredients blended together.

Some sauces are called ‘mother’ sauces. They are basic sauces that may be served as they are but are more commonly used as a base to make other sauces, called ‘derivative’ or ‘daughter’ sauces.