Sauces
How to emulsify a dressing or sauce
Whisk oil and a watery liquid (vinegar, lemon, pasta water) into a smooth, creamy mix that doesn't split.
Step by step
- Start with the watery part plus a helper that holds things together: mustard, egg yolk, honey or starch.
- Whisk while adding the oil in a thin, slow stream.
- For pasta sauces, toss hot pasta, cheese and a splash of starchy pasta water hard and fast.
- If it splits, whisk a spoonful of the broken sauce into a fresh bit of mustard or water, then whisk the rest back in slowly.
How you know it's done
The mixture is creamy and evenly cloudy with no puddles of oil.
Common mistakes
- Pouring the oil in all at once.
- Too much heat on cheese sauces, which turns them oily and clumpy.
Simmerbee recipes that use it (4)
In those recipes the word is underlined in the steps; tap it for the short version. In hands-free cook mode, ask “How do I emulsify?”
Related techniques
More sauces
DeglazeReduceRouxCornstarch slurryStrainSeason to tasteGlazeBloom spices