The Sauce...

It can make or break a dish. IMO it rates as an important facet not to be overlooked.

Show me yours and I'll show you mine.

No, tomato ketchup has zero credibility.

Does mayo and mustard count ?

DD, you already showed me yours....vodka sauce. Best sauce ever, despite the little matter of the burning hair :-)

For a quick and useful fake gravy/sauce over bangers, chops, etc from the barbie, I get a lot of mileage from an "O-o" cube to a cup of water or meat stock with a heapy teaspoon of cornflour, and a hazel-nut sized lump of butter.

Nuke stirring often until thick and glossy. Pinches of dried mixed herbs & salt and pepper to taste.

(Can be fancied up with shreds of black mushroom, fresh tarragon, parsley, tomato concentrate, whatever .)

By no means one of the genuine classic brown sauces, but nobody complains. Quite the reverse in fact.

Saucy

There is a cracker to accompany a whole fish that I always get wrong but it involves a serious amount of good Vermouth reduced in a pan with butter and....it is the 'and' bit I get wrong...could be capers...

I'll ask my Saffer mate at work tomorrow as he introduced me to this...

A while back I checked out How to Cook Without a Book from the library. I became very enamored of the author's technique for "sauté something and then make a pan sauce." It's basically the same recipe with a zillion variations. You saute the chicken, pork, veal, fish, shrimp, whatever in butter and/or oil. Then you set the meat aside to keep warm while you make the sauce. A real basic one would be to sauté shallots or scallions briefly, then add a snort of wine and reduce for a few minutes. Add salt & pepper.

But it takes off from there. After the wine is reduced, take of heat and swirl in soft butter. Top with chopped parsley. Use lemon juice instead of or in addition to wine. Or chicken broth. Or beef broth. Use vinegar instead of wine. After the wine is reduced, add heavy cream. Make the wine sherry or port. Sauté mushrooms. Replace the shallot with garlic. Add a fresh herb or two--tarragon, basil, savory, or something else. Throw in a chopped tomato and some basil. Add a few drops of truffle oil if there are mushrooms. Ad infinitum.

You are right that the sauce makes it. Any of these pan sauces turns Fried Whatever into Sautéed Special in only a few minutes.

Like #4 says - adding a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly and/or a squeeze of clear honey is what I do...

I use Thai fish sauce in dishes I wouldn't dream of adding fish to - but it works.

I love Fried Whatever.

You're lobbing softballs, Dawg.