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I'm trying to write down a recipe for Italian sweet sauce that is used for salads but can also be used on pasta and meat. It has bay leaves in it but I'm not sure when to add and remove them?

I've written a first draft of the recipe and method on Food.com.

2 1⁄2 cups water
4 cups Italian dressing
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons sugar
1⁄3 cup paprika
1 cup five-spice powder
1 cup Egg Beaters egg substitute
1⁄2 cup cream
1⁄3 cup Dijon mustard

Bring the water,dressing & musturd to a simmer. Add salt and bay leaves. Stir in sugar gradually with the spices. Temper the egg beaters and cream with the simmering liquid in the cooking vessel. Remove the bay leaves and then add the Egg Beaters and the cream to make the sauce richer and more creamy. Reduce to 1/2 and pour over whatever you want to serve this with!

Considering the method I've written in the draft, do these timings for adding and removing the bay leaf make sense or is there a more standard time to add or remove them?

Abraham Ray
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    Mostly I just want specifics as the last time I made it I was 5 – Abraham Ray Jul 21 '17 at 13:42
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    and btw, 1 CUP five spice powder? Really? – Kate Gregory Jul 21 '17 at 20:58
  • I also put them down in the amount that I remembered, so I'm expecting at least some bugs in the recipe as written . – Abraham Ray Jul 22 '17 at 00:14
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    If you are going to contribute a recipe to a public site wouldn't it be appropriate to actual try the recipe a few times recently. May be try removing the bay leaves at different times and comparing the results. – Cos Callis Jul 25 '17 at 17:24
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    I'd suggest you try this recipe. 1 cup 5 spice powder seems like way too much for anything. Also, consider the size of the measurements in this recipe -- this should result in close to a quart of sauce. – Batman Jul 25 '17 at 17:27
  • Have you actually used egg beaters for this before, or is this a recent substitute? – ChefAndy Jul 25 '17 at 21:25
  • Fairly recent @SomeInterwebDev – Abraham Ray Jul 25 '17 at 21:26
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    It seems to be that you'd mostly be getting lean egg protein out of the mixture and would be better off with just the cream, or a few egg yolks instead of the egg beaters. Have you tried the technique before? Does it work well? – ChefAndy Jul 25 '17 at 21:31
  • I have VERY little sense of smell/taste @SomeInterwebDev – Abraham Ray Jul 25 '17 at 21:32
  • Thusly I'll need some help in the details. Btw how much 5-spice powder would you recommend @Batman – Abraham Ray Jul 26 '17 at 00:59
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    If you don't have a sense of smell/taste, maybe you shouldn't be writing a recipe. I don't know how much 5 spice powder to put in -- try the recipe with different amounts on your friends. – Batman Jul 26 '17 at 01:10
  • I'll try that @Batman – Abraham Ray Jul 26 '17 at 01:10

1 Answers1

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I would put the bay leaves in right at the beginning (with the water, dressing, and mustard) and remove them right before you temper the eggs since you don't want to accidentally grab a bay leaf and whisk it into the eggs when tempering.

Also, just a tip for recipes, list the ingredients in the order you use them in the recipes (that means put the mustard amount right up after the amount of Italian dressing, for instance).

lspare
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  • Thanks, I'll try to keep that in mind, also it's supposed to taste somewhat sweet if it helps. – Abraham Ray Jul 26 '17 at 00:58
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    As others have suggested above, definitely try making your recipe to make sure it's what you think it should be. As a guide, I would start with no more than 1 tablespoon of each spice. That's a really large amount, as most recipes call for 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of each spice. – lspare Jul 27 '17 at 19:10
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    @lspare the recipe makes a total of 2.5 liters of sauce. I wouldn't "play around" with such small amounts as 1 tbsp of spice, but probably start at around 35 g of each spice and go up from there. – rumtscho Jul 28 '17 at 15:52