Strain, leave or immersion blender for sauces

[fracmeister]

I make numerous sauces that frequently start with onions, garlic, peppers of different type and wind up with a liquid that has many, mini chunks of said veggies in it

i have seen people strain these and leave them as is. I always take a handheld immersion blender to the still hot mix and homogenize now wouldnt do that for a salsa or similar but to me, sauces are not clumpy

what do you do?

[TripleB]

Depends on the sauce and purpose.

For my Tri-Tip mop sauce, I emulsify the oil, red wine vinegar, red wine and mustard and then add the grated garlic and chopped parsley. The garlic adds flavor and parsley adds color and texture.

For my spaghetti sauce, I emulsify the sauce when it is done cooking.

Salsa, no emulsifying.

So just like you

[Argoboy]

I have discovered the immersion blender and I use now for all my sauces, recently I made Mrs. Meatheads Italian salad dressing which we like as a chicken marinade and I used the immersion blender to mix it up and it has stayed mixed which was pleasant surprise.

[jerrybell]

I leave as-is. I have a go-to sauce I make for ribs and decided to fancy it up one time by straining the bits out. My wife and kids got up during the meal and went to the strainer to add bits back into their sauce.

[barelfly]

Depends on how you will serve it. If through a squeeze bottle, having it blended up keeps it from clogging.

if spooning the sauce out, then I’m not as picky. But most of the sauces I make go into a squeeze bottle, so I do blend them or use the immersion blender. Even a little red chile flake can jack up the flow.

[SmokingPat]

Thumbs down on pepper flakes in squeeze bottles, too. I use filtered hot sauces if I need to use a bottle.

[Attjack]

I lean towards leaving the fiber in most things.

[Huskee]

Gentle reminder, the Recipes Only channels are for posting actual recipes. All other discussion, including asking for recipes, goes into the Discussion channels. Thanks!

[fracmeister]

oops. i wish I could say it was the first time i posted in the wrong spot but it is at least the first time in a long time

[Jerod Broussard]

Blender, don't like chunks.

[lbyer]

I think it depends on how the sauce will be dispensed. The first time I made Meathead's KC BBQ sauce the small onion pieces clogged up the empty Heinz ketchup bottle tip. Since then I use an immersion blender to make the sauce flow out of the bottles.

[Mosca]

The only sauce I make regularly is Meathead’s KC BBQ sauce, and I strain that. It seems to last longer in the fridge when I do. For Italian ragus, like pasta sauce, I leave it as made.