corn starch

Sweet and Sour Sauce recipe - pork not included
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Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe

This is a simple homemade recipe for sweet and sour sauce. Sweet and sour sauce is used primarily for chicken or pork dishes, but can also be used for fish as well.

This recipe seems a little bit simple, and isn’t 100% authentic, but it is a delicious sweet and sour sauce you can make in about ten minutes.

Sweet and Sour Sauce recipe - pork not included

Pork not included.

Sweet and Sour Sauce Ingredients

To make about two cups of sweet and sour sauce you will use:

  • Three quarters of a cup of sugar
  • Two thirds of a cup of water
  • A third of a cup of white vinegar
  • A quarter cup of soy sauce
  • About a tablespoon of ketchup
  • And about two tablespoons of corn starch

To make more sauce, just multiply the ingredients. Don’t worry too much about being exact with your math. Minor variations taste pretty much the same, anyways.

How to Make Sweet and Sour Sauce

Bring a saucepan to medium-high heat and start combining ingredients.

It’s usually easiest to combine the water, vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup and corn starch first, and slowly stir in the sugar. It’s quite a bit of sugar and you want to make sure it fully dissolves to ensure your sauce ends up delicious.

While you’re stirring, your mixture should gradually come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, slightly reduce the heat. Continue simmering until it starts to thicken.

The cooking time should only be about five to seven minutes, but going a bit longer is okay to get a thicker sauce.

Tips for Making Sweet and Sour Sauce

  • You can substitute out the white vinegar for rice vinegar if you want to get all fancy and authenticy, but most people prefer the familiar taste of white vinegar.
  • Don’t worry if the sauce continues at a rolling boil when you reduce the heat during the cooking time. It doesn’t end up “burnt” unless you really, really overdo it. The higher the temperature while you simmer it, the quicker it cooks. Bringing it down a bit further is probably the best plan, though.
Beef Gravy
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How to Make Homemade Beef Gravy

You can’t just buy some powder or a can of gravy and call it gravy. That’s not gravy. Use this recipe for homemade beef gravy to make potatoes or most meats into a fantastic version of the same meal.

(For a quicker, simple gravy, check out this easy recipe for homemade brown gravy.)

Ingredients for Making Homemade Beef Gravy

  • Beef drippings. Beef drippings are just what’s left after making a roast. So you may have to make a roast.
  • Beef broth. I’d recommend homemade beef broth, but you can use the canned stuff if you’d like.
  • Corn starch

Beef Gravy

How to Make Homemade Beef Gravy

After you’ve made your roast beef, remove the meat from the pan and put it away safely. You should probably eat it at some point.

Pour all the juices in the pan into a large bowl. Let it sit for a bit. The fat will rise to the top as the juice settles. Remove as much of it as you can before proceeding.

Pour the beef drippings back into your roasting pan. Add two cups of beef broth and set the heat to medium. Use a wooden spoon to stir the drippings up and stir it around the pan. Mix the drippings and the stock as well as you can.

Add two tablespoons of corn starch to a small bowl. Add four tablespoons of beef broth to the corn starch and whisk it until you have a paste. Nothing crumbly, just paste.

If you add this to the drippings in the pan before getting it down to a clean paste you won’t be able to do it later.

Add the paste to the pan with the drippings and the additional broth. Whisk until everything becomes thick, smooth, and gravy-like.

Tips for Making Homemade Gravy

  • You can use wine in place of some of the stock. A lot of gravies for fancy meals incorporate wine. Use red wine for beef or white wine for poultry.
  • Ensure you remove as much fat as possible before proceeding. Even after you have finished making the gravy the fat will settle on top. It makes your gravy look terrible.
  • You can use bouillon in place of the drippings if you want a less authentic but more accessible gravy.