130,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery 🚀 Auckland Bookstore • Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

Mastering Sauces

The Home Cook's Guide to New Techniques for Fresh Flavors
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Mastering Sauces by Susan Volland offers a fresh, vibrant approach to sauce-making, focusing on three fundamental principles: Maximise Flavor, Manipulate Texture, and Season Confidently. With over 150 recipes that embrace seasonal produce, international ingredients, and alternative diets, this book encourages cooks to create sauces with confidence and creativity. Volland’s conversational style explains the mechanics behind sauces, including tips for adapting recipes and remedies for common problems, making it an essential, versatile resource.
Read More
Format: Hardback
$7599
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for home cooks and culinary enthusiasts eager to deepen their sauce-making skills across a range of cuisines and dietary preferences, from beginners to serious cooks looking for creative inspiration.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The definitive cookbook on contemporary sauces that highlights fresh flavours and updates classics.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Finally, a cookbook on sauces that is fresh, vibrant, and alive. In Mastering Sauces, Susan Volland veers away from traditional lesson plans and presents sauce-making in a whole new way. She focuses on how great cooks all over the world make sauces with impromptu élan—they splash and drizzle, slather and douse. Great sauces are made by following three fundamental principles: Maximise Flavour, Manipulate Texture, and Season Confidently. Armed with these principles, you can make any sauce your way.

In addition to over 150 recipes that reflect today's tastes for seasonal produce, international ingredients, and alternative dietary choices, there are dozens of tips and tables suggesting ways to adapt and customise sauces. There are innovative meatless reductions, international sauces that start with a can of diced tomatoes, and an endlessly adaptable stir-fry sauce. In a conversational and very readable style, Volland teaches the "whys" and "hows" of sauce-making so cooks can better understand their ingredients to create the dish they want. And because she knows that even the best cooks have off-nights, she finishes with a list of remedies for faltering sauces.

Mastering Sauces is the go-to resource for all cooks, all tastes, and all diets.

16 pages of colour photos

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Mastering Sauces is acclaimed by culinary experts: Publishers Weekly calls it "necessary equipment" alongside a whisk and double boiler; James Peterson deems it a “must-buy” for serious cooks; Nathan Myhrvold praises its comprehensive guidance on versatile techniques and international flavours; while renowned chefs Eric Ripert and Jennifer McLagan highlight its importance for home cooks seeking confidence and knowledge in sauce-making.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393241853

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 26 October 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Illustration: 16 pages of color photographs

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 41.0mm

Width: 218.0mm

Height: 262.0mm

Weight: 1418g

Pages: 496

About the Author

Susan Volland is a classically trained chef and cookbook collaborator based in Seattle. She is the author of Searing Inspiration and Mastering Sauces, named a Best Cookbook of the Year by the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.

More from Cooking & Food

View all
  • Always Delicious
    New Release
    Always Delicious
    The bestselling Vanya Insull, one of our favourite foodies and the creator of VJ Cooks, returns with her fourth cookbook—her best and tastiest collection yet. Packed full of the approachable, reliable recipes she's famous for, Always Delicious covers every occasion with Vanya's signature laidback style. Begin with some light bites, perfect for sharing platters, relaxed lunches, and easy entertaining. Fire...
    Paperback
    $3999
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Ottolenghi SIMPLE TOO
    New Release
    Ottolenghi SIMPLE TOO
    For the three million home cooks around the world who loved Simple, Ottolenghi brings us 135 brand-new easy recipes that are full of flavour, intensity and creativity For the millions of home cooks who loved Ottolenghi SIMPLE, discover the pleasure of keeping things SIMPLE TOO.It’s a noisy world out there, so stop, take a minute or two, listen to the soup...
    Hardback
    $5999
    Elsewhere:
    $7500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Dish Chook Book
    The dish Chook Book is designed to banish boring with a huge range of chicken dishes that will become regulars on the menu for years to come. Created by dish editor Sarah Tuck and food editor Claire Aldous, these recipes range from simply scrumptious to elegantly sensational. With chicken as a base, New Zealand s most loved protein is showcased...
    Paperback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Thyme to Cook
    Free Gift
    New Release
    Thyme to Cook
    Thyme to Cook is a practical guide to growing, harvesting and cooking real food at home to nourish our bodies and minds! From successful cookery writer Emma Galloway. 'A treasure trove of a book - an approachable and very beautiful guide to growing your own food and easy and original ways to cook and eat it.' Anna Jones, author of...
    Hardback
    $4699
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • How We Cook
    New Release
    How We Cook
    Welcome to How We Cook: The Two Raw Sisters' best cookbook yet, with more than 100 ridiculously good recipes that will help you cook with confidence. The Two Raw Sisters are here to make healthy eating feel easy and genuinely achievable. Inside, you'll find adaptable base recipes, from granola and smoothies to salads and soups, to muffins and rocky road,...
    Hardback
    $4299
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • 20 Minute Meals
    On Sale
    20% off
    New Release
    20 Minute Meals
    Fast food is good food in 20 minutes or less with Jamie . . . 20-Minute Meals solves all your dinner dilemmas, giving you quick, tasty meals every night of the week. These incredible recipes will be on the table in just 20 minutes or less. With a maximum of ten ingredients in each recipe and 70% hitting daily nutritional...
    Hardback
    $4500
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Saint Peter Saint Peter
    Free Gift
    On Sale
    11% off
    Saint Peter
    In 2026, Saint Peter marks a decade at the forefront of global dining – a restaurant that has quietly but decisively reshaped the way we think about fish. In Saint Peter: Chapter & Verse, Josh Niland brings that world to the page for the first time: a landmark work that captures the philosophy, precision and daily rhythm of one of...
    Hardback
    $6500
    Elsewhere:
    $9000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Soph's Plant Kitchen 30 in 30: 30g of protein, 30 minutes or less
    An essential cookbook for anyone looking to increase the amount of plant protein and fibre they eat without spending hours in the kitchen. Instagram sensation and Sunday Times bestselling author @Sophsplantkitchen has created her very best plant-based, high fibre recipes: all with at least 30 grammes of protein, all on the table in 30 minutes or less and all mouth-wateringly...
    Hardback
    $4800
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    15% off
    Lunchbox Bible
    From the team behind the bestselling sensation Baby Food Bible, Lunchbox Bible is your go-to recipe book for feeding children healthy, allergen-friendly, and nutritionist-approved food that’s guaranteed to please. With 75 recipes and a visual library containing 75 different lunchboxes, this comprehensive guide has been carefully created with time-poor parents in mind. The recipes are simple, quick, nutrient-dense, and get...
    Hardback
    $4000
    Elsewhere:
    $5999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    On Sale
    20% off
    Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Fitwaffle's Easy 6
    Discover how simple cooking can be every day with over 100 easy, tasty recipes using only 6 ingredients. "My mission is simple. I want to help people feel more confident in the kitchen and show that baking and cooking don't need to be complicated. Whether you're brand new in the kitchen or you've been doing it for years, my goal...
    Hardback
    $4199
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • So Good Express
    Simple, nutritious recipes for when time is of the essence. Bringing together delicious and easy-to-follow recipes with the sound advice of a fully qualified nutritionist, number one bestselling author Emily English shows us that good food can make you feel amazing and bring you joy, every single day. Blending her nutrition expertise with a love of simple, fresh food, Emily...
    Hardback
    $4799
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

Cooking & Food lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!