Splitting sauce

jendafer1

Hi everyone!

Need a little advice - so I have a recipe for a chicken pie that I adore, however pretty much each time I make it the sauce splits. Basically the recipe is:
Fry up some onions (+whatever veg you want to throw in, I usually go with carrots, celery and mushrooms)
Then add can of condensed soup (cream of mushroom) with equal quantity of milk. Add cooked chicken and heat through.
Allow to cool.

When cooled, place into pie dish and cover with puff pastry (I use the jus-rolls - so handy and delicious!)

However, my problem is that when the pie is ready, the sauce has split. Although still tasty, it doesnt look as appetising and is rather liquidy. Does anyone have any suggestions for why this is happening or does anyone have a recipe for an alternative sauce that I could use for this type of dish (preferably mushroomy flavoured!)

All your help is much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jendafer

smallgarden

i wonder if the sauce is splitting.the cooking will probably release steam and juices from the chicken.also the fat from the pastry might oooze into the sauce which might explain the runniness and split look but could be totally wrong.a basic bechamel/white sauce with mushrooms might work.id say if you google mushroom vol au vents theyl be a few options

jendafer1

Hi everyone - I found a cure for my splitting sauce so thought I'd add it here in case anyone else has the same problem.

The problem was that the sauce was too thin to begin with, and so when its reheated in the oven, it will naturally thin out again so and so then splits. To solve this, just make the sauce really thick (much thicker than you'd want it) by adding rue - problem solved!

nompere

jendafer1 wrote: »

Hi everyone - I found a cure for my splitting sauce so thought I'd add it here in case anyone else has the same problem.

The problem was that the sauce was too thin to begin with, and so when its reheated in the oven, it will naturally thin out again so and so then splits. To solve this, just make the sauce really thick (much thicker than you'd want it) by adding rue - problem solved!

I generally save my comments on spellings for "Spell Czechs" but this one has a foody theme anyway and it might save someone from making an inedible supper.

Rue is a herb with an incredibly bitter taste - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Rue. What you really want is roux, a mixture of fat and flour.

jendafer1

Lol! An excellent correction - thank you very much! When I was writing it I knew there was something wrong with it - but I couldnt figure out what!

lily lou

Could you leave the milk out of the sauce? If sauce is too thin this will probably help.

nompere

lily lou wrote: »

Could you leave the milk out of the sauce? If sauce is too thin this will probably help.

I think that is the answer.

When I make a white sauce that's going to go into something else - like a fish pie, for example - then I make the sauce so thick that the spoon will stand up in it. When the pie comes out of the oven the sauce has reched the correct consistency.