Knowing which ingredients to reach for and how a product should be processed are the keys to a successful product launch. This is especially true of sauces and marinades since they act as vehicles for, and transporters of, the key flavors of a formulation. With the goal of creating or recreating recipes more familiar to the restaurant or home chef, manufacturers bring both art and science to bear in order to ensure saucy success.
Considering the final use of the product is the best direction to proper formulation for the food scientist or research chef. For sauces, important considerations are whether the product will be applied before or after cooking; and at what point in the chain from production to table will the final product be employed.