You may or may not know that there are 5 “Mother Sauces” of the food world. These are just the five most basic sauces in the industry and they’re important for any chef – professional or not – to know. But today I want to get into how you can transition them into something a little different.
The five essentials, coined the Mother Sauces by the Father of classic French cuisine, Auguste Escoffier, include Béchamel, Espagnole, Veloute, Hollandaise, and the classic Tomate Sauce. So let’s start with what each one is exactly.
Béchamel
A roux of butter and flour cooked in milk that usually serves as a base for Mornay – béchamel with cheese.
Espagnole
There are many variations in how this mother sauce is made and the derivatives it serves as a base for, but the basics are the same. A very dark brown roux is enhanced with either veal stock or water plus browned bones, bits of beef, vegetables, and various seasonings. The sauce is reduced and frequently skimmed adding tomato paste or fresh pureed tomatoes towards the end of the process, following by a final reducing.
Veloute
Veloute sauce is made with a light stock, like chicken or fish, combined and thickened with a blonde roux. So essentially, the sauce is made with equal parts butter and flour (the roux) and stock. Salt and pepper are usually added for seasoning as well. As a side note, Veloutes are usually named by the type of stock used in preparation. For example – Chicken Veloute.
Hollandaise
One of my favorites! Hollandaise sauce is made by emulsifying egg yolk and liquid butter which is then seasoned with lemon juice, salt, and pepper (usually white or cayenne).
Sauce Tomate
Yes, this is the classic tomato sauce that we all know and love. However, traditionally, this sauce has more flavor and takes a bit longer to make than what we are used to having on pizza and pasta. To make traditional Sauce Tomate, a chef renders salt pork before sautéing aromatic vegetables. THEN he/she adds tomatoes, stock, and a ham bone before letting everything simmer in the oven for a couple hours. Traditionally, the sauce would then be thickened with roux, and some chefs still do this, but the tomatoes themselves really are enough to thicken the sauce.
Once you are familiar with how to prepare one, two, or all of the mother sauces, you can start to play around in your kitchen with different spices, different stocks, and extra ingredients. It’s amazing how different vegetables can alter the taste of a sauce and the depth that wine can add as well.
While some people view cooking as a science, measuring out every ingredient and sticking to exact recipes, others view it as an art. You turn it into an art when you experiment. Sometimes you’ll fail. I certainly have. But then other times you’ll be so successful you’ll wish you had written down every step you took so you can recreate your masterpiece again.
Whichever method you choose – enjoy!
Rebecca McKinney
I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.
So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!
Eat well & travel often,
Becky McKinney
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