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When you hear the term “Mother Sauce,” what do you think of? The five mother sauces are just the five staple, basic, sauces that every home and professional chef alike should be familiar with.

I’m willing to bet that no matter how experienced you are, you know at least two of them:

1. Classic tomato sauce
2. Hollandaise sauce

But do you know about the last three?

3. Espagnole sauce
4. Veloute sauce
5. Bechamel sauce

So why are these five the mother sauces? It’s simple, really. Each of these five sauces can be thoroughly enjoyed on their own, of course. But they’re also the base of various secondary sauces (aka small sauces).

At its very core, a sauce is simply a liquid, a thickening agent, and some seasoning. Each of the five mother sauces has a different liquid base AND a different thickening agent … kind of. Three of the sauces (Bechamel, Veloute, and Espagnole), are all thickened with a roux but in each case the roux is cooked for a different amount of time to achieve the proper color.

Now, looking up recipes is insanely simple these days. You just need to type what you want to make into your Internet search bar and BAM! There ya have it. So instead of sharing a recipe for each mother sauce, I’m going to share which secondary sauces you can make with each. Sound good?

1. Classic Tomato
   Can evolve into:

• Spanish Sauce
• Creole Sauce
• Portuguese Sauce
• Provencale Sauce

2. Hollandaise
   Can evolve into:

• Bearnaise Sauce
• Dijon Sauce
• Foyot Sauce
• Choron Sauce
• Maltaise Sauce
• Mousseline Sauce

3. Espagnole
   Can evolve into:

• Red Wine Reduction
• Robert Sauce
• Charcutiere Sauce
• Mushroom Sauce
• Port Wine Sauce

4. Veloute
   Can evolve into:

• Normandy Sauce
• Bercy Sauce
• Shrimp Sauce
• Herb Seafood Sauce
• Hungarian Sauce

5. Bechamel
   Can evolve into:

• Cream Sauce
• Mornay Sauce
• Cheese Sauce
• Mustard Sauce
• Soubise Sauce

That’s a solid list to start with but believe me, I just scratched the surface. I love looking at cooking as a combination of art and science. Playing with flavors is always so fun, don’t you agree?! And how cool is it that if you can master one or all of the mother sauces, that you have basically mastered a whole list of others??

Get cooking, friends.

• About
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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

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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