The Mother Sauces

These five sauces plus all of their derivative sauces make up the essence of French cooking. Understanding the techniques used to make them is important but in general, they take a lot of time and really, who has three hours to make dinner?

Brown veal stock is the base for Espagnole (aka brown sauce) and it is thickened with brown roux. In class, the Espagnole was reduced to make an old world demi-glace which was then used to make a fortified wine sauce. Unfortunately, I was out of town on the day we made derivative sauces but I tasted the final product and it was delicious.

The definition of Velouté is any white stock thickened with a blond roux. I would never serve velouté as is because it’s basically a bland gravy but I image the derivate sauces are pretty good.

Béchamel is the base sauce for Mornay, which makes an absolutely delicious macaroni and cheese. Here is the recipe we used in class:

*Most of the recipes we use in class will have ingredients measured out by weight because it is much more accurate. Starting next week I will be posting a lot of recipes so if you want to make any of them I suggest you invest in a scale.

3 oz butter

3 oz flour

1 quart milk

6-8 swipes nutmeg

Small piece onion

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

1 cup cream

4 oz Gruyere, grated

4 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano

Salt and pepper, to taste

• Melt butter in a medium sized sauce pan
• Add flour and stir constantly over medium heat for 2-3 minutes (you just made a roux!)
• Add 1 cup of milk and bing it to a boil while whisking
• Add another cup of milk and bring it to a boil while whisking
• Add the rest of the milk and bring it to a boil (the last three steps are important to prevent the sauce from becoming clumpy)
• Tie the onion, bay leaf, and cloves into a piece of cheesecloth and add it to the sauce with the nutmeg and a pinch of salt
• Simmer the sauce about 20 minutes and then remove the cheesecloth
• Add the cream and bring the sauce back up to a boil
• Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the cheeses
• Season with salt and pepper
• Whisk the sauce until it is smooth
• Use immediately

The final sauce if very welcoming to other flavors so add your favorite herb, your favorite vegetable, and some pasta. I’m sure it will be delicious.

Tomato sauce and Hollandaise are the last two mother sauces. Making the hollandaise required a lot of whisking but having a sore arm was totally worth it. My favorite Chef Chris quote of the day was, “You can buy love! It comes in the form of eggs benedict with a perfect hollandaise .”