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A full month has gone by. Time flies! This week we will learn about the mother sauces of French cooking. Beginning with the stocks was necessary because the mother sauces utilize the stocks, which are the bases.

We start by going over what are mother sauces. Sauces in French cuisine date back to the Middle Ages. There were hundreds of sauces in the culinary repertoire. In ‘classical’ French cooking (19th and 20th century until nouvelle cuisine), sauces were a major defining characteristic of French cuisine.

In the 19th century, the chef Antonin Carême classified sauces into four families, each of which was based on a mother sauce (Also called grandes sauces). Carême’s four mother sauces were:

Béchamel:

The Béchamel sauce is also referred to as a basic white sauce. This sauce is great for making cheese based sauces. This sauce is very easy to make and is the absolute best for making a great Mac & Cheese. Here’s the general idea on how to make this sauce. I will not give exact measurements so that you may adjust it to the mouth as you see fit.

# Classical Flavorings: White Onion, Clove, Bay Leaf, Salt, White Pepper, Nutmeg
# Common Secondary Sauces: Cream Sauce, Mornay, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, Mustard Sauce, Nantua
# Classically Served With: Eggs, Fish, Steamed Poultry, Steamed Vegetables, Pastas, Veal.

# 1/4 cup unsalted butter
# 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
# 2 cups milk
# 1 small onion
studded with 2 Or 3 cloves, optional
# 1 small bay leaf
# dash dried leaf thyme, crumbled
# salt and white pepper to taste
# nutmeg, to tast

1. In sauce pan add milk and and onion
2. Allow milk and onion to simmer
3. While milk simmers. begin to make a light or blanc roux ***Important*** Remember it is easier to thin a sauce than to thicken so it is ok if you make too much roux.
4. Remove milk from the heat and remove the onion from the milk.
5. Begin to temper milk into roux wile whisking briskly.
6. Bring sauce to a boil than a simmer
7. Season with white pepper and salt to taste.

Velouté:

The Velouté sauce is a white sauce using stock and is great sauce for meat. This is very easy to make. The key is when using this sauce you want to pair it with the same meat as the stock you are using.So remember beef with beef, chicken with chicken and fish with fish.

# Classical Flavorings: None, used specifically as a base
# Common Secondary Sauces: Sauce Vin Blanc (White Wine Sauce), Sauce Supreme, Sauce Allemande, Sauce Poulette, Sauce Bercy, Sauce Normandy
# Classically Served With: Eggs, Fish, Steamed Poultry, Steamed Vegetables, Pastas, Veal.

* 2 cups of chicken (fish or veal stock)
* 4 tbsp of flour
* 4 tbsp of butter
* salt and pepper

1. Make your roux
2. Slowly add your stock while whisking briskly.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Simmer
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Espagnole:

The Espagnole sauce is a brown sauce. This sauce is widely used in cajun/creole cooking.

# Classical Flavorings: Mirepoix, Sachet (Bay Leaf, Fresh Thyme, Parsely), Tomato Puree
# Common Secondary Sauces: Demi-Glace, Bordelaise, Sauce Robert, Lyonnaise, Sauce Madeira, Sauce Bercy, Sauce Chasseur
# Classically Served With: Roasted meats, especially beef, duck, veal, lamb.

* ¾ pint (420 ml) of brown meat stock
* 1 oz (30 g) of butter
* 1 oz (30 g) chopped streaky bacon
* 1 chopped carrot
* 1 chopped shallot
* 4 tbsp of chopped mushrooms
* 3 tbsp of flour
* 2 tbsp of tomato purée
* 1 bouquet garni
* salt and pepper

1. Make a nice brown roux.

2. In a sauce pan brown your mire poix with tomato sauce

3. Once mirepoix is nice and brown you will add you stock

4. Add stock to roux while whisking briskly

5. Add Sachet d’spices:* 3 or 4 parsley stems, chopped * 1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves * 1 bay leaf * 1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns * 1 clove garlic, crushed * The above ingredients are placed into a 4″ square of cheesecloth and tied into a sack.
6.

Simmer for about 1 hour, and skim the surface if necessary.
7. Strain

Hollandaise:

Hollandaise is a sauce made with an emulsion of egg yolks and fat.It is generally used with vegetables, fish and egg dishes, such as the classic Eggs Benedict.

# Classical Flavorings: Peppercorns (Black), White Wine Vinegar, Salt, Lemon Juice, Cayenne Pepper
# Common Secondary Sauces: Bearnaise, Maltaise, Mousseline, Foyot, Choron…Also check out this post on How to Make Mayonnaise and Its Derivatives, which is based on the hollandaise technique.
# Classically Served With: Eggs (Eggs Benedict), Vegetables (especially Asparagus), light poultry dishes, fish, Beef (Bernaise Sauce)

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Salt

1. Vigorously whisk, the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl until the mixture is thickened.

2. Place the bowl over a saucepan or barely simmering water. Whisk rapidly, be careful not to let the mixture get too hot or the eggs will scramble.

3. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. ***IMPORTANT*** do not add butter to rapidly or you will ruin the sauce and have to start over.

4. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt.

5. Serve warm.

Tomato:

The Tomato sauce isa great sauce to make in large volume. It freezes well and can be used on various dishes.

# Classical Flavorings: Salt Pork, Mirepoix, Garlic, White Veal Stock, Salt & Pepper, Sugar (Just enough to balance acidity, not enough to make the sweetness perceptible).
# Common Secondary Sauces: Modern variations concentrate more on seasonings giving rise to sauces such as Creole, Portuguese and Spanish Sauce Tomato.
# Classically Served With: Pasta, Fish, Vegetables (Especially Grilled), Polenta, Veal, Poultry (Especially Chicken), Breads and Dumplings such as Gnocchi.

INGREDIENTS:

1 diced onion

4 minced garlic cloves

3-ounces extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons dried, crushed thyme or use fresh (double up if your using fresh)

2 (28-ounce) cans of crushed tomatoes

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, but not brown

2. Add the thyme cook 5 minutes
3. Add the tomatoes.
4. Bring to a boil
5. Simmer stirring occasionally
6. Salt and pepper to taste

There you have it the five”Mother” sauces! These sauces are just the foundation to all the sauces you can create. have fun with it and tweak them here and there to your own liking. Cooking is supposed to be fun and an adventure. Before you go off start making your sauces here are a few tips.

* It is always easier to thin a sauce than to thicken it once all ingredients are combined
* Do not rush through the Hollandaise, if you do all your hard work will go down the drain.
* When using a double boiler make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl and the water is at a low simmer not boil.
* Never let a sauce boil after the egg yolks are added as the sauce may curdle.

Quiz:

What is a Hollandaise made with?

What is a Mire Poix?

What color is an Espagnole sauce?

What is Béchamel sauce referred to as?

Assignment:

Choose 1 sauce from the above list. Try making it and pair with suggested meat, fish, pasta or grain of your choice. After you have done that please leave a comment on this article and tell me how it came out. Also you can send pictures of your creations to [email protected]