Mother Sauces

The Five Mother Sauces

Let's start at the beginning; What is a sauce?

A sauce is as simple as this, a flavored, and thickened liquid. Sauces are typically served with entrees, accompaniments and desserts. A sauce should compliment the item or dish by adding flavor, appearance, intensity, and aroma. A sauce should never detract from the flavor of the main dish component, just enhance the appeal of the main item.

A Brief History of Sauces

Sauces have evolved from many factors including; social and geographical patterns, explorations, regions, and concepts of anatomy and medicine. The first traces of sauces came from ancient Romans, and they were based off of salt. The word sauce actually is derived from the Latin salus, meaning "seasoned with salt." The Romans created an extremely salty all-purpose sauce called garum. It was originally made from fish innards soaked in a brine, and fermented with wine or vinegar. Salty sauces like this were used well into the middle ages, where the Romans then started using verjus, the juice of unripe (sour) grapes to make highly acidic marinades and used them to tenderize tough meats. They soon started using those marinades to make sauces to accompany the meats. In 1375, recipes for seventeen sauces were written in a cookbook named "Tailevent." They are also included in "Le Viandier" which is the oldest French cookbook. The Renaissance period is when they started using flour as a thickener, and in the 1500's Italian chefs began creating flour- based sauces. A short time later- Fracois La Varenne- who is considered the father of French cuisine, introduced the roux (50% flour & 50% fat thickening method) to the culinary world. By the mid 1700's Escoffier, introduced the mother sauces, with their derivatives and began to integrate them into the culinary repertoire.

So what are the five mother sauces?

The five mother sauces were created by Auguste Escoffier- though he didn't know when he published them, but they would become the basis for hundreds of different sauces. Did you know that the alfredo sauce at your Italian dinner comes from a classic French sauce? How about that Hollandaise sauce on eggs benedict at almost every breakfast restaurant? Yep, that's a mother sauce too. In this post I'll introduce you to the five mother sauces, and some of their more common forms you may see them as everyday.

Bechemel Sauce

The actually definition of this sauce is, thickened seasoned milk. Yes, that is quite literally what it is. This sauce should be white when finished. To make a bechemel simmer milk with an onion pique* once this simmers add nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Gradually add a blond roux, until nappe* is reached. One of this sauces derivatives is known as mornay, this is your typical cheese sauce, from alfredo- to mac and cheese, you name it, if it's a cheese sauce it probably starts with a bechemel sauce. Some gravies are also started with a bechemel sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce

This is an emulsion sauce, made from mainly egg yolks and butter. The egg yolks are what give it the vibrant yellow color it has. The sauce also consist of lemon, salt, pepper for flavor. This sauce is probably the most difficult mother sauce to make because it has to be properly tempered the entire time it's being made. Too much heat will cause the eggs to scramble and this can also cause the butter to separate from the eggs. If the butter and the eggs separate there is no coming back from it, as it's virtually impossible to fix. (Not to brag, but I got a perfect 10/10 when I made this sauce for my exam!) You probably commonly know this sauce in relation to eggs benedict the common breakfast dish with poached eggs. It's now being used more and more in restaurants and is now served occasionally with vegetables such as asparagus and green beans.

Tomato Sauce

Like the stuff at Italian restaurants? Yes, believe it or not, it's a French based sauce! This sauce is pretty much what you think of it being, sauteed onions, crushed tomatoes, basil and oregano. To make it into marinara sauce you might leave the tomato sauce in bigger chunks and typically add a few more seasonings, like garlic, coriander or roasted red pepper flakes. More traditionally, when Escoffier made it, he added bay leaves and thickened it with roux. Today it is thickened by simmering it and letting it reduce or by pureeing the sauce. It is served with virtually anything, from seafood to chicken and pasta to vegetables.

Veloute Sauce

This sauce is by far the simplest, thicken chicken stock. It's really that easy, bring chicken stock to a boil and then slowly add a blond roux to it and let it thicken. Season it with salt and pepper and you're done! This sauce should be a pretty light brown color when it's completed. Veloute is commonly made into, and sold as supreme sauce. This is made when you add heavy cream to the veloute sauce. This is one of the most versatile mother sauces next to bechemel, because you can make it with any type of stock and while chicken stock is traditional, how Escoffier would make it, if you're serving fish; use fish stock, want to make a vegetarian dish; use vegetable stock.

Espangole Sauce

This sauce is a slightly lengthier process, it's made from bacon, tomato product, mirepoix,* brown stock and brown roux. This sauces completed color is a rich brown. It is usually simmered for at least one hour to reduce down into a thicker consistency. This sauce is very rarely served as is, and is more commonly seen as sauce bourguignonne, mushroom sauce and the creole-esque sauce Africaine., also without espangole sauce, we wouldn't have demi-glace* which is used as a base for many different sauces and dishes.

Words to know:

*Onion Pique- an onion with a bay leaf attached by puncturing it with a whole clove

*Nappe- the French word used to describe the thickness of a sauce, referring to when a sauce can coat the back of a spoon

*Mirepoix- a combination made of 50% onions, 25% celery and 25% carrots

*Demi-Glace- a 90% reduction of a sauce or stock to create a very flavorful gel, used to flavor sauces on the fly

The five sauces make up tons of sauces in all different cuisines today. The mother sauces are the basis to all sauces in cooking and thus are the first things you learn to make when learning to cook. Once you learn them, you will realize that they make up most dishes. After you perfect making them, it's like riding a bike, you never forget, it's with you forever.

Let me know what you want to learn next week! I'm open to new ideas and concepts. I'm so excited to share my knowledge with everyone as I learn in culinary school!