What Are The Mother Sauces?
In the culinary arts, the term "mother sauce" refers to any one of five basic sauces, which are the starting points for making various secondary sauces or "small sauces."
They're called mother sauces because each one is like the head of its own unique family of sauces.
A sauce is essentially a liquid plus some sort of thickening agent along with other flavoring ingredients. Each of the five mother sauces is made with a different liquid, and a different thickening agent — although three of the mother sauces are thickened withroux, in each case the roux is cooked for a different amount of time to produce a lighter or darker color.
Below we will break down the five mother sauces and show examples of some of the small sauces that can be made from each mother sauce.
1.Béchamel Sauce Recipe
Photo © Philippe Desnerck / Getty Images
Béchamel is probably the simplest of the mother sauces because it doesn't require making stock. If you have milk, flour and butter, you can make a very basic béchamel.
Béchamel is made by thickening hot milk with a simple white roux. The sauce is then flavored with onion, cloves and nutmeg and simmered until it is creamy and velvety smooth.
Béchamel can be used as an ingredient in baked pasta recipes like lasagna, and also in casseroles. But it's also the basis for some of the most common white sauces, cream sauces and cheese-based sauces. Here are some of the small sauces made from béchamel:
- Crème Sauce
- Mornay Sauce
- Soubise Sauce
- Nantua Sauce
- Cheddar Cheese Sauce
- Mustard Sauce
Photo © Philippe Desnerck / Getty Images
Velouté is another relatively simple mother sauce. Velouté sauce is made by thickening white stock with roux and then simmering it for a while. While thechicken velouté, made withchicken stock, is the most common type, there is also aveal veloutéandfish velouté.
Each of the veloutés forms the basis of its own respective secondary mother sauce. For instance, chicken velouté fortified with cream becomes theSuprême Sauce. Veal velouté thickened with a liaison of egg yolks and cream becomes theAllemende Sauce. And the fish velouté plus white wine and heavy cream becomes theWhite Wine Sauce.
Small sauces from velouté can be derived from the velouté directly, or from each of the three secondary sauces. For example:
- Normandy Sauce
- Bercy Sauce
- Hungarian Sauce
- Mushroom Sauce
- Aurora Sauce
- Poulette Sauce
- Shrimp Sauce
- Herb Seafood Sauce
Photo © Philippe Desnerck / Getty Images
The Espagnole Sauce, also sometimes called Brown Sauce, is a slightly more complex mother sauce. Espagnole is made by thickeningbrown stockwith roux. So in that sense it's similar to a velouté. The difference is that espagnole is made with tomato purée andmirepoixfor deeper color and flavor. Moreover, brown stock itself is made from bones that have first been roasted to add color and flavor.
The espagnole is traditionally further refined to produce a rich, deeply flavorful sauce called ademi-glace. The demi-glace is then the starting point for making the various small sauces. A demi-glace consists of a mixture of half espagnole, half brown stock, which is then reduced by half.
For a short-cut, you could skip the demi-glace step and make the small sauces directly from the espagnole. You'll lose some flavor and body, but you'll save time. Here are some examples of small sauces made from espagnole:
- Marchand de Vin Sauce (Red Wine Reduction)
- Robert Sauce
- Charcutière Sauce
- Lyonnaise Sauce
- Chasseur Sauce
- Bercy Sauce
- Mushroom Sauce
- Madeira Sauce
- Port Wine Sauce
Photo © Philippe Desnerck / Getty Images
Hollandaise is unlike the mother sauces we've mentioned so far, but as you'll see, it is really just a liquid and a thickening agent, plus flavorings. Hollandaise is a tangy, buttery sauce made by slowly whiskingclarified butterinto warm egg yolks. So the liquid here is the clarified butter and the thickening agent is the egg yolks.
Hollandaise is anemulsifiedsauce, and we use clarified butter when making a Hollandaise because whole butter, which contains water and milk solids, can break the emulsion. Clarified butter is just pure butterfat, so it helps the emulsion remain stable.
Hollandaise sauce can be used on its own, and it's particularly delicious on seafood, vegetables and eggs. But there are also a number of small sauces that can be made from Hollandaise:
- Béarnaise Sauce
- Dijon Sauce
- Foyot Sauce
- Choron Sauce
- Maltaise Sauce
- Mousseline Sauce
Photo © Philippe Desnerck / Getty Images
The fifth mother sauce is the classic Tomate Sauce. This sauce resembles the traditional tomato sauce that we might use on pasta and pizza, but it's got much more flavor and requires a few more steps to make.
First we render salt pork and then sauté aromatic vegetables. Then we add tomatoes, stock and a ham bone, and simmer it in the oven for a couple of hours. Cooking the sauce in the oven helps heat it evenly and without scorching.
Traditionally, the sauce tomate was thickened with roux, and some chefs still prepare it this way. But in reality, the tomatoes themselves are enough to thicken the sauce. Here are a few small sauces made from the classic tomate sauce:
- Spanish Sauce
- Creole Sauce
- Portuguese Sauce
- Provençale Sauce
Roux based
The use of roux in food preparation.
A roux is a mixture of equal quantities of fat (butter, margarine or dripping) and flour
They are extensively used in food preparation to make sauces and thicken soups
Sauces can be sweet or savoury
There are three stages of roux.
Stage 1.
White roux – roux blanc
Equal quantities of fat and flour cooked lightly without colour. The fat is heated in a saucepan and the flour added. It is mixed gently over heat for a few seconds without colour.
The roux is lightly cooled and heated onion infused milk is added slowly in stages. Stir the milk into the roux to remove any lumps adding more milk in stages and stirring continuously. When all the milk is added the sauce, Béchamel, is simmered over heat for 20 minutes. During the simmering process cover the sauce with greased cartouche to avoid a skin forming. Stir occasionally so that the sauce does not burn. Strain and use as required.
Stage 2.
Blond roux – Blonde roux
Equal quantities of fat and flour as for stage 1.
The fat is heated in a saucepan and flour is added. The flour is mixed well and the roux is cooked gently over heat for a few minutes – the cooking stage is a little longer than for white roux allowing a little colour. This is known as a sandy texture. DO NOT OVER COLOUR THIS ROUX
White stock is added in stages to the roux, mixing continuously to avoid lumps. This sauce is known as a veloute and is cooked for at least 1 - 1½ hrs.
During the simmering process cover with a greased cartouche and do not burn the sauce. Strain and use as required.
Stage 3.
Brown roux – roux brun
This a mixture of 5 parts flour to 4 parts fat. The fat is either oil or dripping.
Butter is not suitable as a high heat is required to cook and colour this roux and consequently the butter will burn.
The fat is heated in a thick bottomed saucepan, flour is added and the roux cooked until it achieves a good brown colour – take care not to burn the flour, and further care as both pan and roux will be extremely hot.
Brown stock is added to this roux and the same process followed as for veloute.
N.B.In this instance the roux is removed from the heat and allowed to cool slightly – Adding stock to very hot roux could prove dangerous and cause severe burns.
When making a sauce using brown roux and brown stock will require a cooking time of 6-8 hours of continual gentle simmering. As the sauce reduces more brown stock is added. Strain the sauce through a fine chinos, store carefully or use as required.
Further important information when making sauce.
These are high risk foods and will support food poisoning bacteria if advertently contaminated.
Use immediately or keep hot at a safe temperature above 63ºC. When not required for immediate use cool sauces quickly bringing the temperature down to 2ºC within 90 minutes. A blast chiller is suitable for this operation.