The 5 French Mother Sauces

This is roux whisked with milk or other dairy to make a white sauce. Ever made macaroni and cheese or chicken pie? The base of both these dishes is béchamel. By itself, béchamel is quite bland, which is why it is usually cooked with other ingredients and not used as a finishing sauce.

2. Velouté

A velouté is a light roux whisked with chicken, turkey, fish or any other clear stock. The resulting sauce takes on the flavor of the stock, and the name is derived from the French word for velvet, which aptly describes this smooth but light and delicate sauce. It is usually served over fish or poultry that has been delicately cooked, like by poaching or steaming.

3. Espagnole

Sauce espagnole is a basic brown sauce. It's made of brown beef or veal stock, tomato puree, and browned mirepoix, all thickened with a very dark brown roux. This sauce is sometimes used at the foundation for boeuf bourguinon and demi-glace.

4. Sauce Tomat

This is made by cooking tomatoes down into a thick sauce but used to also be thickened with roux. Unlike more modern-day tomato sauces, the classic French tomato sauce is flavored with pork and aromatic vegetables.

5. Hollandaise

This is the one mother sauce not thickened by a roux. Instead, it's thickened by an emulsion of egg yolk and melted butter, which means it's a stable mixture of two things that usually normally can't blend together. This is a very delicate sauce because the emulsion can easily break, and rich hollandaise is usually used as a dipping sauce for asparagus or a finishing sauce for dishes like eggs Benedict.

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Basic formulas of the five mother sauces:

Béchamel: Roux + Dairy (traditionally milk or cream)

Velouté: Roux + White Stock (traditionally chicken, but also vegetable or fish)

Espagnole: Roux + Brown Stock (traditionally veal or beef)

Sauce Tomat: Roux + Tomatoes (or, go the Italian route by skipping the roux and simply reducing tomatoes over medium-low heat until thick)

Hollandaise: Egg Yolks + Clarified Melted Butter + Acid (like lemon juice or white wine)