Five Cooking Sauces - The 5 Classic Mother Sauces Ingredients

There are five basic sauces every cook should master. In French, these are referred to as grandes sauces or sayces meres. In the early 1800’s, Antonin Careme, the founding father of French “grande cuisine,” came up with a system of categorizing the hundreds of sauces under the five Mother Sauces. The mother sauces were traditionally prepared in huge quantities, and then separated into smaller portions with additional ingredients added to create a multitude of variations.

A sauce is the crowning glory of any dish. The ability to prepare a sauce sets the average cook at a new level. There are literally hundreds of variations that are used to dress, compliment, enhance and bring out the flavor of the food it is served with. Learn to make the five basic sauces and their most common derivatives and you’ll be cooking like a professional in no time.

Understanding Sauce Basics - BBQ Sauce Recipe, Alfredo Sauce Recipe and More

Bechamel Sauce (white sauce) - (bay-shah-mel)

Bechamel Sauce is the king of all sauces and probably the one that is used the most frequently. Bechamel is a smooth, white sauce made by stirring milk into a butter-flour roux, the thickness of the sauce depends on the proportion of flour and butter to milk. It is usually served with white meats, eggs, and vegetables. It forms the basis of many other sauces.

• Base: Milk (Usually Whole Milk)
• Thickening Agent: White Roux
• Classical Flavorings: White Onion, Clove, Bay Leaf, Salt, White Pepper, Nutmeg
• Common Secondary Sauces: Cream Sauce, Mornay, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, Mustard Sauce, Nantua and Soubise
• Classically Served With: Eggs, Fish, Steamed Poultry, Steamed Vegetables, Pastas, veal and excellent with grilled salmon

Veloute Sauce (blond sauce) - (veh-loo-TAY)

Veloute Sauce is a stock-based white sauce that can be made from chicken, veal, or fish stock thickened with white roux. The sauce is often enriched with egg yolks or cream.

• Base: White Stock (usually veal, but chicken and fish stock can also be used)
• Thickening Agent: Classically a roux, but sometimes also a liaison is used.
• Classical Flavorings: None, this sauce is used specifically as a base
• Common Secondary Sauces: Sauce Vin Blanc (fish veloute with shallots, butter, and herbs), Sauce Supreme (chicken veloute reduced with heavy cream), Sauce Allemande (veal veloute with egg yolk and cream liaison)
• Classically Served With: Eggs, Fish, Steamed Poultry, Steamed Vegetables, Pastas and Veal

Espagnole Sauce or Brown Sauce (demi-glace)

Espagnole sauce is traditionally made from a rich meat stock, a mirepoix of browned vegetables (most often a mixture of diced onion, carrots and celery), a nicely browned roux, herbs and sometimes tomato paste.

• Base: Roasted Veal Stock (Roasted chicken stock is sometimes used in modern variations).
• Thickening Agent: Brown Roux
• 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 or lamb.

Emulsion Sauces – Sauces that are emulsified such as Hollandaise Sauce or Mayonnaise

Hollandaise and Mayonnaise are two sauces that are made with an emulsion of egg yolks and fat. Hollandaise is made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice, usually in a double boiler to prevent overheating, and served warm. It is generally used to embellish vegetables, fish and egg dishes, such as the classic Eggs Benedict. Mayonnaise is a thick, creamy dressing that's an emulsion of vegetable oil, egg yolks, lemon juice or vinegar and seasonings. It is widely used as a spread, a dressing and as a sauce. It's also used as the base for such mixtures as Tartar Sauce, Thousand Island Dressing, Aïoli, and Remoulade.

Emulsified sauces are the hardest of the mother sauces to master because they require considerable time and effort due to their propensity to “break”.

• Base: Egg Yolks and Butter(Classically Clarified Butter)
• Thickening Agent: Emulsification
• Classical Flavorings: Peppercorns (Black), White Wine Vinegar, Salt, Lemon Juice, Cayenne Pepper
• Common Secondary Sauces: Bearnaise, Maltaise, Mousseline, Foyot, Choron
• Classically Served With: Eggs (Eggs Benedict), Vegetables (especially Asparagus), Light Poultry Dishes, Fish or Beef

Sauce Tomat (Tomato Sauce)

Tomato sauce is a sauce made with tomatoes, mirepoix, thyme and bay leaves most commonly, though this sauce has, by far, the largest number of variations.

• Base: Tomatoes (Raw, Tomato Paste, Tomato Puree, Stewed Tomatoes)
• Thickening Agent: Classically a roux, but modern versions commonly use a reduction.
• 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 which result in sauces such as Creole, Portuguese and Spanish Sauce Tomat. Marinara sauce is a common Italian variation of this mother sauce, made by adding onions, garlic and oregano. This is the basis of the best bbq sauce recipe as well.
  
• Classically Served With: Pasta, Fish, Vegetables (Especially Grilled), Polenta, Veal, Poultry (Especially Chicken), Breads and Dumplings such as Gnocchi.

A sauce which is derived from one of the mother sauces is sometimes called a small sauce, or secondary sauce. Most sauces used in classical cuisine are small sauces, or derivatives of one of the mother sauces. Mother sauces are not commonly served as they are; instead they are augmented with additional ingredients to make small (derivative) sauces. For example, Bechamel can be made into Mornay by the addition of Gruyère or another cheese of your preference, and Espagnole becomes Bordelaise by adding a reduction of red wine, shallots, and poached beef marrow.

Always remember that when a sauce is used on a food, it is the first thing to touch the tongue. A sauce is only as good as the ingredients you put into it and the care you take while preparing it. On the other hand, a good sauce does little to make inferior food taste better. Always put a good sauce on good food.

The use of sauces has changed dramatically over the years. Today we are influenced by various cuisines, cultures and nutritional information that was not available in the past. This influence has played a role in shaping the food industry and how we look at food. This, combined with the variety of different products that are now available to us, has brought about huge changes in our eating habits and has impacted the way we create and use sauces in our kitchens.

The days of heavy cream sauces and thick, rich gravies are slowly being replaced by lighter versions of highly flavored glazes and sauces. However, to learn the newer ways of making sauces, one must first have a good grasp of the basics of sauce making to understand where the differences lie. Sauce making is definitely an art that, once learned, gives endless possibilities to any dish.

Some other cooking recipes you may enjoy: the healthy benefits of germinated brown rice, the expensive thrill of Kobe beef from Japan or some of our more traditional dishes such as Fruit Crunch Cake which is so delicious and almost no work at all. The best Chicken Pot Pie Recipe and a wonderful Breakfast Pizza straight from a local Bed and Breakfast or kid friendly Chicken Strips.

We also have a step-by-step guide to making your own homemade bread that is easy, delicious and uses no breadmaker! You can do it with our simple guide.