In the European culinary tradition, “mother sauces” are the fundamental sauces budding chefs first learn and the building blocks for a repertoire of more complex, artful sauces. There are five sauce “families,” and each has a mother or leading sauce:
- Béchamel: a milk-based sauce, thickened with roux
- Velouté: a sauce made of light veal, chicken, or fish stock, thickened with roux
- Espagnole (Brown Sauce): a sauce made of dark brown stock, thickened with roux
- Tomato Sauce: a sauce made of tomatoes, occasionally thickened with roux or simply reduced to the preferred consistency
- Hollandaise: a sauce made of butter, thickened with egg yolks
From these basic sauces chefs create a seemingly endless set of “small” sauces, from deeply rich bordelaise (mother sauce: espagnole), to cheesy mornay (mother sauce: béchamel), to béarnaise (mother sauce: hollandaise).
Read more about mother sauces on Food52.com, and click on the image below to watch a short video from the Culinary Institute of America on how to make the most finicky of the bunch: hollandaise.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=idq9DRbMZ7I
Cooking is an Art and a Science celebrates the essential elements of cooking. Browse our online library of videos to learn culinary terms and simple techniques. Then, look for Cooking is an Art and a Science menu items in your Bon Appétit café. It’s a delicious way to discover the craft behind your cuisine.