# What are the basic MOTHER sauces?



## gary b

Please list, and any info on each would also help.
                                                                     thanks, Gary


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## ironchef

The classical versions are as follows:

Veloute - Stock thickened with roux
Bechamel - Milk thickened with roux
Tomato - Self explanatory
Espagnole - Brown sauce, made with roux, veal stock, roasted veal bones and mire poix
Hollandaise - Heated egg yolk and clarified butter

For more info, click on the link below. It says that mayonnaise was added to make 6 mother sauces but that's news to me. I've never heard about that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauce#Sauces_in_French_cuisine

A more contemporary definition of mother sauces would be something like this:

Vinaigrette
Demi Glace
Beurre Blanc
Aioli/Mayonnaise
Sauce a la Creme (Basic heavy cream reduction)


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## gary b

Thanks iron chef. As usual your explanations and recipes are excellent.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

This a little something I picked up from researching the internet many, many moons ago.  It is from a well respected site and pretty much explains the  five mother sauces.
*
The Mother Sauces

Defining The Five Mother Sauces:

   1. Béchamel, the classic white sauce, was named after its inventor, Louis XIV's steward Louis de Béchamel. The king of all sauces, it is often referred to as a cream sauce because of its appearance and is probably used most frequently in all types of dishes. Made by stirring milk into a butter-flour roux, the thickness of the sauce depends on the proportion of flour and butter to milk. The proportions for a thin sauce would be 1 tablespoon each of butter and flour per 1 cup of milk; a medium sauce would use 2 tablespoons each of butter and flour; a thick sauce, 3 tablespoons each.
   2. Velouté is a stock-based white sauce. It can be made from chicken, veal or fish stock. Enrichments such as egg yolks or cream are sometimes also added.
   3. Espagnole, or brown sauce, is traditionally made of 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.
   4. 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.
   5. Vinagrette is a sauce made of a simple blend of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper (usually 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar). More elaborate variations can include any combination of spices, herbs, shallots, onions, mustard, etc. It is generally used to dress salad greens and other cold vegetable, meat or fish dishes. 

Tips for Sauce Success:

    * Constantly stir roux-thickened sauces while cooking to prevent lumps. If you must leave the sauce for a few seconds, set the pan off the heat during that time.
    * If a roux-thickened sauce develops a few lumps, beat them out with a rotary beater or wire whisk. As a last resort, strain sauce with sieve to remove lumps.
    * Cook egg-thickened sauces over low heat, or cook these sauces in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. Always temper (warm) the egg yolks before adding them to the sauce by first stirring in a little of the hot sauce mixture into them. Then add to the remainder of the sauce mixture. Never let a sauce boil after the egg yolks are added as the sauce may curdle.
 Don't let water boil in the bottom of the double boiler if you use it to make egg-thickened sauces. Also, be sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the pan holding the sauce.*

The only thing I would add is that in place of the vinagerette, there are those that claim tomato sauce is the fifth Mother Sauce.  I just figure that there are six of them in reality.  Why quibble over semantics?

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## ironchef

The five mother sauces as designated by Escoffier were bechamel, veloute, hollandaise, espagnole, and tomato. Generally, every culinary school and textbook follows this guideline. A previous French chef named Careme had designated four mother sauces which were veloute, bechamel, espagnol, and allemande. However, since sauce allemande is a derivitave of another mother sauce, it was removed. 

Mayonnaise and vinaigrette were put on some lists at a later time, but is not recognized as part of the original quintet as designated by Escoffier. I myself use mayonnaise and vinaigrette's more than any of the original five mother sauces, but they are both considered contemporary mother sauces, and not really classical. Out of Escoffier's original 5, the only one that I use with any sort of frequency is hollandaise. I make tomato sauces, but they follow the Italian style of preperation and not the classic French style. It's not really a matter of semantics, it's more of a matter of authenticity.


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## Robo410

hmmm, I was going to make a joke about chocolate sauce ... but as I don't have a sweet tooth, I'll leave that to someone else.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

ironchef said:
			
		

> The five mother sauces as designated by Escoffier were bechamel, veloute, hollandaise, espagnole, and tomato. Generally, every culinary school and textbook follows this guideline. A previous French chef named Careme had designated four mother sauces which were veloute, bechamel, espagnol, and allemande. However, since sauce allemande is a derivitave of another mother sauce, it was removed.
> 
> Mayonnaise and vinaigrette were put on some lists at a later time, but is not recognized as part of the original quintet as designated by Escoffier. I myself use mayonnaise and vinaigrette's more than any of the original five mother sauces, but they are both considered contemporary mother sauces, and not really classical. Out of Escoffier's original 5, the only one that I use with any sort of frequency is hollandaise. I make tomato sauces, but they follow the Italian style of preperation and not the classic French style. It's not really a matter of semantics, it's more of a matter of authenticity.


 
I agree.  I'm not trying to say that you're wrong, and hope that that wasn't what was percieved.  I had just read something different from what you had stated.

My knowledge wasn't obtained by profesional training, but by personal research obtained by diverse sources.  And as you know, different authors will give different information.  As you have been profesionaly trained, I will bow to your greater training.

For practicality's sake, I will include oil & vinigar in my list of mother-like sauces, as it is used to create a host of small sauces.  But then, there are numerous sauces that aren't included in the original Escoffier listing, such as various barbecue sauces, marinades, and oriental preperations that Europeans had never heard of back in the day.  There are also fruit and vegetable sauce basics that other sauces and gravies are made from, such as sweet & sour, plumb sauce, ginger paste, etc.

I could never calim to be an expert.  There is just too much information out there for any one person to grasp.  And there are valid recipes made by many that I have never heard of.  When I look at differing world cuisines, I see dramatically different flavors in Morroco, India, Indonesia, and South America, that bear no resemblance to the classic French sauces.

The world is a big place.  And there is so much to learn.   That's what makes the cullinary arts so interesting.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## gary b

Thanks everyone,

I'm really impressed with the depth of knowledge here!  I'm Still workin on white sauce. Guess everybody's got to start somewhere though.


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## ironchef

GW, it was never perceived that way. Like I said, I very rarely, if ever, use any of the Escoffier's original 5. But, for prosperities sake, his five should be recognized as the original five bases since he is generally credited as being the father of modern cooking. 

Plus, I wanted to discuss it per your post in the cream soup thread. I think what most people have the hardest time with is that the sauces and designations are all French in origin. Like you said, it doesn't take into account the other base sauces from other cuisines.


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## luvs

ironchef is correct-
Mother sauces are bechamel, hollandaise, veloute, tomato & espagnole. i'm in culinary school & have learned this from some of my first days as a student.


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## auntdot

Good golly.

My favorite cookbook is my little old Escoffier Cook Book that I purchased for $10.95 some twenty years ago or so.

I go back to it all the time.

It, along with James Beard and Julia taught me how to cook, at home.  Am a humble home cook, but enjoy doing it.

Escoffier taught me method, not recipe.

The five mother sauces always confused me because I could not think of any reason why all of these were mother sauces.

To me a mother sauce should be able to have babies, to be the basis from which other sauces are derived.

That is certainly true with espagnole.  You start with that and can go with it in many ways, even up to my favorite, Perigueux sauce.  To me espagnole is a mother sauce.

And one can mess with bechamel and Hollandaise a bit, but the options are limited.

And heck if I know why Escoffier tossed in tomato sauce, a favorite sauce of mine, as a mother sauce.

To discuss what is a mother sauce or not, to me, serves no purpose.

Give Careme and Escoffier their due, let the five sauces stand.

And let us just enjoy cooking.

And thanks for all you great folks on DC.


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## Hopz

What about the "Chef's Secret Sauce"?
In the restaurant I once worked in, if a customer was being too demanding, he got the "secret sauce"... Probably it was the 7th Mother Sauce... served world-wide, but not taught at the CIA or Le Cordon Bleu.


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## jpmcgrew

I have an old Escoffier's Basic Elements of Fine Cookery. 1966
It's got more sauces than you can shake a stick at.


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## thechef1955

Both “ironchef” and “Godweed of the North” are right on their opinion as far as mother sauces is concerned. It slightly differs between mother sauces, contemporary sauces, and other varieties of sauce that are mostly derived from the mother sauces except for vinaigrette. Ironchef had simplified the definition and Godweed of the North stretch it a little further. 
 
My advice for anyone who wanted to remember all the mother sauces particularly those who are not practicing it on a daily basis just try to add my little idea to ironchef’s definition.
 
I called it the BETH V or:
 
B for Béchamel
E for Espagnole or Brown Sauce
T for Tomato Sauce
H for Hollandaise and 
 
V for Veloute
 
To memorize it, is not an option since it is easy to forget, the best way is to put it in practice. Culinary is an Art and Craftsmanship. The only way to understand the mother sauces and learned how it behaves is to put it into action; Practice, practice, practice, practice, and a thousand of practice. 
 
Along the way mistake will occur like burning the roux for example, but we learned always from mistakes. Until such time that we can make it at the same time doing several other things in the stove on fire. This time you have the control of everything around your working space. In the school if you were assigned to do Béchamel a student focus is only at the making of roux and adding the milk slowly into the sauce pan; against in the industry that you might have six burning stove that needs your attention. Balancing act is part of the craftsmanship in culinary field, having six stove on fire is just like walking in the wire at the circus, we don need to master it.


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## thechef1955

To discuss what is a mother sauce or not, to me, serves no purpose.

*Aunt Dot, there is a purpose of talking about mother sauces.* In the industry this is one of the basic knowledge for the cooks or chefs. 
 
In culinary school this is the first subjects that are introduced aside from knife skills mastering the cutting of fine julienne, regular julienne or “allumette”, “batonnet”, fine brunoise, brunoise,  small dice, medium dice,  large dice, square or “paysanne,” diamond shape or “lozenge”, “tournet”, bias, and choffinade. Spices, and herbs familiarization by looking at it, smelling, and tasting. Different types of vinegars and oils as well.
 
If you have a chance to ask a culinary graduate about mother sauces and they cannot explain it to you; it gives you a signal that this student had passed the course by just attending the class with out the benefit of learning. 
 
In private home cooking maybe this is not a big deal but in the industry it is. Every culinary student spent and enormous amount of money to study this course and if learning of mother sauce is taken for granted, this student will regret once they entered into the industry. Because they will end up doing “prep” short for vegetable preparation slicing and slicing forever. Career growth is dim and not possible. Every Executive Chef probable questions is, “What are the five mother sauces?” 
 
There are a big difference in home cooking and industry cooking. Just for example the terms alone such as; melon baller or cutter at home, in the industry it is called “parissianne” and baking pan or baking sheet at home, it is called in the industry as “sheet pan”.
 
Universally known chefs like George Auguste Escoffier (1874-1935), Marie-Antoine Carệme (1784-1833) are the first known chefs that remake the history of culinary arts. Their ideas are still adopted up to the modern generation but so many contributions are attributed to the next generations of chefs. 
 
It is an open field that is continuously changing, mother sauces, mirepoix (vegetable and herbs use in making stocks), concasee or roguh chop, hacher or fine chop, macedoine medium dice for fruit, emincer fine slices example onions, cisler/chiffonade fine slices for greens, and tournet or football shape cut with seven sides are old technique that haven’t change. Even the word "fushion” that is a new craze in this country; it has been in the industry for a long time even at our own home we are doing it while preparing our tea, this is one good example of the fusion technique.
 
I had been a private chef for quite a long time and still I went to culinary school since I realized that buying or relying with recipes that are found in the books is not just enough. Formal training is a must for anybody aspiring to become a professional chef. The only exception is Rachel Ray but still she does not accept that she is a chef. 
 
Hopefully, I had contributed something to this topic.


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## cjs

I can't think of a topic that gets the juices going faster in a cook/chef than to ask this question!! I'm surprised at the uniformity in the answers here - good for all of us! 

In school, right off the bat, I just memorized them as the 'Virgin BETH' - made my life easier!


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## thechef1955

cjs said:
			
		

> I can't think of a topic that gets the juices going faster in a cook/chef than to ask this question!! I'm surprised at the uniformity in the answers here - good for all of us!
> 
> In school, right off the bat, I just memorized them as the 'Virgin BETH' - made my life easier!


 
"Virgin BETH" is easier to remember than my way, I agree with you Sir! See I learned something. Thanks by the way…
 
As far as learning is concerned it never stop, even the Master Chef’s they continues searching and learning more and more. Culinary is addiction just like any other addictive substance; but this is the only addiction that is challenging and of course does not need a rehabilitation.


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## college_cook

thechef1955 said:
			
		

> Formal training is a must for anybody aspiring to become a professional chef.



I don't know that that's very true.  Maybe in the past, but not anymore.  Just look at Thomas Keller.  And I'm sure there are other great chefs besides him running great restaurants that never had formal training.

This has actually been a topic revisited by my mind many times recently, as I'm about to finish getting my BS.  Should I go to culinary school or not?  It costs a lot of money, and from what I understood it simply teaches fundamemtals.  Knife skills.  How to braise.  How to roast.  How to saute.  What is mirepoux, or the Mother Sauces?  What is the proper method for making stock?  Certainly these are all fundamental things to a successful kitchen and you would expect your chef and his staff to know such things, but it was only 2 days ago that I was talking with my co-workers, most of whom have been to culinary school, when I asked for clarification.  What EXACTLY did they teach you to do at school?  And the answer I recieved was overwhelmingly "We learned in 2 years at school, what you learned in your first three months working in this kitchen."  And it made sense.  There isn't a task in the kitchen that isn't built from some fundamental that must first be learned before being able to complete that task.

So while it seems you can learn the fundamentals of classical cooking without formal training, I do believe that distinctions should be made.  For the modern at-home cook, the mother sauces are probably more along the lines of mayo, vinaigrette, and basic cream sauces and reductions.  For the industry cook/chef it is important to know the classical method and be able to execute it properly.  It is necesary to make stocks and be know how to do so properly.  It is important to know Espagnole, Veloute, Hollandaise, Tomato, and Bechamel.  Is it so for the home-cook?  Maybe not.  Many classical methods are very time consuming and are really very impractical for the home cook.


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## cjs

I guess I'm in the group thinking that culinary school is not for everyone...but, having said that, I'm also of the group that thinks you need to know the rules to break the rules. By going to school, you receive a solid background of knowledge that will then lead you to know how to 'play' with food.

ACF (American Culinary Federation) has an Apprenticeship program they sponsor that is geared towards the cooks who must work as they go to school - it's a long committment, three years, but the $$$$ are right and you receive a well-rounded education, plus develop networking with other chefs that is invaluable.

chef1955, change that Sir to Ma'am and we're buddies again...


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## thechef1955

cjs said:
			
		

> I guess I'm in the group thinking that culinary school is not for everyone...but, having said that, I'm also of the group that thinks you need to know the rules to break the rules. By going to school, you receive a solid background of knowledge that will then lead you to know how to 'play' with food.
> 
> ACF (American Culinary Federation) has an Apprenticeship program they sponsor that is geared towards the cooks who must work as they go to school - it's a long committment, three years, but the $$$$ are right and you receive a well-rounded education, plus develop networking with other chefs that is invaluable.
> 
> chef1955, change that Sir to Ma'am and we're buddies again...


 
I apologize for that error Ma'am CJS; I presume earlier that I was communicating with a Sous Chef, and those positions were mostly held by males, Sorry again for that shortcoming. We always learned from mistakes.

ACF is true and I encourage the young generations to utilize this advice, I will leave it to them. At my part, I am close to the retirement stage so time is so short for me. Ten years down the road and I will be there, might done some culinary volunteer chores when times come to share what I’ve got at this field to the next generation and future chefs.


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## cjs

Chef1955 the "Sous Chef" is a name given alll of us as we increase our post numbers - as you are an "Assistant Cook" right now! Funny how fast we can be demoted!! I just play a sous on Discuss Cooking...in real life, I am an already retired chef. And welcome to the forums.


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## rouxburnssuck

*Gracias folks... enlightening thread*

So, wow... I loved the new world work up of the modern mother sauces... but with the advent of aioli, I guess that mayo'd have to be in there too... does anyone know where one can find a good, organized, resource for small sauce methedology? Thanks. === the new guy ===

.................................................... .............................................


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## wysiwyg

I recommend you to check some books at your local library, find what is appealing to you and purchase what you like.  The ones I have and love are The Escoffier (as someone said earlier, this book provides you with ideas rather than recipes) and The Pellaprat (more recipe oriented, great if you ever need help entertaining).  They both have listed in excess of 120 sauces each.
In addition, the Larousse Gastronomique has a ton of information on sauces (I have a 1961 edition, more than 23 pages on this topic) and Julia Child's French cuisine has lots of detailed recipes.


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## Sun123

I am also  really impressed with the depth of knowledge here! I'm Still workin on white sauce.Also agree that Mother sauces are bechamel, hollandaise, veloute, tomato & espagnole. i'm in culinary school & have learned this from some of my first days as a student.


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## expatgirl

This thread has been so helpful--------thanks for all the information y'all------I plan on checking our local  used bookstores(we have lots) for an Escoffier copy when I return home on Friday.  May have to go to alibris as a last resort..   And a warm welcome to all you newbies!!!


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## jennyema

rouxburnssuck said:


> So, wow... I loved the new world work up of the modern mother sauces... but with the advent of aioli, I guess that mayo'd have to be in there too... does anyone know where one can find a good, organized, resource for small sauce methedology? Thanks. === the new guy ===
> 
> .................................................... .............................................


 
"Sauces" by the wonderful chef and talented writer James Peterson.


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## jasonr

> I don't know that that's very true. Maybe in the past, but not anymore. Just look at Thomas Keller. And I'm sure there are other great chefs besides him running great restaurants that never had formal training.
> 
> This has actually been a topic revisited by my mind many times recently, as I'm about to finish getting my BS. Should I go to culinary school or not? It costs a lot of money, and from what I understood it simply teaches fundamemtals. Knife skills. How to braise. How to roast. How to saute. What is mirepoux, or the Mother Sauces? What is the proper method for making stock? Certainly these are all fundamental things to a successful kitchen and you would expect your chef and his staff to know such things, but it was only 2 days ago that I was talking with my co-workers, most of whom have been to culinary school, when I asked for clarification. What EXACTLY did they teach you to do at school? And the answer I recieved was overwhelmingly "We learned in 2 years at school, what you learned in your first three months working in this kitchen." And it made sense. There isn't a task in the kitchen that isn't built from some fundamental that must first be learned before being able to complete that task.



I felt the same way about law school. Even now, I have to wonder whether or not my skills as a lawyer would be any different today without law school. I'm still not sure about the answer.

But I'll tell you this: no matter how much time and energy I devote to baking (my greatest passion) and cooking (my second-greatest passion), no matter how many books I read and things I make, I can never quite achieve the level of skill that I want. Something is always missing.

Even in baking and cake making, where my skills are probably already at professional levels in some respects, I would KILL to have the kind of experience you get at a true culinary school. To me, there is nothing more precious than having a master watch over you and tell you what you're doing wrong and what you're doing right. You can't get that kind of experience from books.

My dream would be to run away to France and go to culinary school.  I might even do it one day if I get bored of being a lawyer.


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## wysiwyg

jasonr and whoever wrote the quote you included,
This is just statistical information... for each Thomas Keller of the world, there are 10,000 Thomas Kellers wanna be.  I did thought in my 20's about quitting Engineering School because I not just felt, I knew that by reading my texts and doing excercises I was able to learn faster than in class.  However, my Mom told me to keep going because that single piece of paper I was going to get (My Diploma) was going to make all the difference.  She was right.... My advise to you is the same: Don't quit school, get your diploma, and then pursue culinary school in France.

When you get to School, the Master Chef will watch over you and will tell you what is wrong with your final dish.  He/she won't probably tell you what you did wrong, you will have to discover that on your own after doing the same dish 3 or 4 times at least.


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## archiduc

*Mother sauces*



gary b said:


> Please list, and any info on each would also help.
> thanks, Gary


 
Hi Gary,

What or who started this thread?

I`ve had a quick perusal of the posting and thought that it was maybe most appropriate to reply to you as you asked the original question.

First, let me say that I live in the UK and was trained in the French culinary tradition - just so that you know where I`m coming from.

Second, the "SAUCE MERE" or MOTHER SAUCES are basic sauces from which others are derived through the addition of other ingredients.

From my perspective, which may not be that of others, there are 5 sauce mere.

These are:
Bechamel - roux based and the liquid ingredient is milk infused with herbs and spices;
Veloute - roux based white sauce made from veal, chicken, fish stock or vegetable stock;
Espagnole - roux based made from browned flour and browned stock and from which demi-glace is then made.

Escoffier defines these as the three fundamental sauces.

In the 1934 edition of Ma Cuisine, Escoffier says of Tomato Sauce:
"Following this, we have tomato sauce, which also plays an important part in modern cookery"  (page 17).

The two other sauces which make up the "Sauce Mere (Mother sauces) are, as I was taught:

Mayonnaise - cold emulsion of eggs, oil and acid ingredient, typically vinegar but may be lemon juice;

Hollandaise - warm emulsion of reduced vinegar and water, egg yolks and butter.

From each of these sauces variations may be made which are known as compound sauces.

Thus:
Compound sauce of bechamel may be sauce mornay, 
Compound sauce of veloute - veal veloute - sauce allemande;
Compound sauce of espagnole - demiglace


One can also go to double compound sauces, thus the sauce mere of ESPAGNOLE can be made into demi-glace (first compound) and with the inclusion of additional ingredients it becomes a double compound sauce..

Compound sauce of mayonnaise may be tartare sauce.
Compound sauce of hollandaise may be Bearnaise sauce or Sauce Pau - which is the same as Bearnaise but uses mint instead of tarragon and is divine with lamb.

However, having said all this, some questions remain unaswered. Classically, the "mother sauces" do not seem to include tomato based sauces. Is this right? Although, as I`ve said I was trained in the clasical Frech tradition, I recognise that we are now in the 21st century and the art of cooking must progress and move on. 

Also, remember, great leaps forward were made in French cooking when Catherine De Medici left Florence, Italy to marry the Dauphin of France in the 15 century and who have perfected the art of tomato based sauces?

Also, the "mother sauces" do not include any sweet sauces, thus an egg custard sauce, and any derivative, is not included and neither is any vinaigrette based sauce. 

I don`t feel that I have really answered you question. I suspect that, for me, there remain the classic "mother sauces" which are savoury in nature. Tomato sauce and its variations are the great gift of Italian cooking and dessert sauces will have to be a separate branch!

However, I hope this will remain a hotly debated topic, if only because it gets people thinking about culinary history, the present and the future. 

All the best, 
Archiduc


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## Baketech

Is a sofrito considered a sauce? If so, where does it fit into the picture?


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## jennyema

jasonr said:


> I felt the same way about law school. Even now, I have to wonder whether or not my skills as a lawyer would be any different today without law school. I'm still not sure about the answer..


 
I agree in the sense that in some ways law school is merely a barrier to entry. BUT... Law school teaches you a lot more than practical lawyering skills (mine didn't really even do that). I can't imagine not having gone to LS.



jasonr said:


> My dream would be to run away to France and go to culinary school. I might even do it one day if I get bored of being a lawyer. ..


 
Me too. In fact I tried to do both a few years back, but there were too many conflicts. Still take evening and weekend classes though.


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## jasonr

> I agree in the sense that in some ways law school is merely a barrier to entry. BUT... Law school teaches you a lot more than practical lawyering skills (mine didn't really even do that). I can't imagine not having gone to LS.


 
I guess I sort of agree, even though I have done my best to forget law school 

I don't think I'd feel the same way about culinary school. I think it would be very practical to have actual classes with actual chefs teaching you how to do things. Law school is all theory, but by its very nature, I would think culinary school would have to have a significant practical element.


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## ironchef

Baketech said:


> Is a sofrito considered a sauce? If so, where does it fit into the picture?


 
A sofrito can be a sauce, but it is thought of as more of a base for other things.


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## jpinmaryland

Hello RouxBurns: You asked about an internet source for sauces, here are two that are pretty good. There is another one that attempts to list all of the minor sauces made from the mother sauces. I will try to track that down, but in the meantime these ones providde  a start: 

Sauce Recipes For Chicken Beef or Fish

History of Sauces, History of Mayonnaise, History of Béchamel Sauce, history of Hollandaise Sauce


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## chefnaterock

*Mother Sauces*

"It was the 19-th century French chef Antonin Careme who evolved an intricate methodology by which hundreds of derivative sauces were classified under one of four 'mother sauces': Those are: _Espagnole _(brown stock based), _Veloute_ (white stock based), _Bechamel _(milk-based [or cream based]), and _Allemande _(egg enriched veloute). " _Food Lover's Companion, 4th ed., _Barrons Educational Series, Inc.: 2007 (p. 603)_._ Later was added the fifth group of emulsified sauces, e.g. hollandaise, mayonaise, and vinagrettes.

I have also read somewhere that tomato sauces have also been added. You are getting a myriad of different answers, I hope my citation helps.


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## Glorie

This is very helpful!  Thank you!!  )


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## GhettoRacingKid

Wow this thread made my culinary head spin.

I would like to just throw in that in the last what ever amount of years there is alot of grey areas in jsut about everything.  With all the sharing of information, techniques, ingredints, and so on and so forth things have changed and the culinary world will never be how it used to be where this is this and that is that.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

Though the world is constantly evolving, and changing, with sharing of, and access to more and more culinary information, the 5 Mother Sauces are still valid.  They form the basis of a host of derivative sauces and are an important knowledge base.  For even though there are great many sauces now available to all of us, the techniques for making the French sauces, and the small sauces that come from them, are used to make virtually all sauces, be it a sweet and sour sauce, which could be described as a veloute' based sauce as it is often made from chicken broth, with various starches and flavors added, to ketchup, which is in fact, a tomato based sauce, again with added seasonings and sugar (corn syrup).  The Asian sauces and gravies are often starchy sauces built from stocks and broths.

The main difference I see in today's sauces is that corn starch, arrow root starch, tapioca, and similar products are often used in place of a roux as the thickening agent.  But then again, flour slurries were used before cornstarch was readily available too.

Learn the Mother Sauces, and the various sauces made from them, and you will have the techniques for most of the world's great sauces.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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