Sauces are like the veil of a bride. They lay waiting, picturesque yet mysterious, to unveil the
beauty of what lies beneath. They become part of that bride for that time,
complimenting the beauty of the dish. The sauce is probably more important to a
dish than the veil, though. The important properties of a sauce are: viscosity
(thickness), texture (smooth, coarse,chunky), color, luster (the ability to reflect
light, opacity (ability to see through).
Sauces are derived from 4 mother sauces fom the french, these sauce are a foundation that we
build on:
Veloute - is a stock thickened with a roux. So you could have a basic beef, veal,
chicken, fish, lobster, vegetable veloutes.
Bechamel - seasoned milk/cream that is thickened
Espagnole - seasoned thickened veal stock , with tomato product
Demi-glace - is 50% espagnole, 50%veal stock reduced by 1/2
Although not a mother sauce it is important to speak about Tomato sauce, pan sauces/gravy
later in this section. You can go to Stocks, and fumes for information about them.
Well we know that a sauce comsists of some liquid, usually a stock and it has some
consistancy to it. The conistancy is developed through thickening. The most
common thickener is roux.
Roux mixture- cooked or raw, is made up of 50% flour/50% fat (usually
butter). The fat is melted and the flour combined, making a
dough, or paste like material.
Cooked roux - there are 3 kinds: white, blond, brown
White roux - is the roux mixture heated, and stirred until the
mixture gets a slightly nutty aroma,
and the color is still yellowish
Blond roux - is again the roux mixture, that is
cooked for a couple minutes longer
than the white roux
Brown roux - is finally the roux mixture cooked slowly over a
long period of time to develop a dark
roux, not burned, this is used in
gumbo.
Raw roux - a raw roux isn't cooked at all, merely combined
with the fat and incorporated into the stock. A raw
roux doesn't have a nutty flavor, will resemble the
flavor of a steamed dumpling more. Best practice
is to cook your roux.
It is best to add your roux, if it is hot, to a cooler liquid and whisk it
together. Or add your hot stock to a roux that is cooler. An
immersion hand blender which has a handle with blender
type blades on a stem, can be used to unite the stock with the
roux, more effectively than a whisk. These are available for as
little as $25 in your kitchen appliance center.
How much do I use?
Heavy viscosity would be 12% roux to volume of stock
Ex. 128oz. stock X 12% = 15.36 oz.
Medium viscosity would be 10% roux to volume of stock
Ex. 128 oz. stock X 10% = 12.8 oz. roux.
Thinner viscosity would be 8% roux to volume of stock
Ex. 128 oz. stock X 8% = 10.24 oz. roux
32 oz of stock
4 oz. white roux
s & p
heat stock, whisk roux, season
See the recipes below for variations of veloutes
Chicken Veloute: with the addition of the following
cream, thyme, savory, sage = supreme sauce
sauteed mushrooms, cream, s & p = forestiere sauce
sherry, julienne sauteed vegetables, s & p = primavera
sauce
Veal Veloute: with the addition of the following
horseradish, lemon juice, sugar = polonaise sauce
marsala wine, mushrooms, proscuitto or ham =
marsala sauce
Lobster Veloute: with the addition of the following
sherry, minced lobster, s & p = lobster sauce
Fish Veloute: with the addition of the following
shallots, cream, lemon juice, herbs, s & p
= bercy blanche
Beef Veloute: with the addition of the following
burgundy wine, sliced mushrooms, s & p =
bourgeoning sauce
caramelized onion, sherry, s & p =
lyonnaise sauce
Bechamel sauce: One of the mother sauces
16 oz. milk heat slowly (never boil milk)
16oz. light cream, 1/2 and 1/2 or heavy cream heat
slowly
1 onion cut in 1/2 and pierced with cloves, this is
called a onion cloute (use one half only)
s & p to taste
1/2 tsp. ginger
4 oz. white roux
Thicken dairy with roux, season and remove onion
cloute
Variations: reduce 1 cup of white wine, add to stock.
reduce wine first
Derivatives of Bechamel: with the addition of the following
1 cup reduced by 1/2 Heavy cream, and a hint of
lemon, to 1 pt. of bechamel = cream sauce
swiss cheese, and parmesan = mornay
romano cheese, roasted garlic, s & p = alfredo
1 cup reduced by 1/2 Heavy cream, and a hint of
saffron to 1 pt. bechamel = saffron cream
with the addition of Xtra sharp cheddar, dry mustard,
hint of roasted garlic, s & p =
Mac, and cheese sauce
sauteed julienne vegetables, parmesan cheese, roasted
garlic s & p = creamy primavera
Espagnole Sauce: One of the mother sauces
1/2 gallon veal stock
4.5 oz. blond roux
6 oz. diced bacon
11 oz. diced mirepoix (carrot, celery, onion)
1/2 tsp. thyme 2 bay leaves parsley stems up to 1/2
bunch
8 oz. tomato puree
1. brown bacon, and diced mirepoix,
2. heat veal stock and thicken with roux,
3. Add hot thickened stock to bacon and mirepoix.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, reduce by 1/2
5. strain
Variations: 3oz. reduced wine vinegar, 1 T. shallots, 1 1/4 cups
espagnole sauce, 2 T. tomato puree, 1 T. worcershire
sauce,cayenne pepper, strain = diable sauce
1 quart brown veal stock or beef stock
1 quart espagnole
1/2 tsp. thyme
2 bay leaves parsley stems
2 oz. madeira
1. combine ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce to
simmer
2. reduce volume by 1/2, skim anything that floats to
the surface.
3. sauce should be shiny and translucent, strain, cool.
Variations:
1.5 T. shallots, 4 oz. red bordeaux, 2 bay leaves,
pepper, demi, 1 T. lemon juice = bordelaise sauce
1 - 2 T. finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup white wine
reduce, 1 cup demi. 1 tsp. dry mustard = sauce robert
4 T. diced carrot
4 T. diced onion
2 oz. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
3 lbs. of fresh tomatoes, seeded/cut in quarters and
pressed
2 T. clover honey
1 T. minced garlic
1/2 oz. fresh basil cut into ribbons
1 cup red wine
parsley and thyme stems
1 cup chicken stock
1. sautee carrots, onions, tomato, garlic. Add stock
2. add basil, wine, honey, stems. cook on low for 2
hours.
3. for smooth, blend with immersion blender.
Variations: sautee any sausage, pork, bacon, veal, chicken,beef or
combination in initial step of this recipe
Variations of Tomato:
diced pepper, onion, 1 cup red wine, ground veal,
pork, beef,tomato sauce = bolognese sauce
grilled fennel bulb, 1 cup chix. stock, 1 T. olive oil, 4
T. minced onion, tomato sauce = tomato
fennel
2 oz. capers, 1 oz. caper juice, 2 oz. sliced black or
green olives, tomato sauce = putanesca
Pan sauce/Gravy: essentially a pan gravy is a veloute, here is
one way to go about it for chicken, turkey,
beef, lamb.
1. remove roasted meat item from pan,
2. make roux by whisking in flour into the fat/drippings
on the bottom of your roasting pan, cook
just like making roux.
3. when roux is cooked add, stock, appropriate: beef,
veal, chicken, turkey, lamb, or vegetable
stock from other vegetables that have been
cooked.
4. season, salt and pepper for all for poultry (thyme,
sage, coriander, white wine), lamb (mint,
rosemary, thyme, red wine), beef (rosemary,
thyme, pepper, red wine)
5. strain, (if you don't have a strainer you don't need to)