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Mother sauces are an important feature of the traditional French cooking known as haute cuisine, characterised by classical, luxurious, elaborate dishes, often based on rich sauces. At least two notable figures have contributed to the introduction and standardisation of mother sauces.

In the early 19th century, Marie-Antoine Carême was the first celebrity chef, who cooked for many well-established people at that time, including the preparation for a wedding cake and decorative centrepieces for Napoleon. Other than his contributions to confectionery (he is credited for the pièce montée, Charlotte Russe, croquembouche and mille-feuille), he also was the one to define four grandes sauces in his book The Art of French Cuisine in the 19th Century: Velouté, Allemande, Béchamel and Espagnole.

In the early 20th century, another pioneer of French cooking, Auguste Escoffier, shaped the culinary landscape and reinvigorated Carême’s cuisine philosophy. Escoffier modernised and updated Carême’s style and introduced the first à la carte menu. He invented the organisation in professional kitchens, referred to as the hierarchical brigade system, designed to bring discipline and efficiency. Importantly here, in his book Le Guide Culinaire, he has redefined the mother sauces, and my work here follows his definition (specifically, the American edition of the book, which defines five mother sauces; there are minor discrepancies related to the inclusion of hollandaise and mayonnaise among mother sauces between different book editions).

I want to highlight that the mother sauces are a feature of the French haute cuisine specifically. French cooking is also often associated with more modern ways, such as the lighter and more minimalistic nouvelle cuisine, which features sauces, stews and soups that are rarely thickened with starch (instead chefs will use cream, yoghurt or butter).

Mother sauces are a group of basic sauces and provide the foundation for the daughter sauces (each mother sauce has many derivative sauces based on it). What gets recognised as a mother sauce will vary between different books and chefs, and here I focus on The Escoffier Cookbook: and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery by Auguste Escoffier (the American edition of the Le Guide Culinaire).

The book identifies 5 mother sauces:

• Béchamel

• Velouté

• Espagnole

• Tomato

• Hollandaise

Before we dive into the recipes for mother sauces, let’s pay some attention to the roux, a versatile building block for making many of the classic sauces, such as Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole and Tomato.

Roux is a thickening agent added to liquids to thicken their consistency, made by melting an equal quantity of fat (butter) and starch (plain flour).

There are 3 types of roux: white, blond, and brown. The time of cooking them depends on the heat source, but a good rule of thumb would be:

• white roux (2-3 minutes)

• blond roux (4-5 minutes)

• brown roux (6-7 minutes)

Step-by-step on how to prepare roux:

• white roux

  • Melt the butter over medium heat in a small pan. Add sieved plain flour and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Stir continuously and cook until the raw cereal flavour is gone (the process should take around 2 minutes). Remember that the colour of the roux should stay white so keep an eye on the heat control.

• blond roux

  • Melt the butter over medium heat in a small pan. Add sieved plain flour and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. The blond roux is prepared slightly longer than the white one. Cook it until the colour starts to change to beige and the mix becomes a little fragrant - it should take about 4 minutes.

• brown roux

Once the roux has been prepared, it can be mixed with a hot liquid, such as stock or milk. At around 50-60°C, the starch grains will begin to absorb the liquid they’re suspended in and swell, beginning a process known as gelatinisation. As they swell up, the sauce thickens, up to the boiling point of 100°C.

Remember that once the sauce cools down, it begins to thicken further so when you make the sauces, take that into account.

Note on other ways of starch-based thickening:

• Beurre Manié (kneaded butter) - an equal amount of butter and flour mixed until a compact paste is formed in the form of a rough small bowl. It is added at the end of cooking to the boiling liquid.

• Slurry - a mix of cold water and starch that is added to boiling liquid. The starch granules get covered with cold water and separate and the gelation process occurs once the slurry is added to the heated-up liquid.

• Flour coating - a piece of meat or vegetable coated in flour, sautéed in a pan. Followed by adding liquid to the pan and boiling to create a sauce.

It’s very helpful to know these techniques, but here, we rely only on roux to make French mother sauces.

Ingredients:

What is clarified butter?

Regular butter includes 3 components: butterfat, milk solids (proteins) and water. On the other hand, clarified butter should only contain pure butterfat (the milk solids and water are removed by a process first of melting and then purification). The clarified butter has a higher smoke point and hence can be used to prepare food at high temperatures. It also has a much longer shelf life than the regular butter.

Method:

Clarified butter:

Dice butter into smaller pieces and place them in a pot (you don’t necessarily need to dice the butter but it melts quicker that way). Turn the heat on low to medium, and melt it without stirring. Once it melts and bubbles, the liquid will split into 3 layers:

The white foamy skin that has been formed on top needs to be removed. Grab a tablespoon and carefully scrape it from the top. Now the pure and clear butterfat is exposed and you need to pour it off into a small jug leaving the bits from the bottom in the pot.

Hollandaise:

Prepare bain-marie (water bath) by bringing a medium pot with water to boil.

In a small pot add ground black pepper and lemon juice and reduce it by half. As it’s reducing, in a medium metal bowl, separate the eggs, leaving only egg yolks in the bowl. Whisk them, add a dash of cold water and the lemon juice and black pepper mixture and beat with a whisk for a couple of seconds.

Once the water starts to boil, set it on low heat and place the metal bowl over the pot. Whisk all the ingredients vigorously until the ribbon stage (occurs when the egg yolk’s texture thickens and changes colour to more pale). The process should take around 4 minutes. Keep an eye on the temperature - if the bottom of the bowl gets too warm, the eggs will coagulate and you might end up with scrambled eggs texture. I suggest lowering your heat further or removing the bowl from the heat from time to time.

Once the consistency and colour change, stream in clarified butter gradually (in a slow stream) while whisking to create an emulsion.

Season the hollandaise with a pinch of salt. If you find it needs more acidity - add more lemon juice. If it’s too thick - add a splash of cold water and whisk.

The Hollandaise sauce is a type of sauce that should be ideally served straight away but if you don’t plan to serve it immediately - keep it relatively warm, otherwise the emulsion will break. I recommend filling a container with warm water and dunking the Hollandaise pot in it. Remember that the Hollandaise can’t get either too cold (it will solidify under 35°C) or too warm (it will split over about 70°C).

To rescue your split sauce, whisk an additional egg yolk in a clean metal bowl, place it over a bain-marie and add the split mix slowly while whisking.

Hollandaise is a great base sauce - here are some of its derivatives:

• Béarnaise (white wine, vinegar, shallots, fresh chervil and tarragon)

  • Fayot (Béarnaise with meat glaze)

  • Choron (Béarnaise with tomato purée, but without fresh chervil and tarragon)

  • Paloise (Béarnaise with mint, but without tarragon)

• Maltese (blood orange juice and grated orange skin)

• Mousseline (whipped cream)

Ingredients:

Method:

In a small pot prepare a white roux: melt unsalted butter, add sieved flour, stir and cook for around 2 minutes to make a paste (without changing the colour). Set aside and cool it down. The reason white roux needs to be cold is to prevent lumps from forming when milk is added.

Prepare a shallot clouté which is an onion that is studded with bay leaf and cloves (see the GIF below).

In a small pot warm up the milk over low heat and infuse it with the clouté for around 15 minutes.

Place the warm milk in a heatproof jug, fish out the clouté, and slowly add the milk into the cold white roux while continuously whisking off the heat. To achieve a smooth texture, you need to take your time while doing this step. If the pot is not fully stable, the easiest way is to add milk in small amounts, and after each pour, whisk with one hand and with the other holding the pot (rather than continuously adding milk in a slow stream while whisking).

Once most of the milk is incorporated, bring it to a boil and whisk again until the sauce becomes completely homogenous. Lower the heat and simmer the béchamel for around 20/30 minutes on a very low heat. If you find the béchamel too thick for your liking, you can whisk in more warm milk to thin it down a bit. Keep in mind that the sauce thickens even more once gets colder when served.

Season with salt and add a pinch of nutmeg.

The characteristics of a good béchamel sauce are: glossy, lump-free and well seasoned. It should cover the back of the spoon (have a nappé consistency).

If you don’t plan to use the sauce straight away, place a piece of cling film on top of the sauce (the wrap needs to touch the sauce) to prevent skin from forming. Feel free to refrigerate it.

The Béchamel sauce can be extended and flavoured with other ingredients. Some of the Béchamel derivatives:

• Mornay (cheese such as Gruyère and Parmesan)

• Soubise (white onion, cream and butter)

• Cream (cream and a few drops of lemon)

• Nantua (cream and crayfish butter)

• Cardinal (fish fumet - concentrated fish broth, truffle essence, cream and lobster butter)

Ingredients:

Method:

Warm up the white stock in a small pot over medium to high heat. The stock needs to be clear, so it’s crucial not to roast the meat or vegetables if you plan to make your stock beforehand.

Cook the blond roux until the colour changes from white to pale yellow - it takes around 4 minutes. Allow the blond roux to cool.

Once the blond roux is not hot anymore, gradually add the chicken stock while whisking until all ingredients are incorporated. Do this off the heat, otherwise you run the risk of creating flour lumps.

Place the pot back on the stove and bring the Velouté to boil so that the liquid can thicken. Turn the heat to low and simmer the sauce for around 20/30 minutes. Season with salt.

The texture should be smooth, and shiny and coat the back of the spoon. If you find it too thick, stir in more warm chicken stock (remember that the sauce thickens even more once gets colder when served).

If you don’t serve the sauce immediately, lay a plastic wrap over the sauce surface to prevent skin creation.

Velouté derivatives:

• Aurore (veal veloutè , tomato purée and butter)

• Suprême (chicken veloutè, mushroom liquid, cream and butter)

• Normandy (fish veloutè, mushroom liquid, egg yolks, lemon juice and cream)

• Shrimp (fish veloutè, cream, fish fumet and fish butter)

Ingredients:

• 25g unsalted butter

• 25g plain flour

• 30g bacon

• 30g onion

• 30g celery

• 30g carrot

• 10g tomato purée

• around 500g brown stock

• 2 parsley stems

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 thyme sprig

• sea salt

• black pepper

Method:

Prepare bouquet garni, the bouquet of herbs, here consisting of the bay leaf, thyme and 2 parsley stems tied with a string. The reason they’re formed in a bundle is so that they don’t float around in the liquid and are easy to retrieve.

In a small pot warm up the brown stock (when you prepare the stock from scratch, roast the meat and vegetables first before adding them to water).

Cut mirepoix - onion, celery, and carrot - into rough pieces and macedoine bacon.

Sauté the bacon. Add vegetables in and cook them until they caramelise. Add sieved plain flour and mix until the vegetables are well coated with flour. Cook for around 7 minutes, or until the roux becomes brown (don’t let it burn) while mixing. Add tomato purée, stir, and allow the mix to cool on the counter.

Once the mixture cooled down, add the brown stock little by little while stirring. When the brown roux dissolves, bring the stock to boil to start the process of gelatinisation. Then lower the heat, add bouquet garni, and simmer for around 1 hour very gently. Keep in mind to stir it for the bottom of the sauce not to scorch.

Skim off any scum that accumulated on the top every so often.

Fish out the bouquet garni, and using a fine mesh strainer strain the sauce. Place the liquid back in the clean pot, and season with salt and black pepper. Check the consistency - add more stock if you prefer the sauce to be thinner (don’t forget about the sauce getting thicker as it cools down when served).

The Espagnole sauce should be rich in flavour, glossy and on the thicker side.

If you want the Espagnole to change the appearance to more glossy, add monter au beurre, a knob of cold butter, at the end.

The Espagnole sauce is a very flavourful and rich leading sauce. If you want to make it more engaging, here are some examples:

Ingredients:

• 25g unsalted butter

• 25g plain flour

• 30g bacon

• 30g onion

• 30g carrot

• 30g celery

• 10g tomato purée

• around 500g white stock

• 100g tomato passata

• 1 small garlic clove

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 thyme sprig

• sea salt

• black pepper

Method:

Bring the white stock to a boil in a small pot.

Chop mirepoix - onion, celery, and carrot - into rough cubes. Slice garlic and macedoine bacon.

Melt butter in a pan over low heat. Sauté bacon (without changing colour). Add mirepoix and cook without browning. Add sieved flour, and mix well with the vegetables and the bacon. Cook for around 4 minutes to create a blond roux. Add tomato purée and stir. Let the mixture cool down on the side.

Once it cools, add the white stock gradually while whisking. When the blond roux is thoroughly dissolved and the sauce is lump-free (make sure no lumps are remaining at the bottom or the sides of the pot) add the tomato passata, sliced garlic and bouquet garni. Season with salt and black pepper and bring it to a boil.

Cook for around 1 hour on a low heat. Stir often to prevent burning the bottom of the pot. Pass through a chinois. Check the seasoning and consistency and keep in mind that the sauce thickens even more once gets colder when served.

To prevent skin from forming, add a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the sauce.

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