Sauces That Rule: The Why and How of Mother Sauces

Once upon a time, in a far, far away land called Paris, there was a wonderful chef named Marie-Antoine Carême who had a passion for cooking and a dire love for the French. Dirt-poor Antoine worked at a cheap restaurant, bustling tables and making an honest living. A biographer wrote:

In the streets of Paris, Antonin found his calling. Having an avid interest in cooking and, quite frankly, a natural flair, he worked for restaurants, branching out to various cookeries. He worked for or alongside leading Parisian chefs for a large part of his life. Carême was known as “the king of chefs and the chef of kings.” In his later years, he worked on multiple projects and wrote books of culinary genius.

He created what we know today as the mother sauces or, in his phrase, the grandes sauces – on which classic French haute cuisine is based. His recipes for Velouté, Béchamel, Allemande, and Espagnole became standard for French chefs of his day. His classifications were retained, with modifications, by later chefs, including Auguste Escoffier, and the concept of mother sauces continued to be acknowledged by subsequent generations of cooks, including James Beard and Julia Child.

Georges Auguste Escoffier, Carême’s 20th-century contemporary, later updated this list in Le Guide Culinaire, demoting the allemande sauce to a child of the velouté and adding sauce Tomat.

What is a sauce?

A sauce is nothing but a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. You may be familiar with some sauces already. Some of the most commonly found pre-processed sauces easily available would be tomato, barbecue, chilli, etc. While these are sauces in their own right, the mother sauces that Antoine left us with are recipes that are far simpler, luxurious, and, like he said, grander.

Roux

Roux (pronounced roo) is the thickening agent used in three of the five French mother sauces: Espagnole, Béchamel, and Velouté. The roux is cooked for a different amount of time for each sauce to vary the colour.

When Marie Antoine-Carême was creating his classification, he discovered that all sauces comprised of the same 3 elements; the formula is as follows:

• a liquid,
• a thickener,
• and seasoning.

Roux is made from equal parts fat and flour. The fat is heated until it is a frothy liquid, and then the flour is stirred in to create a thick paste. A white roux is used for Bechamel sauce, and this variation requires the shortest cooking time. As the roux is cooked for longer periods of time, it goes from white to gold to brown. 

Here are the basic formulas of five mother sauces:

• Béchamel: Roux + Dairy (milk or cream)
• Velouté: Roux + white stock
• Espagnole: Roux + brown stock
• Tomato: Roux + Tomatoes
• Hollandaise: egg yolks + clarified melted butter+acid like lemon juice

So now we are done with the basics, let’s talk about these mother sauces in more detail:

Béchamel

If you have eaten homemade macaroni and cheese, then the chances are you’ve experienced the rich creaminess of Béchamel. Oh, this is the silkiest sauce you can use for chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes, lasagne, and gravy, and it will have you lingering on your spoons. The key ingredients are butter, roux, and more butter!

Traditional French, Greek, and Italian bechamel recipes incorporate salt and nutmeg into their sauces. Bechamel was originally an Italian sauce, Balsamella, that became a hit in the French royal court of King Louis XIV, where it was renamed ‘bechamel’ after his chief steward. 

Derivations of béchamel:

• Crème
• Mornay
• Soubise
• Ecossaise
• Nantua

Velouté

If you’ve ever felt your tongue slipping out of your mouth, you, my friend, are experiencing the Velouté. Starting with butter, flour, stock, and to top it off, butter, this sauce is perfect for a rainy day, cosy and warm like how you should be when you should be. This classic French sauce brings a much-needed elegant touch to dishes like chicken pot pie, fish, vegetables, and various gravies that will cause you to salivate…

Derivations of velouté

• Allemande like Poulette
• Cardinal
• Poultry velouté like Supreme and Albufera
• Fish velouté like Bercy and Normande

Espagnole

Also known as a brown sauce, Espagnole begins with a mirepoix (carrot, celery, and onions), beef stock, and the rich, re-glazed brown bits from beef bones. From there, tomato paste and spices are added to develop a deep, complex flavour. This sauce can single-handedly impress your dinner date. Use it for your meat, stews, and gravies and watch them be awestruck by your cooking.

Derivatives of espagnole

• Demi-glace like Poivrade, Grand veneur and Bigarade

Tomato

Probably the very first mother sauce ever created, and nonnas all around the world would agree. The most convenient and textured sauce commonly found in the kitchen is a mixture of onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Traditionally, however, the sauce merely relies on tomato reduction to build flavour and thickness. Slap it on a pizza or pour it on your pasta. This sauce is versatile and ready to be used in your dishes.

Derivations of tomato

• Bolognese
• Portugaise
• Milanaise
• Creole

Hollandaise

It is also considered an emulsified sauce. Think of hollandaise as a new mayonnaise that uses clarified butter in place of oil and gets drizzled over asparagus and eggs. Hollandaise takes patience; you’ll need to temper the mixture so the eggs do not curdle. The sauce can break easily, but you can patch things together by adding a little heavy cream and whisking until the sauce returns to its smooth state.

Derivations of hollandaise

• Béarnaise
  • Foyot
  • Paloise
  • Choron
• Bavaroise sauce
• Crème fleurette
• Maltese sauce
• Noisette sauce

Marie-Antoine Carême’s impact on modern French cuisine is undeniable. His work shaped classical French cooking techniques and inspired countless chefs to pursue culinary excellence. By understanding the foundational elements of the mother sauces, both amateur and professional chefs can elevate their cooking, continuing Carême’s legacy in kitchens around the world.