If you are an aspiring chef or just someone with a knack for cooking, you must learn how to cook the five mother sauces to make all the other sauces in the world. A sauce is a thick liquid made from flavoring ingredients.
There are two components of a sauce; a thickening agent and a flavoring liquid. As per culinary experts around the globe, there are only five mother sauces, and each has a different thickening agent and liquid.
For everyone interested in culinary arts, it is a must to polish their skills and learn the basic five mother sauces. These sauces are the starting point for any dish or secondary sauces.
To explore some of the trending recipes and ingredients in the world of culinary art, you can also explore guides on leading online blogs like Tiny Kitchen Divas.
Here are some details about five mother sauces and examples of small sauces you can make with them.
Béchamel Sauce
It is arguably the most simple mother sauce that one can make. All you need to make the best sauce Béchamel, is milk, flour, and butter, and it is made with roux and hot milk.
The sauce is the perfect ingredient for food recipes like pasta, lasagna, and casseroles since it also contains flavoring ingredients like cloves, onion, and nutmeg.
One can make small sauces from Bechamel sauce like Mornay, Soubise, Nantua, and cream sauce.
Veloute Sauce
This sauce is made using a white sauce and thickened with a simple roux. Herein, the sauce is simmered for a long time.
The most common version of this sauce contains chicken stock, but you can also use veal and fish.
Depending upon the stock you use, the type of secondary sauce you will be able to make would be different.
Chicken Veloute mixed with heavy cream is known as Supreme sauce. On the other hand, veal veloute with eggs and cream is Allemande Sauce. Lastly, white wine sauce can be made by adding wine and cream to Fish Veloute.
Espagnole Sauce or Brown Sauce
It is a complex mother sauce made with brown stock and roux. For those who do not know, the brown stock is made by simmering beef bones, herbs, and vegetables in water for a long time.
While the sauce resembles veloute, the difference is that it is made with ingredients like carrots, celery, and onion, known as mirepoix.
Using Espagnole, you can make small sauces like Bercy sauce, mushroom sauce, and port wine sauce.
Hollandaise Sauce
It is a unique tangy sauce made by whisking clarified butter and warm egg yolks.
Water is not used to make the sauce, as herein, the liquid agent is the clarified butter, and eggs are used for thickening.
It is the perfect sauce for seafood and certain types of vegetables.
Some of the small sauces made using hollandaise sauce are dijon sauce, Charon sauce, and malaise sauce.
The Classic Tomato Sauce
The classic tomato sauce is quite flavorful and might feel similar to the sauce used for pizza and pasta.
You can make the sauce using a roux or with tomatoes and stock.
You can make small sauces like Spanish sauce, creole sauce, and Portuguese sauce using the classic tomato sauce.
So, if you are searching for inspiration to cook something with these sauces, you can consider reading blogs like Tiny Kitchen Divas to check out recipes. Such websites are home to recipes from around the world, and you can also find cooking product reviews.