5 Basic Recipes of French Mother Sauces and Their Derivatives (2024)

Sauce Knowledge: Mother Sauce

What is Mother Sauces?

• Chef Auguste Escoffier list of five mother sauces in French cuisine base on Le Guide Culinaire book
• Five Mother sauces are Espanole, Veloute, Bechamel, Tomato and Hollandaise Sauce.

5 Mother Sauce

The Basic Formulas of The 5 MotherSauces

• White Sauce/ Béchamel: White Roux + Milk
• Blond Sauce/ Velouté: Blond Roux + White stock
• Brown Sauce/ Espagnole: Brown Roux + Veal brown stock
• Red Sauce/ Tomato: Reducing chunky tomatoes over medium-low heat until thick
• Yellow Sauce/ Hollandaise: Egg yolks + Clarified butter + Acid

1. Sauce Béchamel

• This base sauce is a white sauce which essential in many other classic sauces such as Crème sauce, mustard sauce, and many cheese sauces such as Mornay sauce, American Cheddar Cheese Sauce, and Quattro Formaggi Sauce.

Bechamel Sauce

Recipe of Béchamel

• 75 grams. Butter.
• 75 grams. Flour.
• 1 Liter. Milk
• To taste. Salt
• To taste. Freshly grated nutmeg

Method

• Melt the butter in a saucepan
• Add flour and make a white roux
• Pour the milk, cook, and mix/ stirring until thick
• Seasoning with salt and grated nutmeg

Bechamel Derivatives

• Crème Sauce: Bechamel + Cream + Lemon Juice
• Mornay Sauce: Bechamel + Gruyère cheese + Parmesan cheese
• Soubise Sauce: Bechamel + Heavy cream + Sautéed chopped/ sliced onion
• Oeufs à l'Anglaise: Bechamel + Diced hard-boiled egg
• Homard à l'Anglaise: Bechamel + Anchovy + Cayenne pepper powder + Lobster
• American Cheddar Cheese Sauce: Bechamel + Grated American cheddar + Cayenne pepper powder.

Derivative of Bechamel American Cheddar Cheese Sauce

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2. Velouté

• Velouté is a blond sauce that begins with a blond roux and then it gets mixed with white stock made from fish, chicken, or veal.
• Derivative sauces from this base such as sauce allemande (originally also a mother sauce under the original 19th-century categorization), sauce vin blanc (white wine sauce), and sauce suprême, etc.
• Velouté one of the most important in both classical and modern French cuisine.

Veloute Sauce

Read: 14 Popular Pasta Sauces

Recipe of Chicken Velouté

• 100 grams. Butter
• 100 grams. Flour
• 1 Liter. Chicken stock
• To taste. Salt
• To taste. Ground white pepper

Method

• Melt the butter in a saucepan
• Add the flour and make a blond roux
• Pour the chicken stock, cook and mix/ stirring until thick
• Seasoning with salt and white pepper

Velouté Derivatives

• Normande Sauce: Fish velouté+ Mushrooms + Oysters + Liaison
• SaffronSauce: Fish velouté + Lemon juice + Saffron + Heavy cream
• Suprême Sauce: Chicken velouté + Heavy cream
• Aurore Sauce: Sauce supreme + Tomato puree
• Allemande Sauce: Veal veloute + Liaison
• Alfredo Sauce: Chicken velouté + Heavy cream + Parmesan cheese
• Bercy Sauce: Fish/ shrimp velouté + Shallot + Garlic + White wine.
• Poulette Sauce: Chicken velouté + Sliced mushrooms + Lemon juice + Chopped parsley as the garnish/ before serving.

Veloute Derivatives Supreme Sauce

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3. Espagnole

• Espagnole Sauce or brown sauce is made by reducing a broth consisting of a brown roux, veal or beef stock, pieces of red meat for flavor, and mirepoix.

Espagnole Recipe: Yield: 4 Liter

• 8 L.Veal Brown stock
• 200 gr. Flour
• 200 gr. Butter
• 400 gr. Beef trimming
• 600 gr. Chopped / roughly cut onions
• 300 gr. Chopped / roughly cut carrots
• 150 gr. Chopped / roughly cut celery
• 200 gr. Tomato paste
• 200 ml. white/ red wine
• Bay leaves
• Thyme
• Whole black pepper

Method

• Saute all of the ingredients with butter (beef trimming, onion, carrot, celery)
• Add tomato paste and saute until brown color
• Sprinkle the flour into the mixture
• Deglaze with wine
• Pour the brown stock into the mixture
• Add the herbs and peppercorn
• Bring to boil and simmer until half
• Strain with a fine strainer

Espagnole Sauce Derivatives

• Madeira Sauce: Brown sauces + Reduction Madeira wine
• Périgourdine Sauce: Madeira sauces + Sliced truffles + Butter.
• Robert Sauce: Brown sauces + White wine + Onions + Mustard + Butter
• Bordelaise Sauce: Brown Sauces + Red wine reduction + Poached beef marrow
• Chasseur Sauce: Mushroom + Shallot + White wine + Tomato concassé
• Mushroom Sauce: Brown sauces + Sliced mushroom + Cream.
• Lyonnaise Sauce: Brown sauces + Sautéed onion with Butter

Brown Sauce Derivatives Mushroom Sauce

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4. Tomato Sauce

Two Variation of Tomato Sauces:

• French variation, tomato sauce is prepared by combining bacon with a blended or chopped carrot, onions, and tomatoes, a roux, and veal (or alternative meat) stock.
• Italian variation is consists of olive oil, garlic, onion, tomato, and basil flavor.

Tomato Sauce

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Italian Tomato Sauce Recipe

• 1.5 kilograms. Chopped Roman tomatoes (Blanched Tomato Plum)
• 100 milliliter. Olive oil
• 50 grams. Minced garlic
• 200 grams. Chopped onion
• Tomato Paste (additional)
• Freshly chopped basil leaves
• To taste. Salt
• To taste. White pepper

Method

• Saute garlic & onion with an olive in a saucepan until soft
• Add tomato into a saucepan
• cook and simmer
• Seasoning with salt and pepper
• Sprinkle fresh chopped basil at the last minute to add the flavor of tomato sauce

Tomato Sauce Derivatives

• Portugaise Sauce: Tomato Sauce + Sauteed onion + Tomato concassé + Demi-glaze + Chopped garlic + Chopped parsley
• Provençal Sauce: Tomato sauces + Sliced mushrooms + Garlic + Chopped parsley + Olive oil
• Marinara Sauce: Tomato sauces + White wine + Oregano + Seafood
• Puttanesca Sauce: Tomato Sauces + Cappers + Black Olive + Anchovies + Basil
• Arabia Sauce: Tomato sauce + chili flake (dried chili)
• Amatriciana Sauces: Tomato sauces + Sliced onion + Slice bacon + Chili flake.

Tomato Sauce Derivatives Puttanesca Sauce

Read: 6 Pasta Sauce Categories

5. Hollandaise Sauce

• The most popular sauce in the breakfast service.
• Hollandaise sauce or yellow sauce is an emulsified sauce between egg yolks and clarified butter by whisking at warm temperatures.
• Suitable for egg Benedict, fish, shellfish, and vegetables.

Hollandaise Sauce

Read: 3 Types of Vinaigrette

Hollandaise Recipe

• 4. Egg yolks
• 15 grams. Lemon juice
• 150 grams. Unsalted butter
• To taste. Cayenne pepper powder
• To taste. Salt

Method

• Whisk fresh egg yolks and lemon juice in a heat-proof bowl.
• Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water) and whisk until "sabayon" (thick).
• Remove the bowl from the saucepan of simmering water
• Add butter that has been clarified little by little to the mixture of yolk, whisk it continuously until all butter is finished
• Once the mixture has thickened, remove from the heat and season with salt and cayenne pepper.

Note:

• Maintain the temperature of the water when you whisk the egg over the saucepan because it can overcook like a scrambled egg
• Also, the sauce can be split if the sauce is too thick, just add portable water to maintain the balance of thickness

Hollandaise Sauce Derivatives

• Maltaise Sauce: Hollandaise + Blood orange juice or fresh orange juice
• Mousseline Sauce: Hollandaise + Whipped cream
• Noisette Sauce: Hollandaise + Brown butter
• Bavaroise Sauce: Hollandaise + Cayenne pepper + Horseradish + Thyme + Cream crayfish sauce + Garnished w/crayfish meat.
• Béarnaise Sauce: Hollandaise + Chopped tarragon + Chopped chervil + Reduction vinegar (Shallot, tarragon vinegar, black pepper, bay leaf).
• Choron Sauce: Béarnaise + Tomato ketchup/ tomato sauce
• Foyot Sauce: Bearnaise + Demi-glace.

Hollandaise Derivatives Bearnaise Sauce