Five Mother Sauces: The Key to Culinary Delights

When Chef Gordon Ramsay barked, "What are the five mother sauces?" during a recent episode of Hell's Kitchen, my brain went into overdrive trying to recall lessons from my culinary training. It's been ten years since I stepped foot inside a commercial kitchen and I could only recall four of the five.

The contestants began calling out names of the five mother sauces - tomato, hollandaise, demi glace, béchamel, and the one I forgot, veloute.

Watching the Hell's Kitchen episode reminded me how much I love making sauces. From the five mother sauces, hundreds of spin-off sauces can be made by adding a few ingredients or altering spices.

The thing I love about sauces is they enhance the flavor of so many foods. There's nothing better than the rich flavor of Hollandaise sauce over Eggs Benedict or an earthy mushroom and black peppercorn sauce over filet mignon. Homemade sauces can camouflage cooking mistakes and turn ordinary food into gourmet feasts.

Each of the five mother sauces can be used in multiple ways. Common uses include pasta sauces, soup stock, and gravies. The traditional five grand sauces used to take hours to prepare. Today, cooking techniques have reduced cooking time ten-fold and most sauces can be purchased in grocery stores and specialty gourmet food shops.

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce is perhaps the most versatile mother sauce. Its uses as pasta sauce are endless. It pairs well with chicken, beef, veal, pork and seafood. It makes a great base for homemade soups and can even be used in dessert recipes.

To produce the most flavorful homemade tomato sauce it is imperative to use fresh ingredients. While canned tomatoes can be convenient, the flavor derived from homegrown tomatoes is incomparable.

Making homemade tomato sauce is relatively easy. Most recipes incorporate tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrot, fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, parsley, and basil, along with freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese.

Once you find a favorite homemade tomato sauce recipe consider making it in bulk. Tomato sauce can be frozen up to six months. Store in individual containers or freeze in ice cube trays and store cubes in a resealable plastic bag.

Classic Tomato Sauce Recipe from About.com
Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe by Kathy Browning

Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is made from egg yolks, butter, lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper. It yields a rich, creamy sauce used in numerous preparations.

Most people are familiar with the use of Hollandaise sauce with Eggs Benedict or served over steamed vegetables such as asparagus and potatoes. However, Hollandaise provides the foundation for several sauces including Béarnaise, Sauce Dijon, and Sauce Chantilly; a dessert sauce which incorporates whipped cream.

Making homemade Hollandaise sauce requires a wire whisk and moderate cooking skills. Hollandaise sauce falls into the category of emulsified sauces because it is constantly whisked to incorporate the egg protein and butter fats. Insufficient whisking results in a sauce that separates into two layers.

Hollandaise sauce should be prepared using a double boiler over low heat. Since egg yolks are heated, cooking temperature must be carefully monitored or the eggs will scramble. Hollandaise sauce can be frozen, but this sauce is relatively easy to prepare and tastes best served fresh.

Saveur Magazine provides a fail-proof version of Julia Child's Hollandaise Sauce recipe which is made in the blender. If you love Hollandaise sauce but are afraid to try the traditional preparation method, start out with the sauce that Julia claims is "within the capabilities of an 8-year-old child."

Blender Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

Demi Glace

The classic French version of demi glace requires more than 25 hours of cooking time. Properly prepared, this rich-flavored brown sauce yields a shiny glaze and smooth texture. Demi glace is often served with beef and veal and frequently used as a base for soups and other sauces.

Demi glace sauce is made from veal and beef marrow bones, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, dry red wine, and bouquet garni; a bundle of herbs. Espagnole sauce is incorporated into demi glace and consists of bacon fat, onions, carrots, celery, and tomato purée.

Making homemade demi glace can be challenging. Those short on time or the cooking-impaired should consider buying premade demi glace sauce. Flavor selections include veal, beef and chicken. But, be forewarned. Premade demi glace is expensive with prices ranging between $25 and $50 per 16-ounce jar.

Gateway Gourmet provides a classic demi glace sauce recipe which can be made in about three hours. The recipe yields a gallon of sauce which can be frozen up to a year.

Gateway Gourmet: Homemade Demi Glace Recipe

Sauce Béchamel

Béchamel is a white sauce made from butter, flour, milk, salt and a pinch of nutmeg. Béchamel is frequently used in French and Italian cuisine and is the base for many sauces including cheddar cheese, creamy Alfredo, and cheese fondue.

Making homemade Béchamel sauce isn't difficult, but does require a watchful eye over the butter and flour roux. The roux is the most important element of the sauce and should be light-golden brown with a smooth and creamy texture.

Chef Keith Snow of HarvestEating.com presents step-by-step directions for making homemade sauce Bechamel, along with cooking tips and a few surprise ingredients. His video can help anyone create a perfect Bechamel.

Making Bechamel Sauce video

Veloute Sauce

Veloute is a rich, yet light-flavored sauce made from clear chicken, veal or fish stock, clarified butter and flour. Making clarified butter is a multi-step process which separates milk solids from butter fat. It provides richness to the sauce that can't be obtained with regular butter.

Veloute sauce is used in chicken pot pies, vegetable casseroles, fish, veal and chicken dishes. It is the base for numerous white sauces such as Allemande and Suprême; made with heavy cream. On its own, veloute is a semi-bland tasting sauce and is intended to be blended with other ingredients. However, it is often seasoned with salt and pepper and served as basic white gravy.

Veloute is relatively easy to make and requires about 30 minutes from start to finish. Harvest Eating chef, Keith Snow provides easy-to-follow directions for making homemade Veloute, along with culinary techniques to ensure the perfect sauce.

How to Make Veloute Sauce video

Sources:
Gateway Gourmet - www.GatewayGourmet.com
How to Make Clarified Butter - www.JoyOfBaking.com/ClarifiedButter.html
How to Make Roux - http://CulinaryArts.about.com/od/CulinaryFundamentals/ss/Roux.htm