Five Mother Sauces

In the culinary arts, the term "mother sauce" refers to any one of five basic sauces, which are
the
starting points for making various secondary sauces or "small sauces."
They're called mother sauces because each one is like the head of its own unique family.
A sauce is essentially a liquid plus some sort of thickening agent along with other flavoring
ingredients. Each of the five mother sauces is made with a different liquid, and a different thickening
agent—although three of the mother sauces are thickened with a roux, in each case the roux is
cooked for a different amount of time to produce a lighter or darker color.
Here are the five mother sauces and show examples of some of the small sauces that can be made
from each mother sauce.
1. Béchamel Sauce
Béchamel sauce is probably the simplest of the mother sauces because it doesn't require
making stock. If you have milk, flour, and butter you can make a very basic béchamel.
Béchamel is made by thickening hot milk with a simple white roux. The sauce is then flavored
with onion, cloves, and nutmeg and simmered until it is creamy and velvety smooth.
Béchamel can be used as an ingredient in baked pasta recipes like lasagna, and also in
casseroles. But it's also the base for some of the most common white sauces, cream sauces
and cheese-based sauces. Here are some of the small sauces made from béchamel:
Béchamel is a rich, white sauce made from flour, butter, and milk. It’s often used to create
classic cream-based sauces.
o Cream Sauce
o Mornay Sauce
o Soubise Sauce
o Nantua Sauce
o Cheddar Cheese Sauce
o Mustard Sauce
o Cheesy Sauce
2. Velouté Sauce
Velouté sauce is another relatively simple mother sauce, made by thickening white stock with a roux
and then simmering it for a while. While the chicken velouté, made with chicken stock, is the most
common type, there is also a veal velouté and fish velouté.
Each of the veloutés forms the basis of its own respective secondary mother sauce. For instance,
chicken velouté fortified with cream becomes the Supreme Sauce. Veal velouté thickened with egg
yolks and cream becomes the Allemande Sauce. And the fish velouté plus white wine and heavy
cream becomes the White Wine Sauce.
Small sauces from velouté can be derived from the velouté directly, or from each of the three
secondary sauces. For example:
o Normandy Sauce
o Bercy Sauce
o Hungarian Sauce
o Mushroom Sauce
o Aurora Sauce
o Poulette Sauce
o Herb Seafood Sauce
Velouté is made with butter, flour, and either chicken, veal, or fish stock. This sauce and its
derivatives are very versatile and usually served as a gravy over meats or vegetables.
3. Espagnole Sauce
The Espagnole sauce, also sometimes called Brown Sauce, is a slightly more complex
mother sauce. Espagnole is made by thickening brown stock with a roux. So in that sense,
it's similar to a velouté. The difference is that Espagnole is made with tomato purée and
mirepoix for deeper color and flavor. And, the brown stock itself is made from bones that
have first been roasted to add color and flavor.
Espagnole is traditionally further refined to produce a rich, deeply flavorful sauce called a
demi-glace, which is itself the starting point for making the various small sauces. A demi-
glace consists of a mixture of half Espagnole and half brown stock, which is then reduced
by half.
For a shortcut, you could skip the demi-glace step and make the small sauces directly from
the Espagnole. You'll lose some flavor and body, but you'll save time. Here are some
examples of small sauces made from Espagnole:
a. Marchand de Vin Sauce (Red Wine Reduction)
b. Robert Sauce
c. Charcutière Sauce
d. Lyonnaise Sauce
e. Chasseur Sauce
f. Bercy Sauce
g. Mushroom Sauce
h. Madeira Sauce
i. Port Wine Sauce
Espagnole is a basic brown sauce made from brown roux, brown stock, puréed tomatoes,
and mirepoix. Its rich, complex flavor pairs well with dark meats, such as beef and duck.
4. Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is unlike the mother sauces we've mentioned so far, due to a liquid and
a thickening agent, plus flavorings. Hollandaise is a tangy, buttery sauce made by slowly
whisking clarified butter into warm egg yolks. So the liquid here is the clarified butter and
the thickening agent is the egg yolks.
Hollandaise is an emulsified sauce, and we use clarified butter when making a Hollandaise
because whole butter, which contains water and milk solids, can break the emulsion.
Clarified butter is just pure butterfat, so it helps the emulsion remain stable.
Hollandaise sauce can be used on its own, and it's particularly delicious on seafood,
vegetables, and eggs. But there are also a number of small sauces that can be made from
Hollandaise:
a. Béarnaise Sauce
b. Dijon Sauce
c. Foyot Sauce
d. Choron Sauce
e. Maltaise Sauce
Hollandaise combines egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice. Both it and its derivative sauces
are popularly served over eggs, vegetables, fish, or chicken.
5. Classic Tomate Sauce

The fifth mother sauce is the classic Tomate sauce. This sauce resembles the traditional
tomato sauce that we might use on pasta and pizza, but it's got much more flavor and
requires a few more steps to make.
First, we render salt pork and then sauté aromatic vegetables. Then we add tomatoes,
stock, and a ham bone, and simmer it in the oven for a couple of hours. Cooking the sauce
in the oven helps heat it evenly and without scorching.
Traditionally, the tomate sauce was thickened with roux, and some chefs still prepare it this
way. But the tomatoes themselves are enough to thicken the sauce. Here are a few small
sauces made from the classic tomate sauce:
 Spanish Sauce
 Creole Sauce
 Portuguese Sauce
 Provençale Sauce
Classical French tomato sauces are thickened with roux and flavored with pork, whereas modern
ones usually consist of puréed tomatoes reduced into a thick, rich sauce.

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In the culinary arts, the term "mother sauce" refers to any one of five basic sauces, which are

5. Classic Tomate Sauce

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