Unemployment is a strange thing, can't say that I really enjoy it all that much. I have no purpose, enough money for cigars, but not enough money for Scotch or B&B. I also have plenty of time to think...
I was trying to name the five mother sauces off the top of my head, I kept getting six... So, I looked in my Larousse Gastronomique, first English edition, badly translated. They had a huge section on sauces, but never came right out and put all of the mother sauces together in one spot.
So, I checked a few other books and couldn't get a definitive answer.
Finally I find this at
http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/H...uceHistory.htm Quote:
Mother Sauces - Also called Grand Sauces. These are the five most basic sauces that every cook should master. Antonin Careme, founding father of French "grande cuisine," came up with the methodology in the early 1800's by which hundreds of sauces would be categorized under five Mother Sauces, and there are infinite possibilities for variations, since the sauces are all based on a few basic formulas. Sauces are one of the fundamentals of cooking. Know the basics and you'll be able to prepare a multitude of recipes like a professional. Learn how to make the basic five sauces and their most common derivatives. The five Mother Sauces are:
Bechamel Sauce (white)
Veloute Sauce (blond)
Brown (demi-glace) or Espagnole Sauce
Hollandaise Sauce (butter)
Tomato Sauce (red)
|
Sounds right, but where does Beurre Blanc (and derivatives) fit in? Isn't Beurre Blanc a mother sauce?
Then I find this at
http://www.911cheferic.com/main/drecipe.asp?recipe=299 Quote:
History of Beurre Blanc:
The story of its origin is one of serendipity. A French chef in western France forgot to use eggs when making a Béarnaise sauce for a fish dish he was serving. Uncounted culinary delights have been discovered this way.
|
So my question is, "Is Beurre Blanc a mother sauce, or a variation of Béarnaise?"
Without eggs, I just don't see it as a Béarnaise at all.