Master Sauces

[fakechef]

This should be an easy one for the pro's out there....What are the 5 Master sauces, and what are the basics of each?? Seems I only know two of them...
Thanks
Bobby

[deltadoc]

I think they are: bechamel, veloute, espagnole, tomato and hollandaise

bechamel is a milk sauce made with a roux.

Veloute is the same but made with a stock instead of milk.

Espagnole is a brown sauce, made with brown stock, a roux and mirepoix.

Tomato is tomato sauce.

hollandaise is a egg yolk/butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar or lemon juice (or a little of both) and white wine.

Most of these sauces can be made in different ways. Many do not make espagnole sauce anymore, but just reduce a brown stock. I don't think bechamel is made as often as it used to either.

doc

[deltadoc]

BTW: Sometimes a vinegrette is considered a sauce. There is debate as to whether there are 5 or 6 mother sauces. I tend to think of vinegrette as a dressing more than a sauce, and some think that the vinegrette is one of the 5 mother sauces and tomato is the 6th. Depends on who you talk to.

doc

[KateW]

Don't forget demiglace.

[cheflayne]

In order to make a quart demi glace you need to first make a quart of espagnole, add a quart of brown stock and reduce to 9/10 of a quart and finish with 1/10 of a quart of sherry, so demi glace is not actually a master sauce since a master sauce is required in order to make it.

[Suzanne]

We're not helping you out of a jam on an exam, are we?

Just curious: why have you not been able to find this via, say, google?

[T.Haws]

Or any other freakin' classic french cookbook. If this refers to an exam, going to class would provide the answer, possibly reading the text, etc.....

[Greg]

Demi is sometimes included as a mother sauce by some because there are so many sauces which derive from it. Johnson and Wales (the culinary school that Kate and I both attended) teaches that there are 6 mother sauces: Bechamel, Espagnol, Tomato, Hollandaise, Veloute and Demi-Glace. So, it just depends who you ask.

Doc has a good point regarding vinaigrettes. They are used more and more often now on entree's, have many derivatives and are an emulsion like hollandaise.

[kuan]

I don't agree with the vinaigrette being a mother sauce. You have to be able to derive other sauces from a mother sauce. Vinaigrettes have their own flavors, ie., raspberry, balsamic. You can't derive a balsamic from a raspberry or either from a plain white vinegar/oil vinaigrette, hence it's not a mother sauce.

[deltadoc]

I've tried three times now to reply to this thread. I don't know why my posts keep not showing up!

I read once that the French consider a sauce has to be so delectable that it can be eaten by itself. Now I can eat a bechamel, a veloute, an espagnole, a tomatoe, and a hollandaise by itself, But I stop short of being able to eat a vinegrette by itself. Therefore by this French perspective, I still tend to not think of vingrettes as sauces.

I also don't think of a demi-glace as a mother sauce, but then, one can contemplate Auguste Escoffier's definition of "demi-glace" as the "perfection of a brown sauce".

Now if "demi-glace" is the perfection of a "brown sauce", one must ask whether the perfection of any "mother sauce" is still a mother sauce or a derivative sauce!


doc

[Pete]

I have also heard that some consider mayonnaise the 6th Mother Sauce since it is the base of a number of other sauces including remoulade, rouille, aioli, tartar sauce, etc.

[IronChefATL]

not to create more havoc (ok thats my purpose odf this reply) but since Bearnaise is not a derivative of Hollandaise, what is it?....and dressing in my opinion doesnt count as a sauce unless you are also going to include all cold emulsions such as mayo. Demi...true demi and even more so to the point espagnole are dead. the use of roux in brown sauces is pointless in finer restaurants these days, and saying that espagnole and Demi are both mother sauces is redundant. The only thing you would make if you had espagnole would be demi, but since thats a bunch of pointless bother....if chewy is a whookie and lives with it ewoks..it makes no sense.

[kuan]

What do you mean Bearnaise is not a derivative of Hollandaise? You make a gastrique of pepper, tarragon, shallots, vinegar, white wine and add that to Hollandaise to make a Bearnaise.

I'm with Pete. If there ever were a sixth mother sauce it would be Mayonnaise. Hellman's for me, not that Kraft stuff!

[KateW]

Originally Posted by Suzanne

We're not helping you out of a jam on an exam, are we?

Just curious: why have you not been able to find this via, say, google?

I think when I asked this question-- I believe it was here, a couple years ago-- I could not find it in Google either. The answers vary. My problem was, the chef asked us as sort of a take-home question, so I could not ask him, either!
The answer does depend on what they want you to know. Each school, even each chef, will tell you something different. Find out the answer your particular chef wants to know.

[Headless Chicken]

Originally Posted by kuan

What do you mean Bearnaise is not a derivative of Hollandaise? You make a gastrique of pepper, tarragon, shallots, vinegar, white wine and add that to Hollandaise to make a Bearnaise.

Actually, I was just told in class today about bearnaise and whether its a mother sauce or a derivative of hollandaise. Its made the same way as a hollandaise only flavored with terragon. But some people argue that bearnaise is a reduction with the terragon making it a totally different sauce from hollandaise.

For my red seal test though, a bearnaise isn't a mother sauce.