[Jolly Roger]

First before anything else, we should recognize that if it weren't for the battalion of Italian cooks that Catherine De Medici took with her to France when she married the Duke of Orleans (...later to become King Henry II in 1553...), then the French would still be tearing at their food with crude tools. Later in the seventeenth century, cats like Varenne, Careme, and Escoffier developed the "sauce system". Careme had only four (espagnole, veloute, bechemel, and allemande). Escoffier had five which included the first three originals, but excluded allemande and added tomato and hollandaise. That being said, there should never be a debate in regards to what the original mother sauces are. However, there a butt load of derivatives that are open to debate and discussion...beurre blanc being a hot little topic itself. Also, what is a true demi-glace and how a demi is very different from an espagnole. Thickening agents, when to use and when not to use opting for a true reduction instead. So, all in all, we can't go back in time and change/add to the original mother sauces. It's like the Bible, man. It's already been written and you can't add anything to it, but you can sure have a h*ll of alot of fun with your personal interpretation of it. As for the source of my comments, I'm huge fan of "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul Larousse.

[ml604411]

Beurre Blanc isn't a mother sauce because it wasn't around when Escoffier classified his mother sauces. Beurre Blanc was invented a at the beginning of the 20th century by a cook named Clemence Lefeuvre who was trying to make a bernaise but forgot the egg yolks and tarragon (or so the legend goes).

[ED BUCHANAN]

Beurre Blanc is not a mother sauce[

It is a reduction which includes an acid .Some pople think it is in the Hollandise family, it is not.

Bechamel
Veloute
Espanole or basic brown
Butter(compound or emulsion)
Tomato
These 5 are the mothers from which almost all of the rest ae made.
Tommorrow more will be added as more chefs are experimenting with foams and essences as well as vege purees and metibolic cooking.
These will be given their own catagories. But the ones listed are the classic mother sauces

[greyeaglem]

I always still think there's seven mother sauces because when I was in school ('70s) there were some who were pushing for butter and mayonnaise to be included as mother sauces because of all the derivative sauces made from them. Funny buerre rouge would come up in this discussion as I have an amusing story concerning it. I have a "friend" who stated that he wasn't sure if I really knew how to cook as I only knew the "old" (classic) stuff. Some how it came around to sauces, which were being down-played as unnecessary when I was in school, so in order to see if I knew anything, he asked if I knew what beurre rouge was. I knew it would mean red butter, but what made it red I didn't know. He said if I didbn't know that, I didn't know anything and was therefore a dumb a**. So I asked my brother in law, who graduated from the Scottsdale Cordon Bleu, if he knew what it was. He didn't know either, so I told him he was apparently a dumb a** too. I could find no reference to buerre r ouge anywhere until I looked in La Rousse, where it was described as being made with shrimp or crawfish shells rubbed through a fine seive and blended with butter. It is served with seafood whereas the "buere rouge" I was supposed to know about is buere blanc made with red wine and served with steak. So now I'm not sure who the dumb a** is.

[sierra11b]

Originally Posted by Mikeb

Debating about which sauces are 'mother' sauces is pointless. The 5 mother sauces ARE hollandaise, tomato, béchamel, espagnole and velouté. Why? Because someone decided so. Beurre blanc isn't a mother sauce because it's simply an acid reduction with butter mounted into it (or a hollandaise gone wrong, depending on perspective). We mount butter into a meat sauce to finish as well but that doesn't really warrant giving it separate sauce status...

Debating the Mother Sauce is pointless as we can all agree there are five as far as quizing green-gilled pantry cooks is concerned. Doesn't mean you can't make your own list or take credit away from Beurre Blanc. Believe me, I've seen more people not be able to make a stable beurre blanc that could make great hollandaise. I could really downplay any of the mother sauces if try, especially espagnole and tomato. Hollandaise is really just butter mayonasie, right? Sounds pretty insignificant when I put it like that but there are plenty of variations if I simply add to the sauce. So why is beurre blanc any different if I can add a thousand and one things to get different variations? It is my personal #6 Mother Sauce.