A Delicious Guide to The Five French Mother Sauces

Written by Shawn Krajewski

I'm going off to college in a few months, which means I won't be able to write articles anymore. As a way to say goodbye, I have been creating articles that I've planned for a long time. I’ve already done my "focaccia redo," an upgraded version of my first-ever recipe for Piece of Cake. 

One small project I’ve been working on is what I like to call the "sauce doc," a quick tutorial and history lesson on all of the mother sauces. The mother sauces are the five main types of French sauces and are what most sauces today derive from (or at least anything based around French or Italian cuisine).

Below is not a recipe; rather, it is a document to teach you what sauce you should use with what, while also providing some resources on how to create the sauce of your choice. Past me has already handled the recipe creation process; as such, I have linked those recipes below for your ease of use. Now that we have truly introduced the purpose of this article, I think it's time we delve into the essence of this truly iconic food type!

1. Béchamel

Béchamel, also known as white sauce, is a thinner sauce and is the base of a lot of other sauces, such as various types of cheese sauces. (I would say take a drink every time I say "sauce" in this article; however, I'm pretty sure you would die of liver failure or have yourself or your parents get arrested for underage drinking. So please don't, for your safety.) If I had to describe béchamel sauce most simply, it would be thick milk. Traditionally speaking, that's what it was: take some flour and milk, add some other fats, mix, and voila. However, in my opinion, the original recipe is bland. I find taste a much more important thing than tradition. Plus, like a true American, to make it better, I added cheese, the greatest food ever created. You can find the recipe for that here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Where in the entirety of France does this sauce originate? Well, it actually doesn't. This sauce has its origins in Italy. It was taken to France by professional chefs hired by the king at the time. The king in question was King Louis the Fourteenth, who was surprisingly not beheaded by a guillotine. But why was it taken over? Well, to put it bluntly, French cuisine at the time was terrible and desperately needed an upgrade to be palatable. Mary, of course, spearheaded this operation and was the main push for this change. (He will probably be showing back up again as the origin for the other sauces.) However, the sauce would not be known as béchamel until the early 18th century. In the widely famous cookbook known as “The Modern Cook,” we sadly do not have a copy of it, but seeing as it's older than anyone I know times two, it's pretty reasonable not to have.

Now, how should you, the humble reader of this (by the way, you look fantastic today), use this sauce? To be frank...you shouldn't. Not exactly. As mentioned earlier, this sauce is often used as a base—this is its best use—because on its own it doesn't have much flavor. However, this fat, protein-rich, gravy-like concoction makes it the perfect base for other sauces. That statement is even supported by history! Its first-ever appearance was a slightly altered variant, and not even its base form. The point is, I recommend you use béchamel sauce as a base and not so much as a standalone. 

2. Hollandaise

The most dangerous sauce on this list, hollandaise, is a creamy egg sauce. If you know anything about eggs, they're quite hard to use and quite picky about how they want to be used. The special thing about hollandaise is that it's a test of nerve control. If the sauce is too hot while cooking, you get scrambled eggs; if it's too cold, it won't mix; if too much is added, the taste is off. It's also one of my favorite sauces on this list, which is a huge shame because you can't refrigerate it and still have it be tasty afterward. 

Hollandaise is an eat-it-now-or-never-again sauce. Typically, that can be a turn-off, but I believe the effort is well worth the quality of this sauce. The recipe I made for this sauce can be found here. Unlike the other sauces on this list, there is not much to say about the story behind hollandaise. It was invented in France during the Middle Ages, received its name during the Franco-Dutch War, was named after Isigny-sur-Mer, and showed up in recipe books starting in the 19th century. Outside of that, there is an argument about what true hollandaise is. (Should it have a white wine/vinegar reduction?) But most of these sauces have some form of debate, so that's not that special.

Now onto the best way to use hollandaise. And that's steak! You can use it with ham, breakfast goodies, or other hearty savory ingredients. However, nothing beats having a good old steak with some hollandaise on top. That combo is truly magical!

3. Velouté

This is also referred to as a white sauce, but not because it uses milk; rather, because it uses a white stock. This is a stock made of a lighter, less rich food. Chicken, fish, or veal are common for creating white stocks. For a velouté, this white stock is thickened similarly to a béchamel.

However, what is quite odd about this sauce is the lack of information on it. Its history is not very well known. We know it was first recorded in the cookbook “The Art of French Cooking," implying that its origins are in fact in France and not another area. Additionally, it was served to royalty by a poor chef who rose through the ranks, which means it was not created by the rich and powerful but instead by a lower-ranked chef. 

If I had to make a theory on its creation—due to its similarity to Espagnole, a brown sauce made almost identically, but with additional foods added—velouté was most likely created as a poor alternative. It likely uses far more accessible ingredients and even ditches some to make it cheaper to cook, while still delivering a similar flavor.

Surprisingly, I do not have a recipe for this sauce, but I do have a revelation that may or may not shatter your entire world. This sauce, from what I can gather...is just gravy. Crazy, I know. Now, given the fact that it's thickened light stock—which is exactly what gravy is—I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the best usage for this sauce is for it to be placed on steak and mashed potatoes. Actually, forget the steak; just get some turkey and smear it on top. Then, use your bare hands like a caveman to devour your meal. Your ancestors will be proud!

4. Espagnole

Another stock-based sauce similar to velouté, but this one is far, far, thicker. The main difference is that this one incorporates far richer stocks (like beef or pork). It also has additional ingredients, such as onions, tomatoes, basil, carrots, parsley, and even liver, to enhance the flavor. I don't exactly have a recipe for this sauce; however, I do have a recipe for a daughter sauce based on this sauce.* The daughter sauce recipe is my bolognese recipe found here.

Similar to a béchamel, this sauce was brought to France by King Louis the Fourteenth's wife, Marie, when she saw how disgusting French cuisine was and wanted to improve it. However, that's not the interesting part of this sauce, for you have been pronouncing it wrong. It's not pronounced "espagnole"; it's pronounced "español," as in the Spanish word for "Spanish." The reason it's named this is because it roughly translates to “Spanish sauce” and originates from Spain. This is the equivalent of us calling beef patties between two buns "hamburgers" because they originate from Hamburg. Wait a minute.

Anyways, story aside, how should you use this sauce? The answer is thick, hollow noodles. I find that rigatoni especially does the job well. Due to the sauce's thickness and sheer richness, you need something that can hold it well. Hollow noodles do that perfectly! The thicker the noodle, the better.

5. Tomato Sauce

Finally, we have tomato sauce. No fancy French words or cool names for this one; it's straight to the point. It uses tomatoes. Well, that's lying a little; every sauce on this list (except béchamel and hollandaise) uses tomatoes to a certain point, whether tomato paste or some chopped-up tomatoes. But tomato sauce is the only one that primarily uses tomatoes. I'm pretty sure I don't need to say what tomato sauce is because we’ve all had it. Nearly every culture has its own variant of a tomato sauce, as it's just so good. But the specific one that most derive from, surprisingly, originates from Spain, was perfected in Italy, and then found its way to France. It's so universally good that the first known written (Italian) version of it predates nearly every sauce on this list. This book was “The Modern Steward” from 1692.

The recipe that I will provide you is not a traditional tomato sauce recipe. That being said, it serves as a good modern representation of it. It's good at everything a regular tomato sauce recipe is good at: pasta and pizza. Those two are also coincidentally what I believe are the best usages of tomato sauce. This recipe is Sauce 17, found here.

Though whatever sauce you decide to use, there are a couple of rules you should keep in mind. The thicker the sauce, the thicker the noodle. Hollow noodles hold sauce a lot better, so it's best to use them when the sauce is more solid than liquid. Cheese is always a good addition to any dish. And most importantly, enjoy your food! Sauce exists to make dishes taste better and more enjoyable, so take that to heart. Love eating, love biting, and love the act of cooking!

*Notes:

• A "daughter sauce" refers to any sauce based on one of the Mother Sauces, whether it be with a slight ingredient change or a full rework.

Thumbnail Credit:

https://pixabay.com/photos/sauce-tomato-basil-canning-glass-5514211/