What are the “mother sauces,” and what’s up with all the French words?

I had originally intended to stick to discussing Alice Waters’ four essential sauces during sauce week for our Back to Basics series, but it’s a question I had so I thought I’d share what I found out here!

I went to a cooking class at The Homestead this past weekend, and the chef was from Italy. He was super entertaining and very informative. Turns out, the French were the ones who standardized cooking, so that’s why you’ll hear the French words today. Below I’m listing their English translations first.

You’ll probably recognize many of them; they are the basic for many of the sauces that we use in cooking, or that you’ll find in restaurants. Sure, everyone puts their own twist on them, but if you want to kick your cooking up a notch, and be able to throw stuff together, getting these under your belt would be a great start.

1. White Sauce (Béchamel sauce)

Made with butter, flour, and milk, I made this as part of the Butternut Squash Lasagna a few months ago. I remember thinking at the time, boy, this sauce is delicious and I can imagine it on so many things! Add a little Parmesan, and it becomes like the Alfredo sauce I used on the mixed greens pizza last summer. Picture it with pasta and green vegetables. Delicious.

2. Brown Sauce (Espagnole sauce)

This one is a bit more complicated, made with a brown stock that has been made with roasted bones, plus thickened with the roux (flour and butter mixture). The Reluctant Gourmet has a great history of brown sauce.

3. Hollandaise Sauce

This one should be familiar as the sauce that is often served on eggs Benedict. I tried making homemade hollandaise sauce a few weeks ago with mixed results.

4. Tomato Sauce

I learned a version of this at the aforementioned cooking class, called Bolognese sauce; I concluded that Bolognese means that it includes meat. Stella Culinary has the traditional recipe for tomato sauce posted on its website. They also verify the assertion I heard over the weekend that the Italians taught the French to cook 🙂

5. Sauce Made of Stock (Velouté sauce)

Basically, it’s thickened stock. It can be chicken stock, veal stock, or fish stock, thickened with a roux (flour and butter mixture). For a simplified version using ready made stock, check out Emeril’s recipe for Veloute at The Food Network website. For a more comprehensive explanation check out the Stella Culinary website.

As you can see, all of these are quite a bit more involved than the simple sauces that Alice Waters includes in her book. I’m not sure I’ll ever progress enough as a home cook to be able to make all of these perfectly, but it is helpful to at least know about them when in the presence of actual chefs or when other people start rattling off terms like “mother sauce” — although, as with anything in life, you can usually get by with a smile and a nod.