Mother Sauces
The Five Mother Sauces are Béchamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Hollandaise and Tomate. The first mother sauce that I found on a restaurant’s menu was Béchamel. Béchamel is a basic white sauce made from milk and white roux. I found a recipe at the Fisher’s Tudor House in Pennsylvania. They are using Béchamel on a seafood dish. They make a crab cake with egg, seasonings and herbs in it with Béchamel sauce on top. The second mother sauce I found was Veloute. Veloute is also known as a white sauce but instead of starting with milk and white roux, you use white stock and blonde roux. The recipe that I found was from The Chestnut Hill Restaurant in South Carolina. They used it on a chicken dish. They start by preparing a 10 oz. chicken breast by lightly dusting it in flour and sautéing it in butter. They then top the breast with steamed broccoli and finish it off with a chicken Veloute sauce and lace it with a Hollandaise sauce. The third mother sauce that I found was Espanole, coming from back up north in Maine at a place called The Garlic Restaurant. Now personally any place with garlic in the name has got to be good. They are start by grilling a double thick center cut pork chop seasoned with house seasoning. It is served with garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. They top the pork chop with the Espagnole sauce. The fourth mother sauce I found (my personal favorite) was Hollandaise Sauce and Brennan’s in New Orleans seems to be using it on their twist of eggs benedict. They call it Eggs Hussarde. They start by placing 2 poached eggs atop Holland rusks, Canadian bacon and Marchand de Vin sauce. They then top that with the Classic Hollandaise sauce. The owner says that a glass of Sauvignon Blanc is great with this dish. Now the fifth and final mother sauce is Tomate sauce. Unfortunately I could not find a restaurant that uses the classic French version, but that doesn’t mean they are not out