| We've all been served great sauces in our | | | | to give the sauce its flavor. Veloute is |
| favorite restaurants and would love to | | | | simple a white stock that has been thicken |
| recreate them in our own kitchens but we are | | | | with a white roux.Let's back up for a second. |
| not sauciers. (French term for sauce chef) | | | | A stock is a flavored broth that has been |
| Professional chefs go to culinary school for | | | | extracted from meats, fish, or vegetables by |
| years to learn the secrets of making classic | | | | cooking them in water slowly for a period of |
| French sauces and the more modern sauces | | | | time. A white stock is made with meats, |
| derived from them. So what are we supposed to | | | | chicken, fish or vegetables that have not |
| do?Yes, there are some sauces that require | | | | been browned and are pale in color.For |
| strong cooking skills. Making a Hollandaise | | | | example, simmering the carcass of a chicken |
| sauce with butter and egg yolks is difficult | | | | along with some aromatic vegetables can make |
| because so many things can go wrong but with | | | | a white chicken stock but to make a brown |
| a little practice and a lot of focus, anyone | | | | chicken stock, you first roast or brown the |
| can make a decent Hollandaise.Mayonnaise is | | | | carcass.A roux is a mixture of flour and fat |
| another emulsion sauce that many cooks | | | | that is cooked together and used to thicken |
| imagine is too hard or two much work to | | | | soups and sauces. Depending on how long you |
| prepare but nothing could be further from the | | | | cook the roux will determine if it called a |
| truth. Mayonnaise is oil, egg, vinegar, | | | | white roux (the lightest), a blond roux or a |
| condiments and spices. Again, all it takes is | | | | brown roux.So the veloute, a combination of |
| some skill with a whisk, the right | | | | the white stock, butter and flour, is the |
| ingredients and some patience.Then there are | | | | base or start to most of the classic white |
| the butter sauces that scare a lot of new | | | | sauces. For sauce allemande you add egg yolks |
| cooks. When we hear "beurre blanc" sauce we | | | | and mushroom cooking liquid. For sauce |
| automatically think, "This is going to be | | | | supreme, heavy cream, mushroom cooking liquid |
| hard" but truth is they are easy if you start | | | | and some more butter.Are they difficult to |
| with well chilled butter, keep the heat low, | | | | make at home? Absolutely not! They just take |
| add butter a little at a time, stay focused | | | | time, patience and focus. The ingredients are |
| and serve immediately.White sauces including | | | | readily available whether you make your own |
| Allemande (German sauce), Supreme, and | | | | homemade stock or purchase a good quality |
| Normande are a little tricky because they all | | | | commercial brand.As for tools, all you need |
| start with a chicken or fish base called | | | | is a heavy bottomed saucepan and a whisk. |
| veloute and then other ingredients are added | | | | |