| We've all been served great sauces in our favorite | | | | quality commercial brand. |
| restaurants and would love to recreate them in our | | | | As for tools, all you need is a heavy bottomed |
| own kitchens but we are not sauciers. (French term | | | | saucepan and a whisk. Professional chefs will typically |
| for sauce chef) | | | | strain their veloute and sauces through a fine strainer |
| Professional chefs go to culinary school for years to | | | | called a chinois but it'snot absolutely necessary. A |
| learn the secrets of making classic French sauces and | | | | common household strainer with small holes will work |
| the more modern sauces derived from them. So | | | | too. |
| what are we supposed to do? | | | | When we start talking about brown sauces, here's |
| Yes, there are some sauces that require strong | | | | when many new cooks start to get nervous. Just |
| cooking skills. Making a Hollandaise sauce with butter | | | | thinking about making "the gravy" at Thanksgiving |
| and egg yolks is difficult because so many things can | | | | gives some cooks the yips so how are they suppose |
| go wrong but with a little practice and a lot of focus, | | | | to make a classic brown sauce like bordelaise or |
| anyone can make a decent Hollandaise. | | | | chasseur? |
| Mayonnaise is another emulsion sauce that many | | | | These sauces are all derived from the same base |
| cooks imagine is too hard or two much work to | | | | called demi-glace or some form of meat stock |
| prepare but nothing could be further from the truth. | | | | reduction. If you can get your hands on some |
| Mayonnaise is oil, egg, vinegar, condiments and spices. | | | | demi-glace by either making it yourself (very time |
| Again, all it takes is some skill with a whisk, the right | | | | consuming) or purchasing a good quality product on |
| ingredients and some patience. | | | | the market, making any of these classic sauces is not |
| Then there are the butter sauces that scare a lot of | | | | difficult at all. |
| new cooks. When we hear "beurre blanc" sauce we | | | | For example, the classic bordelaise sauce is basically |
| automatically think, "This is going to be hard" but | | | | shallots, wine, fresh thyme, butter, parsley and |
| truth is they are easy if you start with well chilled | | | | demi-glace. Chasseur sauce, also called hunters sauce |
| butter, keep the heat low, add butter a little at a | | | | because it goes well with wild game, is a combination |
| time, stay focused and serve immediately. | | | | shallots, mushrooms, butter, white wine, sometimes |
| White sauces including Allemande (German sauce), | | | | tomatoes and demi-glace. |
| Supreme, and Normande are a little tricky because | | | | If you go any high-end restaurant's kitchen, you will |
| they all start with a chicken or fish base called | | | | most likely find some form of demi-glace or other |
| veloute and then other ingredients are added to give | | | | meat stock reduction cooking on the stove. Culinary |
| the sauce its flavor. Veloute is simple a white stock | | | | students are taught first thing about making stocks |
| that has been thicken with a white roux. | | | | and their reductions. They spend hours making them |
| Let's back up for a second. A stock is a flavored | | | | day after day because they are the basis for all |
| broth that has been extracted from meats, fish, or | | | | classic French sauces. |
| vegetables by cooking them in water slowly for a | | | | This doesn't mean you can't prepare these same |
| period of time. A white stock is made with meats, | | | | sauces at home to serve with your chicken, veal, |
| chicken, fish or vegetables that have not been | | | | beef or fish. All it means is you have to find a quality |
| browned and are pale in color. | | | | commercial product, know someone in the restaurant |
| For example, simmering the carcass of a chicken | | | | business or spend the time to make a batch yourself. |
| along with some aromatic vegetables can make a | | | | A weekend spent preparing a good demi-glace will |
| white chicken stock but to make a brown chicken | | | | give you enough to last quite a while. Because these |
| stock, you first roast or brown the carcass. | | | | sauce bases freeze so well, you can have rich sauces |
| A roux is a mixture of flour and fat that is cooked | | | | year round or you can find a classic recipe at to try |
| together and used to thicken soups and sauces. | | | | at home. |
| Depending on how long you cook the roux will | | | | If you not excited about making it from scratch, |
| determine if it called a white roux (the lightest), a | | | | there are sources listed at the same site for |
| blond roux or a brown roux. | | | | manufacturers who are making restaurant quality |
| So the veloute, a combination of the white stock, | | | | demi-glace for both home users andcommercial |
| butter and flour, is the base or start to most of the | | | | establishments. |
| classic white sauces. For sauce allemande you add | | | | Either way, making restaurant quality sauces at home |
| egg yolks and mushroom cooking liquid. For sauce | | | | is not as difficult as you might have thought. The |
| supreme, heavy cream, mushroom cooking liquid and | | | | myth that only professional chefs with years of |
| some more butter. | | | | experience can prepare classic sauces is not true. |
| Are they difficult to make at home? Absolutely not! | | | | With a little practice and the right ingredients, you can |
| They just take time, patience and focus. The | | | | be wowing your family and friends at your next |
| ingredients are readily available whether you make | | | | dinner party. |
| your own homemade stock or purchase a good | | | | Copyright © 2006 Bill Long, GatewayGourmet. |