Last night, I taught a class at Whole Foods entitled "The Mother Sauces". What are "mother sauces", you ask? They are the basic sauces used as foundations for hundreds of variations. If you've spent any amount of time in a kitchen, it's likely you've made a version and just didn't know it (such was the case for me, anyway). What a daunting preparation it turned out to be! Those French are some picky folk. My first hurdle was picking which sauces I'd prepare. Simple enough, right? Not so much. As I researched, I'd find one source that list four "mothers", another would list six, another five. Um, OK. One source would say vinaigrette was most definately not a mother sauce, another would insist it was. These mothers were turning out to be quite a mother.
I finally threw up my hands and said to myself, "Self, you're going to do what the hell you want. Damn the French*!" So, as many a snooty dead French chefs rolled in their graves, I chose my own list: bechamel, viloute, espagnole, hollaindaise & mayonnaise. Becha-who? Espa-wha? Don't lose me, please. These sauces aren't nearly as fancy-pants as their names suggest. OK, so us Americans killed any fanciness mayonnaise may've had when someone ceated a recipe for potato salad with cut up hotdog mixed in. Like many French foods, these sauces ingredients are humble ones: butter, flour, milk, stock, eggs. Anyone who's got the gumption can make them. Give it a try. Yes, you may ruin three recipes of mayonnaise before you get it right, as I did last night. The difference between your attempts and mine would be you can toss the cheap oil and eggs down the drain only being shamed by your three year old kid, or your dog, or your giggling, mocking significant other (why don't THEY try and make this stuff?!?!). Me? In front of 20 eager class participants. Good times. Good times. What it comes down to it, when you hear yourself saying "I don't want to make that because I might ruin it". Ask yourself, "Self? So what?" It's worth a try, as the results are soooo delish!!!
*My apologies to the French. I love you all and your crisp baguettes, big fluffy pink pastries, tubs of butter & gallons of wine. You're my people. I gotchu.
Béchamel Sauce
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook over medium,stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly, about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Stir in milk or other liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Sausage Gravy
Ingredients:
1 pound breakfast sausage links
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Salt
and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Remove sausages from their casings, and break into small pieces,
2. Cook sausage in a medium pan over medium-high heat until browned.
3. Place sausage on a paper towel-lined plate to drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the rendered sausage fat.
4. In a saucepan set over medium heat, add the sausage fat and flour, and stirring often, cook for 1 to 2 minutes until mixture is smooth and bubbly.
5. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
6. Stir in the reserved sausage and season to taste with salt and lots of pepper.
Veloute Sauce
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter or butter substitute
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken, fish, or vegetable
Salt & pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook over medium,stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly, about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Slowly stir in stock. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes,stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
1 16 oz container mushrooms, sliced (portabella mushrooms are great for this recipe)
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken, fish or vegetable stock
¼ c chopped parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Cook mushrooms and shallot in olive oil in a pan set over medium-high heat until browned, about 7 minutes.
2. Sprinkle flour over mushrooms and add the butter. Cook until butter is melted and flour has been incorporated with the butter, about 3 minutes.
3. Pour stock on mushroom mixture, stirring constantly, and cook until stock is bubbly and thickened,about 3 minutes. Stir in parsley. Add
salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Serve over chicken, rice or pasta.
Chicken Stock
Ingredients
1 5-7 lb chicken, cleaned
and trimmed of excess fat
10 cups cold water, or
enough to cover the chicken
1 large onion, quartered
4 stalks celery
4 carrots
1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, 3 sprigs thyme, a few parsley stems, celery leaves and 10 peppercorns wrapped in cheesecloth and tied closed)
1 T. Salt, plus more to taste
Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a large stock pot and cover with water.
2. Place pot over medium-high heat and bring to simmer, but do not boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium low and allow stock to simmer a minimum of 1.5 hours or up to 6 hours.
4. As the stock simmers, use a spoon to skim off any fat or impurities that may rise to the
surface.
5. Once at least 1.5 hours have passed, and the chicken is cooked through, taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
6. When stock is finished cooking, remove chicken from pot, let cool slightly and remove meat from bones to be used for another purpose.
7. Strain the stock through a mesh strainer, discard vegetables and bouquet garni, and store in sealed container(s) in refrigerator for up to 5 days or freezer for up to 3 months.
Hollandaise Sauce
Recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Ingredients
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter,
melted
hot water
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Place egg yolks and lemon juice in a blender,
and blend until smooth, about 10 seconds.
2. While the blender is running, slowly drizzle in
half of the butter until very thick, about 1 ½ minutes.
3. Add 2 teaspoons hot water, and then slowly blend in the rest of the butter, for about 1 minute.
4. Blend in additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Stir in cayenne and salt and pepper, to taste.
6. Serve over eggs, fish or vegetables.
Mayonnaise
Recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook
Ingredients
2 egg yolks, beaten
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Place yolks, lemon juice & sugar in a blender
and with the machine running, slowly drizzle in the oil in a slow stream for
about 30 seconds.
2. Stop the blender and scrape down the sides. Blend an additional 5 seconds and add salt and pepper, to taste.
Espagnole Sauce
Recipe adapted from epicurious.com
Ingredients
1 small carrot, coarsely
chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely
chopped
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted
butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups hot brown stock or beef stock
1/4 cup canned tomato purée
2 large garlic cloves,
coarsely chopped
1 celery rib, coarsely
chopped
1/2 teaspoon whole black
peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Directions
1. Cook carrot and onion in butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 7 to 8
minutes.
2. Add flour and cook roux over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until medium brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Add hot stock in a fast stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then add tomato purée,garlic, celery, peppercorns, and bay leaf and bring to a boil, stirring.
3. Reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 3 cups, about 45 minutes.
4. Pour sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids.
Brown Stock
Recipe adapted from foodtv.com
Ingredients
7 pounds beef bones, sawed into 2-inch pieces
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
2 cups dry red wine
20 peppercorns
5 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
1 1/2 gallons water
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the bones on a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour.
2. Remove the oven and brush with the tomato paste. Lay the vegetables over the bones. Return to the oven and roast for 30 minutes.
3. Place the pan on the stove and with the wine, scraping the bottom of the pan for browned particles. Put this mixture in a large stock pot. Add the peppercorns, garlic, water and herbs. Season with salt. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
4. Cook for 4 hours. Remove from the heat and skim off any fat that has risen to the surface. Strain the liquid and discard the bones.
Demi Glaze
Ingredients
2 cups brownstock
2 cups espagnole sauce
Directions
1. Combine the brown sauce and the espagnole in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower heat to a simmer.
3. Reduce for about 20 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by half.
4. Remove pan from heat. Carefully pour the demi-glace through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.
