Sauce Basics

There are 5 "Leading" sauces - Bechamel (commonly known as white sauce), veloute, espagnole (known as brown sauce), tomato and hollandaise. All of these can be seasoned and garnished to create a wide varety of all other "small" or "compound" sauces.

The 5 Leading sauces are distinguished by the liquids and thickeners used to prepare them:

Milk + white Roux = bechamel (white sauce)

Chicken stock + blonde roux = veloute sauces

Beef stock + brown roux = espagnole (brown suce)

Tomato sauce

Butter + ehh yolk = hollandaise

A "Roux" is how you thicken your sauce. It is a combination of flour and fats (usually butter) to form a paste. There are 3 types of roux:

White Roux - cooked only briefly and removed from heat as soon as it starts to bubble. Used in white sauces or in dishes where little or no color is desired
Blonde Roux - cooked slightly longer than the white roux. It should start to take on a little color as the flour carmelizes. It is used in ivory colored sauces such as veloute, or whe a richer flavor is desired.
Brown Roux - tis cooked until it is a darker color and has developed a nutty aroma and flavor. Brown roux is used in making brown sauces.

TIPS:
1.) Use a heavy saucepan when making a roux
2.) Cook over medium heat - do not BURN!! Burned roux will not thicken anything and just taste realy bad!
3.) Use cake or pastry flour instead of all purpose flour - cake and pastry flour has a higher percentage of starch.

Bechamel Sauce (White sauce)

Bechamel (white) sauce is the easiest of all the leading sauces to prepare. Although at one time a bechamel sauce would be made with veal stock, today the sauce is almost always prepared by thickening milk with a white roux and adding seasonings. A properly made bechamel sauce is rich and creamy and absolutely smooth. The sauce should be the color of heavy cream and should be thick enough to coat food lightly. A basic bechamel or white sauce is the foundation for may other sauces and recipes!

Basic Bechamel Sauce
1/3 c. butter
3 Tbsp. Flour
2 cups Cold Milk
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Recipe with bechamel sauce:

Chicken Spinach Dinner Crepes
from Catherine Goold....my very best friend from high school!
(Her grandfather was a French Chef in FRANCE!)

For the Crepes:
3 cups Flour
4 cups water
8 eggs
1 tsp. Salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. lemon rind

Make the batter at least 4 hours ahead (up to one day) In a large bowl, beat the eggs slightly. Add the oil and water and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Slowly add the flour to the egg mixture; whisking until well combined. Stir in the vanilla, lemon extract and lemon rind. Refrigerate until ready to use.

When it is time to cook the crepes... don't panic!... the batter will have separated. Slowly stir until well combined and then check the consistency on the batter, you want it very thin. It may require up to another 1/2 cup of water to loosen it up. Wipe the crepe pan with a little vegetable oil on a paper towel before the first crepe. After that there is enough oil in the batter to keep them from sticking Pour a spoonful of batter onto a heated crepe pan swirl around to cover the bottom. Use just enough to cover the bottom so they will be thin. Watching carefully, cook each side for 1 - 2 minutes, adjusting the heat (usually medium to medium-high depending in your stove)

The first side is done when the edges start to curl up and crepe comes loose when you shake the pan. Carefully flip it over being careful not to tear the crepe...usually fingers work best! The crepe should be light golden/blonde in color. The first crepe always comes out looking a little strange but the rest should look normal. You will need to stir the batter often to prevent settling. This recipe will make about 30 crepes.

(These can be filled for savory dishes, desserts, breakfast or just a snack. Catherine's family enjoys just sprinkling them with sugar, fold and eating them warm!)

Chicken Spinach Filling:
2 recipes of Bechamel sauce (above)
3 cups cooked chicken breast, diced
10 oz box frozen spinach; thawed and drained well
1 1/2 c. shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 c. green onion, finely chopped

After making one recipe of the Bechamel sauce, remove from heat. Add the Swiss cheese and stir until completely melted. Add the green onion, spinach and chicken, stirring after each addition until thoroughly combined. Heat on low until mixture is hot. Scoop about 1/2 c. of the chicken filling into each crepe and roll. This will fill 8-10 crepes depending in size.

Pour desired amount of additional 2nd recipe of the bechemel sauce over filled crepes and garnish with tasted almonds and parsley. Sauteed mushrooms are also very good as a garnish or even added in the filling.

Better Than Bouillon

Whenever a recipe calls for broth, stock or bouillon, I use a product called Better Than Bouillon by Superior Touch. You can find the chicken and beef bases in the soup and broth section of any grocery store - Walmart included. You will need to go to a specialty market like AJs to find the more unique flavors.

To make: simply add 1 tsp of base per cup of hot water to make 1 cup of broth or stock... just like a bouillon cube. This base has a great, rich taste that I like TONS better than traditional cubes and even more than canned broth.

The following recipe calls for 5 cups of chicken stock. I simply heated 5 cups of water and stirred in 5 tsp of the Better Than Bouillon chicken base and VOILA!! easy, YUMMY chicken stock that didn't take hours to make! (although it is a little salty to you may need to adjust the amount of salt in any recipe!)

Poulette Sauce

The Poulette Sauce is from the Veloute family of sauces. Veloute sauces are made by thickening a white stock (chicken or veal). A properly made veloute sauce should be rich, smooth and lump free. It should be ivory colored and should be thick enough to cling to foods without tasting like the roux used to thicken it!

The Poulette sauce is actually a 3rd level of sauce. You have to start by making a basic Veloute sauce, then make Allemande sauce from the original veloute sauce. The poulette sauce just adds ingredients to the Allemande sauce. I know it sounds complicated but it really isn't too bad! Any of the following 3 sauces are great on chicken, any white meats and vegetables.

Basic Veloute Sauce:

4 Tbsp. Butter

2 Tbsp. Flour

5 cups Chicken stock

Salt and White Pepper

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the butter and cook to make a blond roux.

Gradually add the stock to the roux, stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Melted butter may be carefully ladled over the service to prevent a skin from forming.

Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring to prevent burning on the bottom.

Allemande Sauce:

4 1/2 cups prepared veloute sauce

2 egg yolks

3/4 c. Heavy Cream

1 tsp. lemon juice

Bring the veloute to a simmer.

In a large bowl, whip the egg yolks with the cream. Slowly ladle about 1/3 of the hot veloute sauce into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, to temper.

When 1/3 of the veloute sauce has been incorporated into the now warmed yolk and cream mixture, slowly add back into the pan of remaining veloute sauce while whisking continuously.

Reheat the sauce. Do not let it boil!

Stir in lemon juice.

Poulette Sauce

4 cups prepared Allemande Sauce

1 Tbsp Butter

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

1 small shallot, diced

1/4 c. heavy cream

1 Tbsp. chopped parsley

Saute the mushrooms and the shallot in the melted butter. Drain. Stir into the Allemande sauce. Stir in cream and chopped parsley.

Peppercorn Sauce (Sauce au Poivre)

This is an example of a sauce from the Espagnole (Brown Sauce) family. This is a recipe that uses a demi-glace as a short cut - instead of making a brown roux and adding in brown stock (usually beef). Demi-glace is half brown sauce, half brown stock reduced by half. I use a product called Demi-Glace Gold in this recipe that you can purchase at certain gourmet markets....

Sauce au Poivre

Ingredients:

1 shallot

1 oz. Butter (1/4 stick)

1 tablespoon Cracked Peppercorns

1/2 cup of red wine

8 ounces demi-glace*

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions: Melt 1/4 stick of butter in a sauce pan and sauté shallots (cooking quickly over high heat) until transparent for approximately 2-3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of cracked peppercorns. This is the hardest part to making this sauce. I opted for putting the peppercorns in zip lock bag and cracking them on my cutting board with a hammer. Noisy, but it works! Do NOT pound them too much or you will just pour in a LOT of pepper and have a really spicy sauce!

Add 1/2 cup of red wine, but don’t use plain old cooking wine, big mistake. Never cook with any wine that isn't for drinking. (I just buy a cheaper Cabernet Sauvignon from the wine section of the grocery srore.) Reduce this mixture to an essence which means until there is just a tiny hint of wine left in the pan. Add the demi glace*, stir (with a whisk if you have one) until completely incorporated.
Simmer until the sauce has thickened, approximately 5-6 minutes. The sauce is thick enough when it will coat a spoon. Add 1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley, stir, and serve over steak!

*If using More Than Gourmet's Demi Glace Gold, reconstitute 1.5 ounces with 8 ounces of hot water either in the microwave oven or on the stove and follow the recipe.

Compound Butter Recipes

Compound butter is simply butter with added flavors mixed in. It’s not just like buttering an item and then adding a sprinkle of the flavor - compound butter becomes a unique flavor unto itself. One of the simplest examples is honey butter, a simple blend of honey with butter, whipped together and served immediately. These butters are a very easy way to look like you went to a lot of trouble!

Herbed Butter
(Great on steak, lamb, etc!)
Ingredients
1 pound butter
3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon sage, chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped

Directions:
Chop the butter into uniform chunks.
Place the oil into a food processor and add the chives. Process until the chives are finely chopped. Add the remaining herbs and blend until the herbs have colored the oil.
Using a whisk attachment, whip the butter in a mixer's work bowl at medium speed until it softens and lightens in color, about 5 to 7 minutes. OR You can simply soften the butter on the counter - but do not melt it!
Add the herb oil to the butter and beat for 2 minutes until oil is fully incorporated. Remove butter from bowl and spoon onto parchment paper or plastic wrap. Roll into a log, using the edge of a baking sheet to form a tight log. Chill for 2 hours before serving.
Just as you take your steak hot off the grill, cut a slice of the butter and lay it on top. It looks fancy and tastes great!
** I have used dried herbs before and it still tasted good... I would just let it sit in the refrigerator longer.... but fresh is BEST!


Honey Butter
Ingredients
1 pound butter
1/4 cups honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream (NOT whipping cream!)

Directions
You can either soften the butter and simply beat in the ingredients, or you can cut the cold butter into chunks and put it in a mixer's work bowl and beat at low speed, using the whisk attachment to loosen the butter. Increase the speed to medium and add the honey, cinnamon, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined, about 5 to 7 minutes. I also throw in a heaping spoonful of whipped cream to make it really fluffy and yummy! Remove butter from bowl and spoon onto parchment paper or plastic wrap. Roll into a log and refrigerate for 2 hours.