5 Essential Sauces

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perrypiratesdad

perrypiratesdad

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I was watching Essence of Emeril today, and he mentioned that there were 5 essential sauces that you should master. He only talked about the bechamel sauce, so my question to those of you who are serious with cooking, what are the other four sauces?

I would think that the red wine beef sauce (sorry, I forget what it is called but I know it has a funny french name that starts with a b).
 
Learn something new every day! I didn't know that bechamel was "white sauce". I use white sauce a lot and add things to it (like swiss cheese or cheddar cheese) to turn it into something else.

My 22 mo. old granddaughter would tell you that red sauce is the most vital. However that's what she calls ketchup - red sauce. :D And did you know that "red sauce" and Honey Nut Cheerios go fabulously together?????? :D
 
I have never tried bechamel myself. I don't know, but a white sauce just seems wrong to me. Then again, I have never tried "red sauce" and honey nut Cheerios either. I guess I have lived a sheltered life. :) I never liked that "red sauce"

This last weekend I was working at our church festival and some kid came by and emptied about half a bottle of that stuff on his french fries. Did I mention the kid was really overweight.
 
Yes, I figured Hollandaise was one as well....not my favorite sauce, but what are Eggs Benedict without it.

Of very important consideration is the science of making the roux. That is the melting of butter and adding gradually of flour until the paste is heated and then the liquids (milk, cream, broth, whatever) are added.

I did not know about the Essential 5. My essential sauces are definitely white sauce (bechemel) and reduction sauces (where you add wine to the cracklings left in a saute pan, boil furiously to reduce that to a syrup, add broth, boil down, off heat and then stir in a pat of butter. Those with fresh herbs....mmmmmmm.

When I first got married, my husband thought my repetoire of 3 dishes got tiresome. Having never really learned to cook, he got me a subscription to Gourmet magazine. Uh-oh. 27 years of marriage and 50 pounds later.... :eek: well, I certainly can cook now!!

:D Marguerite
 
If you're talking old style, the five sauces are Demi-glace,veloute, bechamel, tomato, and hollandaise. Some people would call demi-glace "brown sauce", veloute "light gravy", bechamel "white sauce", and the other 2...well, tomato and hollandaise. Some people consider cheese sauce to be the acceptable fifth sauce, but it is really a derivative. My mother never knew she was making bechamel when she made the sauce for creamed chipped beef (which my dad called SOS; PM me if you want to know the moniker) or creamed peas over salmon patties. She never knew the turkey gravy was really a veloute, or that the braising sauce and gravy for the pot roast was a demi-glace. Contemporary sauces include the jus lie, coulis, beurre blanc, compound butters, relishes, salsas, and compotes.

Some folks are of the opinion that food that is fresh and of excellent quality needs no sauce. Well, the sauce should always enhance the dish, that is certain, but my mom made the best mashed (and then changed to whipped when her hands would hurt) potatoes in town, yet the gravy she made for the potatoes made them taste even better! For noodles, you definitely need a sauce of some kind.

Chris can't have a lot of the sauces because they contain wheat in the roux; we get around it by using corn starch or arrowroot, but Escoffier is porbably tossing in his grave.

Really hot day in Idaho,
-Laura
 
PairoDocs said:
the braising sauce and gravy for the pot roast was a demi-glace.
Click to expand...
I think that would be a great over simplification if you asked me. A demi-glace is a very time consuming and labor intensive sauce, but I have seen quick versions of it that are quite good.

Cooks Illustrated had a great quicker version of it that turned out great when I made it. If anyone would like it, PM me and I will send it your way.
 
These posts are making my mouth water :p !

Would anyone care to post recipes or links to the five sauces, the easy versions?

Both of my daughters-in-law have studied French and are into French cooking (and they produced a fabulous French-themed evening with a delicious meal for my husband and I for our last anniversary) and I recall one of them talking about the five sauces which I had never heard of before, although my mother prepared some of them when I was young as I now recall. She had also studied 'all things French' while in college and was a fabulous cook.

My idea of "cheese sauce" is melting Havarti on cooked and marinated meat :rolleyes: . I'm quite the cook... ;)

Maybe I'd just better go and eat breakfast... This last batch of blueberries I bought at Trader Joe's are the best we've ever eaten...
 
OK, maybe a regular demi-glace does take a little longer than a simple pot roast, but that's why one of the requirements to qualify as an essential sauce is that you can make it in quantity and that it hold up well over a period of time without degrading or separating. That's also why hollandaise is not always included-nothing worse than hollandaise after it's sat around for awhile. If I make a demi-glace, I usually make enough for a month, or at least the stock part of it. There are so many sauces and dishes that you can make from it that we don't get tired of it. I guess I was just trying to encourage people to think about using sauces more often and using them every day, so I oversimplified a little.

Very Steamy in Idaho,
-Laura
 
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