6 Types of Mother Sauces and their Derivatives

Mother Sauces

Mother sauces were originally the French who gave nomenclature to the sauces and defined them. These people defined the structure of Mother Sauces.

In Food production Mother Sauces are primary and from that all the other sauces derived.

The below chart tells about these Mother Sauces and Components used in a Sauces.

Mother sauces and derivatives chart

6 Mother Sauces name and their Derivatives

Bechamel Sauce (White Sauce)

The sauce consist of milk and is thickened with white roux containing equal parts of flour and butter. Marquis Louis de Bechamel a seventeenth century invented the bechamel sauce.

Derivatives of Bechamel sauce

Veloute Sauce

It literally means velvet. It is a very light blond-coloured sauce, made from chicken, fish, AA or veal stock thickened with a blond roux. Veloute is specifically designed to accompany certain dishes and their recipee indicate a specific stock.

Derivatives of Veloute sauce

Espagnole (Brown Sauce)

Espagnole meaning ‘Spanish’ in french was the original brown sauce and still is one of the glorious of the French kitchen. Thickening rich brown Stock with brown roux makes the brown sauce.

Derivatives of Espagnole Sauce

Tomato Sauce

The traditional French Tomato sauce is thickened with a butter roux. However tomato sauce is more commonly associated with Italian cuisine and in particular as an accompaniment for pasta.

The traditional French recipe included pork, tomato concasse, tomato puree, vegetables and seasonings that the thickened with roux.

Other versions however do not contain roux and are based on tomato chunks and puree.

Derivatives of Tomato sauce

You can Read also 10 Thickening agents for Sauces

Hollandaise Sauce (Dutch Sauce)

A warm emulsified sauce based on egg yolks and clarified butter. Hollandaise is a French word meaning  Dutch style.

The sauce is is named so as in earlier times ‘a la hollandaise’ indicated a dish served with melted butter a reflection of the importance of butter of Dutch cookery. It is thickened with the emulsification of a warm sabayon of egg yolk with the melted clarified butter.

This sauce is a versatile sauce and is served on a dish and grantinated to give colour.

Hollandaise sauce is served in less quantity as it is a heavy sauce and hence served as topping rather than a dipping sauce.

Derivatives of Hollandaise Sauce

Mayonnaise Sauce

The invention of the sauce or the name is possibly derived from three different sources – ‘mahon’, manier (meaning to stir), ‘moyeu’ (reffered to the middle of the egg).

Mayonnaise is a cold emulsified sauce based on egg yolk. If it is not handled carefully, it will separate giving a curdled appearance.

It constitutes oil, egg yolk and vinegar or lemon juice. The key is to keep the ingredients at room temperature and not chilled.

This sauce is always served cold and thus forms a base for most of the salads and sandwich fillings. Mayonnaise is generally served as the dipping sauce with snacks.

Derivatives of Mayonnaise sauce

Conclusion

Mother sauces are the foundation of French cuisine, and their derivatives can be used to create a wide variety of dishes. In this blog post, we discussed the six basic mother sauces: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, mayonnaise, and tomato. We also explored some of their most popular derivatives.

If you are interested in learning more about mother sauces, I encourage you to do some additional research. There are many great resources available online and in libraries. With a little practice, you will be able to master these essential sauces and use them to create delicious and impressive dishes.