I have got so much to learn about cooking. I didn’t even know that there are five (5) “Mother” sauces until I saw it on one of the episodes of Chef Gordon Ramsay‘s Hell’s Kitchen.

It made me want to go to culinary school, but, I still believe that you really don’t have to go to culinary school to become great at what you do. Knowing how to cook is a skill. Now, it’s up to you to develop it and how you hone it.

For someone like me who’s just learning, I would like to share with you this new-found knowledge. Without further ado…

 The 5 Mother Sauces

They were called the Mother or leading sauces because they are the main sauces in cooking.

With just a few modifications, all sauces in cooking are derived from these mother sauces.

Reffered to as the classic white sauce.
Named after its inventor, Louis XIV’s steward Louis de Béchamel.
It’s basically made of milk and butter-flour roux.

 

 

Stock-based white sauce. It can be from chicken, fish or veal.

Brown sauce, traditionally made from rich meat stock or
mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery) of browned vegetables.

Basically made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice. Requires some skills and knowledge to prepare. Flavor is buttery and rich with a mild tang because of the lemon juice.

Consists of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Originally included with the mother sauces.

 

 

Made of tomatoes and herbs.

Out of all these, I’ve only made tomato sauce. So, I’m on my quest to try to make all of these sauces soon and pair it with the proper protein to appreciate more the unique taste of each of them.

If you can share your own recipes that goes great with these sauces, I would love to try it!

 

Image sources for this post:

French Bechamel Sauce
Veloute Sauce
Culinary School Week #2
Lobster Artichoke Eggs Benedict
How to make Vinaigrette