Velouté Sauce Recipe



Velouté is one of the five mother sauces of classical cuisine. It can be made with any white stock, but this version, the chicken velouté, is made with chicken stock and is the most common. There's also a veal velouté and a fish velouté.

Chicken velouté is the basis for the traditional Suprême sauce, as well as the classic Mushroom sauce, the Aurora sauce and many others.

Note that the velouté is not itself a finished sauce — that is to say, it isn't typically served as is. You could, however, simply season it with salt and pepper and use it much as you would a basic gravy.

Ingredients: 

  • 5 tbsp butter
  • 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper

Preparation:

  1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour until it forms a smooth paste. Continue whisking, cook for about 2 minutes, 
  2. add the chicken stock. Continue whisking and cook until the sauce is completely heated through, smooth, and thickened. 
  3. Remove from the heat and season with the salt and pepper, to taste.
  4. This veloute sauce recipe makes approximately 4 cups of sauce.



Espagnole Sauce Recipe


Espagnole (pronounced like the word for Spanish: "español") is a basic brown sauce that is one of the five mother sauces of classical cuisine. It's also the starting point for the demi-glace, a rich and deeply flavorful sauce that is traditionally served with red meats.

Ingredients:
  • ½ cup onions, diced
  • ¼ cup carrots, diced
  • ¼ cup celery, diced
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups brown stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • 3-4 fresh parsley stems

Preparation:
  1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat until it becomes frothy.
  2. Add the brown stock and sauté for a few minutes until it's lightly browned. Don't let it burn, though.
  3. With a spoon, stir the flour into the brown stock a little bit at a time, until it is forms a thick paste or roux. Lower the heat and cook the roux for another five minutes or so, until it's light brown. Don't let it burn! The roux will have a slightly nutty aroma at this point.
  4. Using a wire whisk, slowly add the stock to the roux, whisking vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps.
  5. Bring to a boil, lower heat, add bay leaf, dried thyme and parsley and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by about one-third, stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom of the pan. Use a ladle to skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.
  6. Remove the sauce from the heat. For an extra smooth consistency, carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.
  7. Serve hot. If not serving the sauce right away, keep it covered and warm until you're ready to use it.

Classic Tomato Sauce


This classic Tomato Sauce recipe is one of the five mother sauces of classical cuisine. It's also the starting point for making the traditional Spanish sauce, Creole sauce, Portuguese sauce or Provençale sauce.

It is similar to, but more complicated than, the basic tomato sauce that is commonly served with pasta. Here's the recipe for the basic tomato pasta sauce.

Some versions of this tomato sauce recipe use a roux to thicken the sauce, but this isn't really necessary. The tomatoes themselves are enough to thicken the sauce.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 kg. Tomato
  • 1 cups onions, diced
  • 1 cup carrots, diced
  • 1 cup celery, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp tomatoes paste
  • Chicken stock
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • A pin of black pepper
  • Sugar, to taste
  • Seasoning to taste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • 3-4 fresh parsley stems
Preparation:

  1. Add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic, and sauté for a few minutes until the onion is cooked but not brown. 
  2. Add tomato paste and continue stir until flavor.
  3. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, .thyme, and bay leaf.
  4. Bring to a boil, and simmer for one hours.
  5. Season to taste with Kosher salt and a small amount of sugar just enough to cut the acid edge of the tomatoes. Serve hot. If not serving the sauce right away, keep it covered and warm until you're ready to use it.

The Tomato Sauce


Tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish (rather than as a condiment). Tomato sauces are common for meat and vegetables, but they are perhaps best known as sauces for pasta dishes.

Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high liquid content, very soft flesh which breaks down easily, and the right composition to thicken into a sauce when they are cooked (without the need of thickeners such as roux). All of these qualities make them ideal for simple and appealing sauces. The simplest tomato sauces consist just of chopped tomato flesh cooked in a little olive oil and simmered until it loses its raw flavor, and seasoned with salt.

Optionally tomato skins may be scalded and peeled according to texture (especially thicker paste varieties) and tomato seeds may be removed to avoid their bitterness.

Water (or another, more flavorful liquid such as stock or wine) is sometimes added to keep it from drying out too much. Onion and garlic are almost always sweated or sautéed at the beginning before the tomato is added. Other seasonings typically include basil, oregano, parsley, and possibly some spicy red pepper or black pepper. Ground or chopped meat is also common. 

In countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, the term "tomato sauce" is used to describe a condiment similar to that known in the United States as 'ketchup'. In some of these countries, both terms are used for the condiment.

The use of tomato sauce with pasta appears for the first time in the Italian cookbook L'Apicio moderno, by Roman chef Francesco Leonardi, edited in 1790.

French 
Sauce tomato is one of the five mother sauces of classical French cooking, as codified by Auguste Escoffier. It consists of salt belly of pork, onions, bay leaves, thyme, tomato purée or fresh tomatoes, roux, garlic, salt, sugar, and pepper. Many times, butter and flour will be listed in the ingredients, but those are only used to make the roux (thickening agent). Roux is made of equal parts by weight of flour and butter cooked. Any extra flour or butter that is called for in the recipe is typically an error.

New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the UK
The most common use of the term tomato sauce in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa is to describe a popular, commercially produced condiment, typically applied to foods such as meat pies, sausages, other meats and chips. Tomato-based sauces served with pasta would commonly be referred to as "pasta sauce". In the UK the meaning of the term "tomato sauce" depends on the context; on a restaurant menu the phrase "in a tomato sauce" means a freshly prepared tomato based sauce as used on pasta, and colloquially it may refer to either the pasta sauce or American ketchup.

Italian
The misconception that the tomato has been central to Italian cuisine since its introduction from the Americas is often repeated. Though the tomato was introduced from the Spanish New World to European botanists in the 16th century, tomato sauce made a relatively late entry in Italian cuisine: in Antonio Latini's cookbook Lo scalco alla moderna (Naples, 1692). Latini, not unsurprisingly, was chef to the Spanish viceroy of Naples, and one of his tomato recipes is for sauce alla spagnuola, "in the Spanish style". The use of tomato sauce with pasta appears for the first time in the Italian cookbook L'Apicio moderno, by Roman chef Francesco Leonardi, edited in 1790.  Italian varieties of tomato sauce range from the very simple pasta al pomodoro to the piquant puttanesca and arrabbiata sauces.

United States
In the U.S., "tomato sauce" refers to two distinct sauces. One is a tomato concentrate with salt and minimal herbs, used in cooking. This product is considered incomplete and not normally used as is. Related ingredients are tomato purée and tomato paste, each of which is similar but of a thicker consistency. Tomato purée and tomato paste have FDA standards of identity (since 1939) for percentage of tomato solids, and generally do not contain seasonings other than salt; tomato sauce is non-standardized.

The second use of the term "tomato sauce" in the U.S. is for a cooked sauce of tomatoes, usually containing olive oil and garlic. This type of tomato sauce is generally served with pasta, and sometimes with meat. Less commonly, it is served with chicken or beef alone. One popular variety of tomato sauce is marinara sauce, an Italian-American term for a simple tomato sauce with herbs mostly parsley and basil. Contrary to what the name might suggest ('marinara' is Italian for "sailor-style") it is without anchovies, fish, or seafood. In Italy, marinara refers either to sauces made with tomato and garlic (as in pizza marinara) or to seafood-based sauces or foods; in this case, the name does not imply that tomato is either included or excluded.

Some Italian Americans on the East Coast and around the Chicago area refer to tomato sauce as "gravy", "tomato gravy", or "Sunday gravy", especially sauces with a large quantity of meat simmered in them, similar to the Italian Neapolitan ragù. "Gravy" is an erroneous English translation from the Italian sugo which means juice, but can also mean sauce (as in sugo per pastasciutta). The expression for "gravy" in Italian is sugo d'arrosto, which is literally "juice of a roast" and is not specifically tomato sauce. Sicilian Americans in communities like Buffalo and Rochester, New York use the terms "sarsa" and "succu" interchangeably for tomato sauces of all types used with pasta, and "gravy" only in reference to brown meat gravies.

American supermarkets commonly carry a variety of prepared tomato sauces described as "spaghetti sauce" or "pasta sauce." Common variations include meat sauce, marinara sauce, and sauces with mushrooms or sweet red peppers.

Louisiana
A spicy tomato sauce known as sauce piquant is common in Louisiana Cajun cuisine, that can contain any seafood, poultry, or meats such as wild game. It is typically served over white rice. In Louisiana Creole cuisine, there is a tomato sauce known as a Creole sauce. It is similar to Italian tomato sauce, but features more Louisiana flavors derived from the fusion of French and Spanish cooking styles. They both usually contain the traditional holy trinity of diced bell pepper, onion, and celery.

Tomato gravy
Tomato gravy is distinct from the term as used by Italian Americans when referring to a type of tomato sauce particularly where tomatoes were a staple food. The cooked tomatoes, some fat (usually cured pork fat) and flour are cooked together until thick, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Onions or bell peppers may be added as well. Typically, tomato gravy is served over pasta. It is also eaten largely by Creole people in the Southern United States, who eat it over rice.

Indian
Indian curry, especially as it has been exported out of India, is recognizable for heavily spiced sauces, often made from a tomato base.

Reference:  Wikipedia.org

Hollandaise Sauce


A creamy, rich sauce with a tang of lemon, hollandaise sauce is the ideal partner for steamed asparagus and eggs benedict. It is also great with grilled and poached fish, especially salmon.

Emulsified sauces using egg yolks have gathered themselves a frightening reputation with home cooks, for being difficult and curdling or separating, but hollandaise is really quick and easy to make if you follow the first recipe here and use a blender. If you prefer the classic method with double boiler, directions for that are also below.

Hollandaise sauce should be served warm and made just before you need it, though it can be kept in the fridge for up to two days. It is usually served plain, with just the tang of lemon lifting the richness, but you can add some chopped fresh herbs or even a dash of mustard or Tabasco if you like to experiment and enliven the classics.

Ingredients: 
  • 1 cup butter 
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice 
  • 1 Tbsp cold water
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • Cayenne pepper (or a dash of Tabasco sauce), to taste
Preparation:
  1. Heat an inch or two of water in a saucepan over a medium heat. Also, your butter should be warm, but not hot.
  2. Combine the egg yolks and the cold water in a glass or stainless steel bowl (not aluminum) whisk for a minute or two, until the mixture is light and foamy. Whisk in a couple of drops of lemon juice, too.
  3. The water in the saucepan should have begun to simmer. Set the bowl directly atop the saucepan of simmering water. The water itself should not come in contact with the bottom of the bowl. Whisk the eggs for a minute or two, until they're slightly thickened.
  4. Remove the bowl from the heat and begin adding the melted butter slowly at first, a few drops at a time, while whisking constantly. If you add it too quickly, the emulsion will break.
  5. Continue beating in the melted butter. As the sauce thickens, you can gradually increase the rate at which you add it, but at first, slower is better.
  6. After you've added all the butter, whisk in the remaining lemon juice and season to taste with Kosher salt and cayenne pepper (or a dash of Tabasco sauce). The finished hollandaise sauce will have a smooth, firm consistency. If it's too thick, you can adjust the consistency by whisking in a few drops of warm water.
Tips:
It's best to serve hollandaise right away. You can hold it for about an hour or so, provided you keep it warm. After two hours, though, you should toss it both for quality and safety reasons.


Béchamel sauce

Photo: Randy Mayor

While its French name may sound intimidating, learning how to make a béchamel sauce is easier than you might think. Known as one of the "mother" sauces in classic French cuisine, Béchamel is versatile: It's used in dishes such as lasagna, macaroni and cheese, and moussaka, and it can also serve as the base for soufflés, soups, and savory pie fillings. What's more, add a little Swiss cheese, and voilà you've got Mornay Sauce. We call for white pepper so it isn't visible in the sauce. If it's unavailable, you can omit it.

Ingredients: 
  • 5 tbsp butter
  • 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 cups milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 1 bay leaf
Preparation:
  1. Melt butter in a saucepan medium heat. 
  2. Add flour into saucepan and whisk in the flour until it forms a smooth paste. 
  3. Continue whisking, cook for about 1 minutes, and then gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well mixed. 
  4. Continue whisking until the sauce is completely heated through, smooth, and thickened. 
  5. Remove from the heat and season with the salt and nutmeg.
Tips: 

try making it with bacon or sausage fat for an amazing white gravy.

Mother Sauce


Classic French cuisine features five mother sauces that can be enhanced with spices, herbs, meat, vegetables, and more to be made into innumerable other sauces. These foundational sauces present vastly different flavors and textures, making them ideal for hundreds of sauce variations, some famous and some not. These five mother sauce recipes are for bechamel sauce, espagnole sauce, tomato sauce, hollandaise sauce, and veloute sauce. Sometimes mayonnaise and vinaigrette are argued to have been on the original mother sauce list, but this one is the most modern version.

This hollandaise sauce recipe is the perfect complement for poached eggs and asparagus. For the best results, serve classic hollandaise sauce fresh, while it's still hot. This elegant recipe becomes very simple so it's easy to make a new batch for every meal. 

This Béchamel sauce recipe makes a rich, creamy sauce used to enhance many French recipes. Known as one of the original mother sauces of French cuisine, it came about as an improvement upon veloute sauce. Add a few herbs to it for variety, and it goes extremely well with vegetables. Use it as a base for multiple, other French sauces and recipes. 

This Provencal tomato sauce recipe is a basic of the local cuisine. Fresh tomatoes lend the sauce a bright flavor, and the addition of ham and bacon give it an incredible, smoky savory quality. Use this special tomato sauce to accent pasta, beef, and eggplant dishes.

This espagnole sauce or brown sauce is one of the five, classic mother sauces of French cuisine. It is made from simmering tomato puree, herbs, and beef stock. Rumors have abounded for years that French brown sauce was named for the Spanish tomatoes used in one of its earlier versions, or that Spanish cuisine played a large part in its evolution to what we know today. Contrary to popular thought, espagnole sauce has nothing to do with Spain, but rather because of French stereotypes of Spaniards at the time.

This veloute sauce recipe a traditional French mother sauce, meaning that it is a foundational sauce that can be spiced up and used as a base for other sauces. This veloute sauce is very similar to béchamel, but it replaces the milk with chicken stock. Chicken stock is by far the most versatile and subtle choice for a veloute, but veal or fish stock can also be used with equally appetizing results.



Thank you:  Rebecca Franklin (French Food Expert)

Mango Salsa


An unusual twist on an old favorite. Tomatoes and cilantro form the base and little bits of sweet mango round out this unique salsa.  Maybe you've heard of this unique salsa or you've already tried it. Mango salsa is the perfect summer time recipe that can be used as an appetizer , sauce. Taste the Tropical Side of Mexico!  In Thailand use it as a dip for cooked prawns makes a great party dish…

Ingredients:
  • 1 cups ripe seeded tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cups mango, diced
  • ½  cup finely chopped cilantro
  • ½  cup shallot, finely diced
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • A pin of salt (use more if needed)
  • A pin of black pepper
Preparation:
Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate overnight to enhance flavors.  
Serve with tortilla chips or on top of carnitas..
and you'll have a great addition to chicken, pork, and especially fish. ...