In the world of food, continental sauces play a crucial role as they can add tempting flavors to the food and act as a thickening agent. These sauces are often known as mother sauces as they can help to prepare secondary sauces. Each of the continental sauces made by the food product manufacturers in India has different thickening agents.
No matter what food you cook and what recipe you follow, if you have these five continental sauces in hand, then you can create the magic with them.
In this blog, we will discuss the five mother sauces that will even let you make secondary sauces from them.
1. Veloute Sauce
This is one of the simplest continental sauces, which is made for thickening the white stock with the help of a roux. Veal Veloute, chicken veloute and fish veloute are some of the common sauces. Each of the sauces provides the base for the secondary sauces.
For example, the veal veloute, when thickened with the cream and egg yolk, can turn into the Allemande sauce. And if chicken veloute is also fortified with the basic cream, turn in the supreme sauces. Similarly, multiple sauces can be made from a single sauce like Mushroom sauce, Poulette sauces, Bercy sauces, etc.
2. Bechamel Sauce
Bechamel sauce is another simplest continental sauce that does not need any stock. You can even prepare the sauce with basic ingredients such as flour, milk, and butter. This is made by thickening the milk with the white roux. The best part is you can add desired flavors into the sauces like nutmeg, cloves, onions, and others.
Bechamel sauce is used as the key ingredient in various pasta recipes such as Lasagna and casseroles. However, you can also create common white cream sauces, cheese-based sauces, mornay sauces, Nantua sauces with the Bechamel sauces.
3. Espagnole Sauce
This sauce is often known as the brown sauce, made from complex continental sauces such as a brown stock with the roux. Espagnole is quite similar to the veloute sauce; the only difference is that it is prepared with mirepoix and tomato puree.
The sauce is further refined to release deep flavors, rich, creamy texture known as demi-glace. It consists of a mixture of half brown stock and half Espagnole, which often can be used for making secondary sauces like berry sauces, mushroom sauces, and so on.
4. Classic Tomato Sauce
The fourth type of continental sauce is the favorite of all, which is classic Tomato sauce. It is similar to the traditional style tomato sauces most food manufacturers in India produce. This sauce is used on pizza and pasta. Like other sauces, these sauces are also thickened with the roux.
Classic Tomato sauces are often used to prepare small sauces such as Spanish sauce and Portuguese sauces.
5. Hollandaise Sauce
It is slightly different from the other continental sauces due to its thickness agent, liquid, and flavors. This sauce is quite buttery and tangy made by whisking the warm egg yolk slowly and clarified butter. Hollandaise sauce is also a form of emulsifying sauce as it is made with clarified butter and butterfat.
Bottom Line
So, these are a few continental sauces that you can use to make the dishes more amazing and tempting. Moreover, you can create small secondary sauces by using these mother sauces too. You can also add desired flavors as you want into the sauces.