The loveFOOD guide to... sauces and gravy
From lasagne to your Sunday lunch, good food always needs proper sauces and/or gravy. Here's our guide to the classics.
The great French chef Auguste Escoffier built upon the work of earlier chefs, particularly Marie-Antoine Carême, to give the world five 'mother sauces'. It is from these five sauces that all the other sauces (called 'daughter sauces') in Western gastronomy can be made.
The five mother sauces
Béchamel sauce
The easiest of the five to make as you don’t need to add stock. Béchamel is created by adding milk to a roux (a mixture of butter and flour cooked over a low heat). It produces a shiny white sauce with a wide variety of uses. Adding cheese, for example, turns it into a 'mornay sauce'.
Michel Roux Jr's cheese and ham pie recipe
Espagnole sauce
Pronounced ‘es-span-yol’ (French for 'Spanish'), this heavy sauce uses veal stock and tomatoes to give a strong, rich flavour. A dark stock made from roasted bones is needed, as is tomato purée. Because of its strong flavour this sauce is the foundation for extra flavours such as mushroom or port, and is best served with game and rich meats.
The Hairy Bikers' meat loaf with gravy recipe
Hollandaise sauce
A very rich sauce made with clarified butter and eggs (think of it as a cooked mayonnaise), traditionally served on top of poached eggs for Eggs Benedict, as well as asparagus. It also works really well with seafood, as well as fennel.
Cheddar fisherman's pie recipe
Tomato sauce
No, not ketchup... we mean a thick tomato sauce, similar to the kind you might use on pizza. The classic French version is flavoured with salt pork and thickened with a roux.
Fresh pappardelle with tomato and basil sauce recipe
Velouté sauce
The name comes from the French for 'velvet' and this sauce should be as shiny and smooth as a béchamel. Indeed it is made in a similar way, but instead of milk a light stock such as chicken of fish is used.
Classic British gravy
Of course the above sauces are all very well and good, and you should try to make them at least once. But more often than not the most popular sauce in the UK is gravy. The best way to do this is to simmer and reduce pre-made chicken or beef stock until it thickens.
You can sometimes make gravy from the juice that comes out of lamb or beef, but today’s joints are so small and lean compared to that of the past that you might not get enough, although you can always add what there is to your stock. Remember, homemade gravy is always going to be better than shop-bought instant granules.
This is a classic lovefood article
More sauces articles and recipes:
Mini Yorkshire puddings with sausages and roast shallot gravy recipe
Homemade pork sausages with onion gravy recipe
Marco Pierre White's macaroni cheese with soft boiled eggs recipe
Lawrence Dallaglio's lasagne recipe
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