Food - Drink
The 3 Techniques That Turn French Mother Sauces Into Small Sauces
By MOLLY HARRIS
As laid out by legendary chef Georges Auguste Escoffier, classic French cuisine has five "mother sauces," including béchamel, Espagnole, hollandaise, sauce tomate, and velouté. Mother sauces serve as the base for many “daughter sauces,” and this transformation is accomplished through three primary techniques depending on the daughter sauce you’re making.
Deglaze
According to Julia Child, deglazing “capture[s] the richest flavors” of all the techniques, and it involves sautéing your sauce’s key ingredients along with aromatics or a cut of meat and then deglaze your pan with wine, liquor, juice, or stock. Once deglazed, add your prepared mother sauce, and then you can opt to add dairy for balance.
Reduction
The reduction technique offers a similar flavor to the deglazing method but is ultimately simpler as it only requires simmering a liquid along with your key ingredients and aromatics. Once the liquid has reduced, add your prepared mother sauce, and once again, you can opt to add dairy to balance out the acidity of the sauce.
Gastrique
A gastrique is a sauce made with sugar and either vinegar or an acidic fruit in a two-to-one ratio. First, caramelize your sugar before deglazing with your vinegar or acidic fruit, then add your prepared mother sauce and simmer together. Once again, you can opt to incorporate a dairy like butter, cream, or yogurt.