Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Sauce Tomat are the five foundational sauces, commonly referred to as The Mother Sauces of French cuisine. They serve as the backbone for countless more complex sauces and dishes. Here is a short guide to discover the basics behind these five classics.

Béchamel
Macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie, and scalloped potatoes are all dishes that use the first of the mother sauces. Béchamel is a bland white sauce made with milk, cream, or other dairy products, mixed with a white roux made of butter and flour.

Velouté
Sauce velouté is one of the most essential and versatile sauces in classical and modern French cuisine. From the French word for velvet, Velouté is a smooth, light, and delicate sauce made by combining a white roux with light stock made from poultry, fish, or veal.

Hollandaise
An important condiment for many brunch menus, hollandaise, is the last of the white mother sauces. This mother sauce does not get its thickness from a roux like the rest of the sauces in the family, but from an emulsion from whisking lemon juice, clarified butter, and egg yolks at a low temperature.

Espagnole
As a foundational brown sauce on its own, Espagnole is used to create rich and savory sauces such as demi-glace, bordelaise, and chateaubriand. It is made by combining a brown roux with beef or veal stock, tomato puree, and mirepoix.

Sauce Tomat
Widely used in Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese sauces and dishes, this French tomato sauce combines rendered pork fat, mirepoix, tomatoes, veal stock, fresh herbs, and a roux that is reduced slowly into a thick sauce.