Sauces

The sauces of classic French cooking were actually considered simplified sauces!

Sauces
© Denzil Green

We know that sauces have been made for at least as far back as we have any archaeological records. Many recipes still exist for Roman, Medieval and Renaissance sauces, but to our tastes, they would seem rather more like chutneys now. Since the 1600s, though, the French have had an undisputed claim to owning the field. Most of the Western world's cooking is based on French sauces.

Before the French Revolution, France had a highly-developed aristocracy. These had homes with great kitchens and great chefs who had lots of helpers, so the aristocracy got used to very labour-intensive sauces. And not just them: the wealthy merchant class with upper-class aspirations and more ready cash than the aristocracy could easily cadge places at the table. Consequently, you had large group of what we could now call "foodies" who were used to good sauces with their meals (without having to do any of the work to put those sauces on the table, bien sûr.)

After the Revolution several things happened:

Many of the great aristocratic homes were either closed down or couldn't afford to keep large kitchen staffs going;
Many kitchen people including the chefs were thrown out of work;
The haute bourgeoisie couldn't cadge a great meal as easily, both because there were fewer homes left, and because it was politically incorrect to hang with these people.

As a result, restaurants were "invented"

The kitchen staff and chefs needed somewhere to work and make a living by practising their trade;
The haute bourgeoisie wanted somewhere to eat the highly refined meals they had gotten used to.

Before this, sauces could be quite complex, as the chefs in the great homes had many, many staff working under them. But the restaurants, which had to be viable businesses, couldn't have as many staff. Sauces had to be simplified (a startling statement; given how complex French sauces are now, what were they like before?) But on the other hand, chefs in restaurants were now competing for the business of restaurant diners, whose tastes then as now have always been fickle and craving something new and different.

To resolve these conflicting needs -- simpler sauce production, plus a broad range of sauces, the French chefs evolved a base of 4 or 5 basic sauces (depending on whose list you go by), each of which could be varied by the addition of a few elements to create a completely different sauce.

The 5 French Sauce Families

Brown Sauces brown stock, brown roux, tomatoes
Bordelaise		red wine, shallots
Diable		white wine, shallots, cayenne
Lyonnaise		white wine, onion
Madeira		Madeira wine
Perigueux (a village in the Périgord region, rich with truffles)		Madeira, veal stock, truffles
Piquante		white wine, vinegar, gherkins, capers
Poivrade (poivre means pepper in French)		vinegar, pepper
Red wine sauces		Reduced red wine
Robert		White wine, onion, mustard

Velouté Sauces ("velvety sauces") white stock, yellow roux
White Bordelaise		White wine, shallots
Ravigote		White wine, vinegar
Suprème		Poultry stock, cream

Béchamel Sauces ("white sauces") milk, white roux
Crème		Cream
Mornay (named after Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623)		Cheese, fish or poultry stock
Soubise		Onion purée

Hollandaise Sauces butter, eggs, lemon juice or vinegar
Mousseline		Whipped cream
Béarnaise		White wine, vinegar, shallots, tarragon

Mayonnaise Sauces vegetable oil, eggs, vinegar or lemon juice
Remoulad		Gherkins, capers, mustard, anchovy paste

French sauces are cooked at a much higher temperature than they are served at. Remember that as a sauce cools, it will thicken even more. So, cook a sauce to just a smidge less thick than you would like, to allow for what is going to happen as it cools. Otherwise, your guests may be scooping up spoonfuls of a congealed substance.

History Notes for Sauces

The Romans called their sauces "juices", or "ius" in Latin. The French still don't have a word for gravy, they call it "jus", their word for juice. The Romans heavily spiced their sauces and thickened them with bread, just as people of British Isles extraction still do with their "bread sauce".

By the Middle Ages, people had begun to use the French term "sauce", which became "salsa" in Spanish. Bread was still being used as a thickener, but some people were using ground almonds.

By 1400 sauces were less overwhelmed by spices, and someone had come up with the idea of using flour as a thickener because it was a more neutral taste.

The most famous Roman sauce was "garum", a sort of fermented fish sauce, of which there were several versions. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire kept on making it.

The Victorians invented three great British sauces: Worcestershire, Gentleman's Relish and Brown (HP) Sauce. While the French were content with the fame of having their names associated with a sauce, the British were a bit more business-minded about it (after all, Napoleon had dismissed the Brits as "a nation of shopkeepers"), and invented sauces such as these that were purchased commercially rather than whipped up at home.

Also called:

Sauce (French); Sauce (German); Salsa (Italian); Salsa (Spanish); Ius, Jus (Roman)

Recipe Suggestions

Bread Sauce Recipe, Butterscotch Sauce Recipe, Butterscotch & Bourbon Sauce Recipe, Mint Sauce Recipe, Parsley Sauce Recipe, Stewed Rhubarb Recipe

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See Also:

Salsas

Other entries for: Sauces