# Mother Sauces & Beurre Blanc



## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

Unemployment is a strange thing, can't say that I really enjoy it all that much. I have no purpose, enough money for cigars, but not enough money for Scotch or B&B. I also have plenty of time to think...

I was trying to name the five mother sauces off the top of my head, I kept getting six... So, I looked in my Larousse Gastronomique, first English edition, badly translated. They had a huge section on sauces, but never came right out and put all of the mother sauces together in one spot.

So, I checked a few other books and couldn't get a definitive answer.

Finally I find this at http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/H...uceHistory.htm

Sounds right, but where does Beurre Blanc (and derivatives) fit in? Isn't Beurre Blanc a mother sauce?

Then I find this at http://www.911cheferic.com/main/drecipe.asp?recipe=299

So my question is, "Is Beurre Blanc a mother sauce, or a variation of Béarnaise?"

Without eggs, I just don't see it as a Béarnaise at all.


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## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

BTW...

I came up with 5 different mother sauces in my head. I thought that Béarnaise was a variation of Hollandaise (Just a different acid). I would also NOT say that Brown (espagnole) was with Demi.

My five would have been.

1 - Hollandaise
2 - Demi
3 - Brown - Espagnole
4 - Red
5 - Veloute

+ Beurre Blanc


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

I believe that "beurre Blanc" is kind of like a Constitutional Amendment, it's not part of the original 5 but has been adopted and added because it meets that basic requirements of a Mother Sauce.


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## brewchef (May 25, 2006)

bechamel and tomato would be the other ones.


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## newbiecook (Oct 17, 2004)

GreaseChef 
How can you say Espangole and Demi are seperate sauces when you need Espangole to make a proper demi...well unless you make it from powder


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## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

Never used a powder...

The bulk of my experience has been Italian, not French. I've not been to culinary school, so if I haven't done it at work, I might not know it at all.

That said, I was thinking demi as I have done it when I did work in a French place, roasting then boiling veal bones, skimming and reducing. As for Espagnole, I was thinking more along the lines of using pan drippings.

The Beurre Blanc thing had me in a quandry as to where it fit in. Add a shakey foundation in French food, and you've got some room for errors. :suprise:


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## nentony (May 7, 2005)

Where's Chef Kaiser when you need him?

Tony


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

Debating about which sauces are 'mother' sauces is pointless. The 5 mother sauces ARE hollandaise, tomato, béchamel, espagnole and velouté. Why? Because someone decided so. Beurre blanc isn't a mother sauce because it's simply an acid reduction with butter mounted into it (or a hollandaise gone wrong, depending on perspective). We mount butter into a meat sauce to finish as well but that doesn't really warrant giving it separate sauce status...

It doesn't really matter, most restaurants don't use these sauces anymore, they've been replaced by jus de viande, beurre blanc, puréed vegetable sauces (either on their own or worked into another sauce), and many combinations of these.... As well we've got foams, froths and other air-infused sauces, gastriques, and emulsions of all kinds.


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## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

Mikeb, no debate as to what the five sauces are. I am mainly surprised at just how wrong I was.  Also, I thought that Beurre Blanc would have to fit in there somewhere.

Am I the only one that couldn't name the five 'grand sauces' off the top of my head? I'd bet that I am not alone.

OK, going to do some more reading. I'll post again when I find out just how wrong I have always been about something else. Not sure what that would be, right now I still believe that I am right about it.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that I am, but isn't the definition of a "Mother sauce" as one that is used as a base from which a large variety of other sauces can be made from. If that be the case, then technically a Buerre Blanc should be in that class because there is a myriad of sauces that can be made from it.
I see your point but by that definition a veloute is no more than a thickend white stock, and tomato sauce simply tomatoes. Yes, no? This could be one of those discussions that go back and forth. So let's see where it goes. I'm wating to hear Cape Chefs take on this. Brad?


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Beurre Blanc is not a sauce, it's an emulsion, more of a vinaigrette warm than a sauce.

But I can't figure out what qualifies as sauce.

Off to dinner... Maybe I'll ask Sarah Stegner.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Hollandaise isn't then a sauce either. It too is an emulsion. I move that we change the word "sauce" in this usage to "sauce thing".
Therefore we have the 5 basic "Mother Sauce things".:beer:


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

I know we have had this discussion before, but I guess it deserves to be reincarnated once in a while.Grease, don't worry about what you do or don't know, just be open to learning.The topic of sauces in the French domain are quite specific and not really open to to much interpretation.

With that said.
It basically comes down to this.

Liquid + a thickening agent = a leading "mother" sauce
Leading sauce + additional flavorings = small sauces
As kuan said, a beurre blanc is an emulsion that is stabilized by the small amounts of lecithin naturally found in butter. This forms a temporary oil in water emulsion.

Although beurre blanc is similar in concept to hollandaise, it is not truly a leading sauce. Tomato sauce often is made with mire poix and smoked meats in regards to French mother sauce protocol.


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## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then Beurre Blanc must be a sauce.

Edit: Posted that at the same time as your post, Cape Chef.

Should have said, "If it looks like a leading duck, etc"


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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

IMHO - as stated above, a mother sauce can diversify into a myriad of other sauces, a base so to speak, not unlike primary colors in art.

Rather than focus on specific sauces, it is probably easier to remember them as what they are (type) rather than what they should be (actual sauce)

So that out of the way, from how i perceive them to be:

Brown Sauces based on brown stocks
White sauces based on white stocks
White sauces based on milk/cream and roux
Cold Emulsion Sauces i.e. mayonnaise
Hot Emulsion Sauces i.e hollandaise

Even though a Beurre Blanc is a sauce, generally speaking, the end product is still a Beurre Blanc. As opposed to a mayonnaise and its derivatives, sauce tartare or mixed with aspic to make a chaud froid. Or making a demiglas from stocks etc.


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## andrew563 (Oct 12, 2005)

With some of the requests I get, i swear most people think ketchup, mustard , tartar, ranch, and a1 are the mother sauces.


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## chefred (Jun 8, 2006)

the CIA (culinary institute of america) says the 5 mother sauces are

1. espagnole
- Demi
2.White sauce
- veloute
- bechamel
3. Tomato
4. hollandaise (emulsion)
-mayo
5-burre blac

Chefred
any other grads out there


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Another reason why Beurre Blanc is not a mother sauce. It goes in and out of style!


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## cjdacook (Apr 5, 2006)

This was my method for learning (memorizing) them in culinary school - and it sticks with me today (many, many years later!!)

Just think - Virgin BETH

Veloute
Bechamel
Espanol
Tomato
Hollandaise


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Here's a pic of some bear blanc. You see the mother sauce and the baby sauces next to each other.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

LOL!!!!! I'd hate to see how you visualize Pasta Puttenseca!


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## nentony (May 7, 2005)

Oh My, Thats Really funny!!

Tony


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Just another reason I love cheftalk!!!


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## al_dente (Mar 9, 2005)

like the difference between concrete and simply adding dirt to a puddle of mud....the latter lacks construction. lol


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## jbeisser (Jan 14, 2006)

Hi all - Its my first post! I am organizing a cooking series on just sauces to amateur cooks (that includes me!) I feel I really know the at-home cooking mindset but do you think the basic concepts and techniques for 3/5 can be taught in less than an hour? And, by phone? It's one-one-one and there is ample follow-up to the introduction. Thanks for the input. 
Jenn


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## blade55440 (Sep 9, 2005)

My instructor made us memorize the original mother sauces, but then also pounded into our heads that people are now calling em "white sauces, brown sauces, and emulsion sauces".

The original 5 were:

Bechamel
Espagnole
Tomato
Hollandaise
Veloute

(I cheated and remembered "Beth V." as a memorization tool)

Now-a-days, just like I said earlier it's not those base 5 it's:

white sauce
brown sauce
emulsion sauce

The "new" classification tends to count more emulsion sauces than before.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Both Beurre Blanc and Hollandaiseand Bernaise are all butter sauces. Hollandaise and Bernaise are emulsions(as is mayonaise) where Beurre Blanc is not. Reason Beurre Blanc is so popular because most cooks know how to make it and they have trouble or are afraid of the emulsions that they will break. Espanole is a derivitive or basic brown sauce of demi glace(half glaze) or glace d viand full glaze, which is not usually found in kitchens anymore. It starts with about 10 gallons of good brown stock cooked down over days till the contents will fill about a half of quart measure.
Veloute is simply Bechamel with the addition of stock of some kind. chef ed


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

You are correct Espanole is a basic brown sauce derived from a Demi Glace. chef ed


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Demi Glace is traditionally derived from Espagnole. Classic demi is a mixture of equal parts espagnole and veal stock, reduced to the proper consistency. Nowadays, we generally refer to any reduced and/or fortified veal stock as demi.

Is buerre blanc a classic mother sauce? No. But I'm ok with it being considered a modern mother sauce, a la Brown, White and emulsion. That sounds like a good way to update the traditional thinking of a mother sauce.

Ed, Buerre Blanc IS an emulsion. Butter itself is an emulsion (fat suspended in water), so buerre blanc is simply a way to "melt" the butter while maintaining the natural emulsion of the butter. 

Veloute is not bechemel with stock. Bechemel is milk, thickened with roux, and simmered with an onion piquet until the flour taste is cooked out. Veloute is made with white stock (chicken, veal, or fish) and roux.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

If you call beurre blanc a mother sauce then be prepared to call beurre rouge a mother sauce as well. How about mayonnaise then, can you call that a mother sauce?


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## jolly roger (Jan 27, 2006)

First before anything else, we should recognize that if it weren't for the battalion of Italian cooks that Catherine De Medici took with her to France when she married the Duke of Orleans (...later to become King Henry II in 1553...), then the French would still be tearing at their food with crude tools. Later in the seventeenth century, cats like Varenne, Careme, and Escoffier developed the "sauce system". Careme had only four (espagnole, veloute, bechemel, and allemande). Escoffier had five which included the first three originals, but excluded allemande and added tomato and hollandaise. That being said, there should never be a debate in regards to what the original mother sauces are. However, there a butt load of derivatives that are open to debate and discussion...beurre blanc being a hot little topic itself. Also, what is a true demi-glace and how a demi is very different from an espagnole. Thickening agents, when to use and when not to use opting for a true reduction instead. So, all in all, we can't go back in time and change/add to the original mother sauces. It's like the Bible, man. It's already been written and you can't add anything to it, but you can sure have a h*ll of alot of fun with your personal interpretation of it. As for the source of my comments, I'm huge fan of "The Sauce Bible" by David Paul Larousse.


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## ml604411 (Feb 25, 2009)

Beurre Blanc isn't a mother sauce because it wasn't around when Escoffier classified his mother sauces. Beurre Blanc was invented a at the beginning of the 20th century by a cook named Clemence Lefeuvre who was trying to make a bernaise but forgot the egg yolks and tarragon (or so the legend goes).


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Beurre Blanc is not a mother sauce[

It is a reduction which includes an acid .Some pople think it is in the Hollandise family, it is not.

Bechamel
Veloute
Espanole or basic brown
Butter(compound or emulsion)
Tomato 
These 5 are the mothers from which almost all of the rest ae made. 
Tommorrow more will be added as more chefs are experimenting with foams and essences as well as vege purees and metibolic cooking.
These will be given their own catagories. But the ones listed are the classic mother sauces


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

I always still think there's seven mother sauces because when I was in school ('70s) there were some who were pushing for butter and mayonnaise to be included as mother sauces because of all the derivative sauces made from them. Funny buerre rouge would come up in this discussion as I have an amusing story concerning it. I have a "friend" who stated that he wasn't sure if I really knew how to cook as I only knew the "old" (classic) stuff. Some how it came around to sauces, which were being down-played as unnecessary when I was in school, so in order to see if I knew anything, he asked if I knew what beurre rouge was. I knew it would mean red butter, but what made it red I didn't know. He said if I didbn't know that, I didn't know anything and was therefore a dumb a**. So I asked my brother in law, who graduated from the Scottsdale Cordon Bleu, if he knew what it was. He didn't know either, so I told him he was apparently a dumb a** too. I could find no reference to buerre r ouge anywhere until I looked in La Rousse, where it was described as being made with shrimp or crawfish shells rubbed through a fine seive and blended with butter. It is served with seafood whereas the "buere rouge" I was supposed to know about is buere blanc made with red wine and served with steak. So now I'm not sure who the dumb a** is.


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## sierra11b (Jan 13, 2006)

Debating the Mother Sauce is pointless as we can all agree there are five as far as quizing green-gilled pantry cooks is concerned. Doesn't mean you can't make your own list or take credit away from Beurre Blanc. Believe me, I've seen more people not be able to make a stable beurre blanc that could make great hollandaise. I could really downplay any of the mother sauces if try, especially espagnole and tomato. Hollandaise is really just butter mayonasie, right? Sounds pretty insignificant when I put it like that but there are plenty of variations if I simply add to the sauce. So why is beurre blanc any different if I can add a thousand and one things to get different variations? It is my personal #6 Mother Sauce.


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## ransgirl (Feb 13, 2015)

Mother sauces are: tomato, hollandaise (which the bearnaise if off from), bechamel,velouté and espagnole. All sauces very off these.


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## spoiledbroth (Sep 25, 2014)

beurre blanc is nouvelle isnt it? mother sauces are classical... n'est pas
?


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