The Other Mother Sauces

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Ok, we've beaten Bechemel Sauce to death. So what are the basic recipes for the other Mother sauces? And let's include Sauces that would constitute Mother Sauces, but were not included in Escorfier's original. The intent of this thread is not historical accuracy, but to teach those with less experience some of the wonderful flavors available to them through that expansive group of flavorings called sauce.

I'll start with Mayonaise. Though it isn’t a true Mother Sauce, it is a simple and versatile sauce from which many small, or derivitive sauces can be made.

This is my own homemade version of Mayonaise, which is not so heavily salted as are the comercial varieties. Before starting, wash the shells of two large eggs under hot water. You can use soap, but be sure to rinse it off completely. This will help avoid food contamination from Salmonella. If you want to be extra saafe, you can place the eggs into a pot of water and bring the temperature up to 150 degrees, as measured by an accurate thermometer, and hold at that temp for 20 minutes. Now you have pasteurized raw eggs.

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil (I choose sunflower oil as it has no flavor of its own)
½ tsp. Lemmon juice
½ tsp. Salt
2 large egg yolks, seperated fromthe whites (use the wites to make a good marangue. The raw eggwhites can be frozen)
2 tbs. rice vinegar

Place the oil into a tall, plastic or glass container, or mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks. Beat vigourously with a wire whisk, imersion blender, or mixer. While beating, add the salt, rice vinegar, and lemon. You are done when the mayonaise is thick and white.

This basic mayo can be used for making Ranch-dressing, tartar sauce, salad dressings, and can be added to choclate cake recipes as well.

Here is an example of a small sauce that can be made from your mayonaise.

Thousand Island Dressing:
1 cup mayonaisse
¼ cup sweet pickle rellish
2 tbs. Tomato sauce
1 tbs. Sugar
2 tsp. White vinager
½ tsp. Celery seed.

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

The beauty of making your own sauses and dressings is that you control the flavors. You can use mayonaise to make your own cole slaw dressing, horseradish sauce, meat glaze, fruit salad, deviled eggs, and a host of other great recipes. You can play with it to your heart’s content. And because it is so easy and inexpensive to make, if you mess something up, you just start over again.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Andy M.]

GW:

Very interesting. Mayonnaise recipes I'm familiar with all add the oil after all the other ingredients have been combined. The oil is drizzled slowly into the other ingredients while whisking/mixing. The more oil you add, the thicker the mayo.

I guess there's more than one way to skin a cat. (very good with mayonnaise)

 

[ironchef]

Here is a recipe for a basic beurre blanc, which is a contemporary mother sauce and probably the most widely used sauce for hot foods today. The traditional recipe did not use cream, but it made holding and storage difficult. You had to throw away all left overs. Adding cream lets you save the sauce for at least one reheating, provided you don't let the sauce boil.

Beurre Blanc Base

Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients:

3 shallots, finely chopped
3/4 c. dry White Wine
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
2 c. Heavy Cream
2 c. cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1" cubes
Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

In a saucepan, combine the shallots, wine, and lemon juice. Reduce until au sec, or when there is approximately 2 Tbsp. of liquid remaining. Add the heavy cream, and gently reduce by half. Whisk in the butter 2-3 cubes at a time, or transfer to a blender and blend/whisk until all of the butter is incorporated. Season to taste with kosher salt, and keep warm. If the sauce gets too cold, it will become too thick and pasty.

From this base, you can make some of the following. Keep in mind the portions below are using the 3 cup yield of the preceding recipe. Adjust accordingly.

Ponzu Beurre Blanc: Add 3 Tbsp. of ponzu sauce with the cream and let it reduce. Proceed as normal

Mango-Ginger Beurre Blanc: In seperate sauce pan, combine 1 cup of ripe mango along with about a thumb-sized piece of julienned ginger, 1/2 c. sake, and 3 Tbsp. white sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer until the liquid is thick and syrupy. Blend with the cream then and the butter as normal

Roasted Poblano and Basil Beurre Blanc: Blend 2 roasted poblano chiles along with 8-10 fresh basil leaves with the cream, then add the butter as normal

Truffle Beurre Blanc: Blend 2-3 Tbsp. of canned black truffles along with the cream, then add the butter as normal. Blend in white truffle oil to taste.

Soy-Ginger Beurre Blanc: Reduce 3 Tbsp. of minced ginger with the shallot and white wine. Add 2-3 Tbsp. of soy sauce along with the cream and let it reduce. Proceed as normal.

 

[Jeremy]

To add to Iron Chef's beurre blanc, there is also "Beurre Rouge" which is basically the same except substitue red wine for white.

 

[Jeremy]

I don't know if cold sauces are what you are looking for, but I think a sauce should add colour and a complimenting flavour, in that respect, Coulis and Salsas are great.

A Coulis can be made from any fruit or vegetable. Just cook completely (boil, steam, braise, roast...etc.) strain through etemine or fine mesh sieve, add whipping cream and lemon juice. You may need to add sugar to fruit coulis. funnel into squeeze bottle. RTG.

A favorite is Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Chipotle Coulis.

Salsas have many varieties and are fabulous with fish and seafood.

Basic Tomato salsa is simply
tomato Concasse
Red onion
Jalapino pepper
Cilantro (fresh coriander)
lime juice
white vinegar
s&p

But you could also have a Bell Pepper base , or a fruit salsa, say with Mango and Strawberry, or Cucumber salsa. The combinations are almost endless.

 

[ironchef]

For mayonnaise, don't forget about all the different types of ailois and remoulades as well.

For the next contemporary mother sauce, let's tackle Vinaigrette. A vinaigrette is a good sauce to use because it gives the food a lighter body, and the sauce itself is lighter in texture than most other sauces. It is however, not lighter in calories but it's texture gives that illusion and people tend to over-sauce or over-dress their food with a vinaigrette. The very basic, classic version is as follows:

Basic Vinaigrette

Yield: Approx. 1 c.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. Salad Oil
1/4 c. White Vinegar
3 Tbsp. Shallot, finely minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

Place the vinegar and shallot in a mixing bowl. Slowly drizzle in the salad oil while whisking vigorously to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


This basic version doesn't have very much flavor in itself, although it's probably better than eating a plain piece of food. Later versions used some sort of paste like mustard, or an egg to emulsify because it held the molecules of the oil and vinegar much better than the shallots. Here's a basic recipe for a much tastier version that I like to use.

Ironchef's Basic Vinaigrette

Yield: Approx. 1 cup

Ingredients:

2/3 c. Sherry Vinegar
1/3 c. Salad Oil
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Shallot, minced
1 Tbsp. Honey
Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste

Method:

In a mixing bowl, blender or food processor, combine the oil, mustard, honey, and shallot. Blend or whisk while slowly adding in the oil to emulsify. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper.

This vinaigrette is much tastier than the first version, and will hold it's emulsification much, much longer. I prefer the more neutral taste of sherry vinegar, although balsamic, cider, red wine, or most any other vinegar can be used. From this basic vinaigrette, we can now do the following:

Tomato-Herb Vinaigrette: Fold in 1/2 c. of fresh tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1/4" dice, along with 1 Tbsp. minced thyme, 1 Tbsp. minced tarragon, and 1 Tbsp. minced Italian Parsley

Citrus Vinaigrette: Reduce vinegar amount to 1/4 cup, and add 2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. Fresh Lime Juice, and 2 Tbsp. Fresh Orange Juice. Add more honey to taste

Chipotle Vinaigrette: Add 1 1/2 Tbsp. of canned Chipotle in Adobo liquid along with 1 Tbsp. Thyme and 1 Tbsp. Italian Parsley. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and more honey to taste if desired

Soy-Wasabi Vinaigrette: Replace sherry vinegar with rice wine vinegar. Replace dijon mustard with 2 tsp. prepared wasabi paste, and add 2 Tbsp. soy sauce. Add more wasabi if desired

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Raspberry Vinegarette:

3/4 cup sunflower oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbs. seedless raspberry jelly
1 tsp. sugar

Add vinegar to a non-reactive mixing bowl along with the sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add the jelly, again stirring with a whisk until well mixed. Add the salad oil, place in a suitable cruet, shake, and serve.

Pineapple Vinegarette:
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar
2 tbs. pineapple juice
2tbs. sugar

Follow above instructions.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North