Cooking 101: Stocks, Sauces and Soups.

On to sauces, this one's a biggie!!:
We'll start with the classic sauces.

Sauces:
The function of a sauce is to add depth of flavor, moistness and eye appeal to a dish.
The base is a flavorful liquid and they are seasoned and usually thickened.

The "Mother", or "Leading" Sauces:
Bechamel: Made from milk, Roux and flavorings
Veloute: Thickened white stock
Brown Sauce: thickened, flavored brown stock
Tomato Sauce
Butter Sauces: Hollandaise, Bearnaise, Beurre Blanc, Compound Butter

The Three Key Ingredients to Sauces:
Liquid - Stock, Milk, Tomatoes and Butter are the most common
Thickener - Starch, Roux, Breadcrumbs, Egg Yolks, Cream, Butter and reducing are common thickeners.
Seasonings - Salt, Lemon Juice, Pepper, Cayenne, Mirepoix, Sherry, Madeira, herbs, spices,… there are too many to list them all.

Roux
A roux is an equal mixture of fat and flour, cooked to eliminate the raw flour flavor.
They may be cooked to three basic stages:
White Roux- is cooked for just a few minutes to remove the raw taste of the flour.
Blond Roux- is cooked until the color starts to turn to an ivory hue.
Brown Roux- is cooked on very low heat until the flour browns and takes on a nutty aroma.

The best fat to use for a roux is Clarified Butter, although you could use almost any fat. To clarify butter, melt the unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium heat, skim the froth from the surface, then carefully pour off the clear melted butter, leaving the milk solids behind, in the bottom of the pan.

Method For Making Roux:
Melt the fat, add the equal amount of flour ( for 10 oz of roux, You'd use 5oz fat to 5 oz flour) Cook to desired color.
The Amount Of Roux To Liquid depends on the desired thickness of the sauce.
For a quart of sauce, a thin sauce would take 3oz of roux, a medium thick sauce takes 4oz, and a thick sauce 5oz.

Bechamel Sauce:
This sauce was originally made with a veal bones, or stock. The most common version you'll see today is this sauce made from hot milk, roux and seasonings.
From this sauce you can make these "small sauces": Cream Sauce, Soubise Sauce, Mornay Sauce, Cheese Sauce, Nantua Sauce, Mustard Sauce and many more.
You'd also use a heavily thickened version of this sauce for scalloped potatoes, croquettes,..it's very versatile.
The classic method calls for making, and thickening the sauce, adding the flavorings, simmering , then straining. I find it easier to add the flavorings to the milk, simmering that to extract the flavors, strain the milk then thicken. (It's sooo much easier to strain a thin liquid, less messy too!)

For One Quart:
2oz clarified butter
2oz flour
1 quart whole milk
½ of a small onion
1 whole clove
1 Bay Leaf
salt, to taste
nutmeg, to taste
white pepper, to taste

In a heavy saucepan, heat the milk to a simmer. Add the onion, clove and bay leaf, simmer for 20-30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, into a bowl. Rinse and dry the saucepan, return to a medium heat, add the butter, then the flour. Cook for a minute or two to make a "white roux". While whisking the roux, add the slightly cooled milk, a little at a time until it all is incorporated and smooth. Season the sauce lightly with salt, pepper and nutmeg (it should be delicate). Heat the sauce to a boil, just to finish thickening. Spread the surface of the sauce with a little melted butter to prevent a skin from forming. This may be kept warm in a double boiler, or cooled then refrigerated for later use.

Veloute:
A Veloute is a thickened white stock. The ingredients are simple, Chicken, White or Fish Stock, and roux. They are the beginning of many other sauces.
From Fish Veloute comes White Wine Sauce, Herb Sauce, Normandy Sauce, Shrimp Sauce and many others.
From Chicken Veloute comes Supreme Sauce, Hungarian sauce, Aurora Sauce, Ivory Sauce and more.
From Veal Veloute comes Allemande Sauce, Mushroom Sauce, Curry sauce and more.
Some of the sauces can be made with any of the veloutes, depending on the dish it will be served with. (Usually fish veloute for sauces to by served with fish, etc.)
You could substitute chicken veloute for veal in most of the recipes, and have good results.

For One Quart:
2oz Clarified Butter
2oz Flour
1 quart plus two cups Chicken, White or Fish Stock

In a sauce pan heat the stock to a low simmer, then shut off. In a second saucepan melt the butter, then add the flour,..cook til the roux takes on an ivory tint (blond roux). Turn off the heat. While whisking vigorously, add the warm stock to the hot roux in a slow, steady stream until all is added, and it is smooth. Turn the flame on to medium low, heat the veloute to a simmer. Cook the sauce at a low simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Don't bother to season, as it will not be used as it is, it will be an ingredient for other recipes. Strain. Spread the surface of the sauce with a little melted butter to prevent a skin from forming. This may be kept warm in a double boiler, or cooled then refrigerated for later use.

Espagnole / Fond Lie/ Brown Sauce
These are more involved than the previous techniques, as they are the richer, more heavily flavored sauces that go with red meats.
For Espagnole, additional mirepoix is added, as well as herbs and seasonings. Fond Lie can be a quicker substitute for Espagnole, but it does not have the depth of flavor...though you could add some browned mirepoix to enrich, then strain after cooking. The most common thing to do with these "Brown Sauces" is to make them into a Demiglace by putting 1 part brown stock to one part brown sauce into a pot, reducing half and straining. Most restaurant kitchens use demiglace to make these "small sauces", rather than using just brown sauce, as the flavors are more concentrated and developed in a demi.
(You could use straight brown sauce, but take the extra step if you want great results!)
Espagnole and Fond Lie become Demiglace, From Demiglace comes Bordelaise Sauce, Robert, Chasseur Sauce, Madeira Sauce, Port Sauce, Marchand de Vin and many others.

Espagnole
For One Quart :

1/2lb Mirepoix
2oz Clarified Butter
2oz Flour
1 quart plus two cups of Brown Stock, warm
2oz Tomato Puree
1 Bay Leaf
1/4 teaspoon Thyme
3-4 parsley stems

In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan, brown the mirepoix in the butter. Add the flour, stir well. Cook over low heat to make a brown roux. Gradually whisk in the warm stock, then the tomato puree. Add the herbs. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce, skimming occasionally, until the sauce has reduced to one quart. Strain. Spread the surface of the sauce with a little melted butter to prevent a skin from forming. This may be kept warm in a double boiler, or cooled then refrigerated for later use.

Fond Lie / Jus Lie
For One Quart:

1 quart Brown Stock
1oz Corn Starch

In a saucepan, heat the stock to a simmer. Dissolve the corn starch in a small amount of cold stock or water. Stir into the simmering stock. Simmer til thickened. Strain. Spread the surface of the sauce with a little melted butter to prevent a skin from forming. This may be kept warm in a double boiler, or cooled then refrigerated for later use.

Demiglace
For One Quart:

One quart Espagnole (or Fond Lie)
1 Quart Brown Stock

Add both to a saucepan. Simmer until reduced by half. Strain. Spread the surface of the sauce with a little melted butter to prevent a skin from forming. This may be kept warm in a double boiler, or cooled then refrigerated for later use.

Tomato Sauce
Tomato Sauce in classical terms was a sauce thickened with roux. Today we work with tomato puree and tomato paste which is enough to thicken the sauce. You may know the term "Coulis", this sauce is one. A coulis, in today's kitchen, is a "catch-all" term for a puree of vegetable or fruit, that will be used as a sauce.
Technically, you could use this sauce for pasta, and as a base for other sauces you might. This is not Marinara, or Meat sauce.
From Tomato Sauce comes: Portugaise Sauce, Creole Sauce, Spanish Sauce and others.

For One Quart:

1oz salt pork
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 quart of fresh or canned tomatoes, chopped
1pt. tomato puree
2tbls. tomato paste
1/2lb browned pork bones
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4tsp. thyme
1/4tsp. rosemary
1/4tsp. coarsely ground pepper
salt, to taste
sugar, to taste, to balance the acid.

In a saucepan, cook he salt pork over medium/low heat to render the fat, but don't allow it to brown. Add the onion and carrot, cook to soften, but again don't brown thm. Add all of the tomatoes, puree and paste, bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to really low, add the bones and the seasonings. Allow to simmer for about 2 hours. Remove the bones, pass the sauce through a medium strainer, or a food mill. Adjust the salt, balance with sugar (a tiny pinch at a time).
You may leave the salt pork and bones out of this sauce to make a vegetarian version.

Butter Sauces
Hollandaise and Bearnaise are the most famous butter sauces. They are thickened differently than some other sauces. Both are thickened with egg yolk, but not like a custard is (cooking=coagulation=thickening). Hollandaise and Bearnaise are thickened through emulsification, the uniform mixing of two liquids that normally would separate. In the case of Hollandaise, clarified butter and lemon juice (or a reduction of vinegar) are held together by the egg yolks. The mixture remains thick, because the butter is beaten in by drops, and the egg yollk holds those drops apart. (This is very similar to making mayonaise).

We'll start with some of the simple butter sauces, then move on to Hollandaise/Bearnaise.

Use unsalted sweet cream butter, it has less water content, and tastes fresher.

Melted Butter: The simplest sauce of all, and it's used alot. A favorite sauce for veggies.
Brown Butter/Beurre Noisette: Whole butter, melted and heated until it starts to brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Most commonly used on eggs, fish, vegetables and white meats.
Black Butter/Beurre Noir: Brown Butter cooked til even darker, traditionally flavored with capers and vinegar.
Meuniere: Brown butter flavored with lemon juice, usually poured over fish.
Compound Butters: Butter is softened, then mixed with varied flavorings. Rolled into a log, wrapped in parchment. They are chilled then sliced. Slices may be put on top of hot grilled meats, just before serving, they melt and become the sauce. You might also finish a sauce by swirling a slice into a hot sauce just before serving.
Beurre Blanc/Rouge: A sauce made by whisking a large amount of butter into a small amount of a reduction of wine and vinegar.

Beurre Blanc/Beurre Rouge

For One Pint:
8oz Dry White Wine(blanc)/Dry Red Wine (rouge)
1.5oz white wine vinegar
1oz chopped shallots
1lb Unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
salt to taste

In a small saucepan, heat the wine, vinegar and shallots. Reduce to about 1oz. Add the butter to the pan. Over medium high heat, whisk the mixture vigorously.
Remove from the heat when the butter is nearly melted, continue whisking til very smooth, season with salt. The sauce may be held warm over hot water, whisking occasionally.

Hollandaise and Bearnaise

These sauces are egg thickened sauces. They thicken by emulsification, rather than coagulation. An emulsification is achieved by whipping two usually un-mixable liquids,…in these cases melted butter and water (the water in the lemon juice or vinegar reduction. They stay mixed, and thick, because the butter is beaten into little drops and those drops are kept apart by the egg yolks. This is a similar procedure to making mayonnaise.

Tips:
Use fresh eggs.
Cool any ingredients, such as the melted butter or the vinegar reduction used in classic hollandaise, before adding them to the eggs,..to avoid overheating the eggs.
Beat the sauce over hot water. A round bottomed stainless steel bowl, set over a pot of hot water works great!
Add the butter slowly at first.
Don't add too much butter, 6 egg yolks will take a pound of clarified butter.

Hollandaise
For 1 quart of sauce
2 pounds of Clarifed Butter, cooled to warm.
¼ tsp. crushed peppercorns
¼ tsp. salt
3oz. white vinegar
2oz cold water
12 egg yolks
3 tbsp. lemon juice
salt and cayenne to taste.

In a small saucepan, add the peppercorns, salt and vinegar. Reduce till almost dry, add the cold water. Strain this mixture into a round bottomed, stainless steel bowl. Add the yolks to the bowl and beat well. Set the bowl over a pot of hot (not boiling) water,..beat until creamy and thickened. Remove from the heat, start beating in the butter, a few drops at a time. When all of the butter has been incorporated the sauce should be very thick, add the lemon juice to flavor and thin the sauce a bit. Season with cayenne and salt, to taste. This sauce can be held warm, over a pot of hot water, for about an hour and a half.
You may also omit the vinegar reduction, adding a bit of the lemon juice and the water to the yolks at the beginning,.then thinning with a bit of warm water,..this is a very common approach.

Bearnaise
For 1 quart of sauce.
2 lbs. clarified butter
2oz chopped shallots
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 tsp tarragon
1 tsp crushed peppercorns
12 egg yolks
salt, lemon juice and cayenne to taste
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tsp. tarragon

Combine the shallots, vinegar, tarragon and peppercorns in a small saucepan, reduce by ¾. Strain this mixture into a round bottomed, stainless steel bowl. Add the yolks to the bowl and beat well. Set the bowl over a pot of hot (not boiling) water,..beat until creamy and thickened. Remove from the heat, start beating in the butter, a few drops at a time. When all of the butter has been incorporated the sauce should be thick, add lemon juice to flavor and thin the sauce a bit. Season with cayenne and salt, to taste. Mix in the parsley and tarragon. This sauce can be held warm, over a pot of hot water, for about an hour and a half.

oh no you don't! you can't leave stock just yet.
what's the purpose of the fennel in the veggie stock. is there anything else that could take it's place in terms of adding a flavour (without adding that particular flavour?)

Hiya ehBeth!

Oh No,..a fennel hater!!

Well, you'd never taste it.

Anywho, what I've posted are just some basic guidelines. You can change them to suit your tastes. Fennel is just a classic, leave it out, use some more celery, or leek or mushroom. These recipes are VERY flexible, it's the methods that are most important!

ok

howzabout i increase the leek, and just use a tiny bit of fennel. it's used in a lot of european cough candies, and that gives fennel a weird place in my mouth. it does not mean food.

Yuppers,..you can do that!
Or really just leave it out if you don't like it!

Nice guide Jerry We'll have everyone making Chanterelle Consomme in no time!

When apprenticing with Michael Stadtlander, I noticed he always also added some fresh rosemary, and a bunch of crushed juniper berries to his stocks, in addition to the regular stuff you mentioned. I have adopted this, and it definitely gives oomph...

Thanks cav!
I bet they add some nice flavor too, love juniper berries!

if we simmer the veg. stock for more than 45 min., say 2-3 hrs., is it better?
JerryR, your instructions are so clear and precise-thank you-i can't wait for your sauces.

bzgootch,

A quick answer to your question - don't cook for hours, or the vegetables will disintegrate and the stock will change flavour. You will also find that it gets cloudy, with vegetable 'muck' throughout the stock.

One further point for now - never let stock stand warm for long. It is the ideal medium for growth of bacteria (microbiologists' agar plates are made from very similar ingredients!). Last November, I left a soup overnight in its pan and opened it the next day for lunch to the most horrific smell of decomposition - so I had to throw it away. At least I'd bottled one batch and eaten two bowls, so it wasn't entirely wasted!

As an ex-veggie, I can highly recommend The Greens Cookbook for veggie stocks and soups - their mushroom stock is fantastic (main ingredient: dried porcini mushrooms...mmmm!).

KP

As always, Jerry, you're the best! 'Cept your making me hungry again....

Thanks Sug! :wink:

Hi there kitchenpete, thanks for the good info!

bzgootch- Hi there, and welcome to A2K!
kitchenpete has it right, you really don't want to cook vegetable stock for more than about 45 minutes. The flavors "muddy", and fade,...and the stock can get a bit murky as the veggies dissolve. I like to make veg stock, right when it's going to be used- cause it cooks so quickly, and the flavors will be at their brightest.

NOTE:
I will edit the original instructions with the answers to any questions that come up, I would like the first post to remain as complete and easy to understand as possible, so it will be easy to reference!

juniper berries are good! thanks for that suggestion.

Jerry, what a wonderful amount of simplistic yet extremely informative information...thanks for the time and patience!!

Ooh this is excellent. Jerry, thank you! And thank you to all - this looks like it's shaping up to be, well, fantastic. :-D

Hi all,
Quinn and jespah- Thanks!

Tonight was a late night at the office,.the boss had dinner guests so I was a cooking fool!
I started working on sauces here, but I need to be back to work for 6am, so I'm gonna call it a night. It's a lot of information , and I want to make sure that it's organized properly, I'll try to post it from work tomorrow afternoon, if not then tomorrow after work!

Thanks Jerry!

I've added reductions and glazes to the master post, be back with more this afternoon!

One thing, "mirepoix" in the U.S. is a term used mostly in the south, by the cajuns and creoles who inhabit the bayous of Louisiana. In their version, green pepper replaces the carrots, however, no creole chef will ever tell you to put green pepper in a stock, as it muddles the flavors.

A techicality between creole and cajun cooks when making a stock is that a creole would use the french technique and peel and mince the vegetables. A cajun would just chop them up in large chunks, skins and all.

Out here on the west coast, a classic variation is to add cilantro instead of parsely. A unique appetizer I've been served is simply 1 tsp each of finely chopped tomato, onion, and cilantro (coriander leaves) place in a ceramic mug or bowl and then covered with hot fresh chicken stock.

cjhsa- Good point, thanks!
I've amended the description to let everyone know that what I mean from the term, is the classical kitchen definition.