#6 - Mother sauces, homemade mayo & hot stuff that will make you cry

Welcome back to the best newsletter this side of the Mississippi!

Thanksgiving leftovers are hopefully in full swing at this moment, did someone say turkey sandwiches for 5 days straight? It is time for the most important aspect on a plate and in Stovetop Hot we will explore the wonderful sauce world, take a few saucy lessons in Sunday Dinner, and don’t forget about the recs in this week’s Microwaving those leftovers, they are hot hot hot this week.

Stovetop Hot: Sauces make everything better.

I will already say it, we will need a part 2 on this subject because it is so vast. It all began, one would say, with two countries that are now at the proverbial top of the culinary world, Italy and France.

History. I was told the story of Catherine de Medici in my early 20’s. It was her marriage with King Henry II that helped to bring in the culinary art portion of the Renaissance. With her move from Florence, Italy, came along the royal cooks, their loud style and fussy sauces. The myth that surrounded this move has also led to the fierce competition between these rival countries’ cuisines. The Italians say they have the best and that the French just stole part of their culture. This might be partly true (I’m walking on eggshells here) but the French definitely helped to progress the cause over the years with the creation of 4 of the mother sauces by Marie-Antoine Carême, and the popularization of haute cuisine by Auguste Escoffier.

So, question. What is the most important position in a kitchen? It is the saucier position, the person who makes all of the sauces. They are usually the sous-chef. From my own experience of working in restaurants for 14 years now, the head chef gets the spotlight but it is the sous-chef who actually runs the kitchen brigade. Escoffier created this system, and was able to elevate sauces from their original objective to disguise tastes; since most foods were boiled, they sadly lacked flavor. Hence the need for a little umph. 

With a person now responsible for this aspect of the kitchen, the flavors were enhanced and multiple variations were now possible with different combinations of ingredients. His book, Le Guide Culinaire published in 1903 is touted as the most influential French cookbook ever. Plus, this is the place where the last mother sauce was added and the previous 4 were perfected.

Mother Sauces. If you want to be a good cook, sauces are where you start once you get past the physical knife skill portion of training. What is a mother sauce? In simple terms, it is a basic sauce that you can make variations from the original version. These sauces are béchamel, veloutée, espagnole, tomate, and hollandaise. Let’s explore them with what you should put them on, in, or around.

Can you guess which one is which?

1. Sauce Béchamel. It is the simplest of the sauces to prepare and its uses are many. It is a slightly cooked roux of butter and flour to which whole milk is added. After a little bit of nutmeg, salt, and white pepper, you're done. You probably know one of the baby (variation) sauces named mornay, for which you add grated cheese and an egg yolk. If you have ever had mac n cheese, this is that sauce that lathers the macaroni pasta. Mornay has a few more siblings: crème (addition of cream), cardinale (fish stock and black truffle), soubise (onions and crème fraîche), nantua (shrimp and cognac), and my favorite, écossaise (cayenne pepper and nutmeg).

   So what can you use béchamel for? Well, if you want to make the best lasagna in the world, you put it in the layering process. It goes great with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, aka croque monsieur. Lastly, mix it into some baked mashed potatoes. Trust me.

   Recipe quickbit:
   50g butter
   50g flour
   500g milk
   Nutmeg, salt, and white pepper.

2. Sauce Veloutée. This is what is called a blond stock, it uses white meat bones as the base. Chicken, veal, and turkey are labeled under this category. There are proteins left in the bones of the animals and by making a stock with them, you are able to extract the last bit of flavor so that the entire animal is used. Simmer 2 hours for poultry stock and 5 hours for veal stock. You will add carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and fresh herbs to enhance the taste. After your cooking, strain the liquid into another pot and let it cool to room temperature.

   *Note*: No salt or pepper is added to stock. It would be too intense because you normally use stock in the reduction of sauces. And a great tidbit for you, buy whole chickens! You learn how to get better at your butchering skills and you save money. Plus, you can freeze the bones. Once you have 3 sets of bones, you are good to start your chicken stock straight from the freezer and into the pot.

   Now to the variations, one has parisienne (roux base with egg yolk, lemon juice, and cream) and suprême (roux base with cream and butter). 

   Recipe quickbit:
   3 sets of bones
   2 onions
   1 carrot
   2 branches of celery
   3 garlic cloves
   2 sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, and parsley
   6 liters of water

3. Sauce Espagnole. This sauce has a few names depending on who you speak with. On the streets, demi-glace. In the country, brown. They are interchangeable but the stock is not. For me, this is a special meal preparation with the veal bones in it. After the stock is made, reduce to ¼ of its original volume to get to the demi-glace texture, and add a small amount of port wine, button mushrooms, and butter. It’s great and will resemble the texture of syrup. The addition of tomato paste is the only difference from the blond stock above. Still, 5 hours for the entire pot to cook. 

   Recipe quickbit:
   6 veal bones
   2 onions
   1 carrot
   2 branches of celery
   3 garlic cloves
   2 sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, and parsley
   1 small can tomato paste
   6 liters of water

   Now, this stock has 9 children. You need to know of genevoise (red wine, anchovies, onions, and carrots, it pairs well with salmon), bordelaise (shallots, thyme, red wine), and finally bretonne (onions, butter, tomatoes, garlic, and parsley). 

   For those stocks above, one smart trick that I picked up in my first kitchen job is after reducing the stocks, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. This way, you only pull out what you actually need stock-wise, and it conserves that beautiful bat of liquid for longer, around 3 months.

   

4. Sauce Tomate. Well, well, well, Italy, nice of you to join the party. I remember speaking with a few Italians in Rome about tomato sauce. Of course, me being American, my sauce was laughed out of the conversation. Simplicity is key here. You just need red onions, tomatoes, basil, salt, and olive oil. The trick is to get your pot really hot. Add the oil, followed by the onions, they will caramelize quickly. After slightly brown, add your quartered tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Bring to a slow bubble and simmer with a lid on for 1 hour. Add the basil once you turn off the heat. Grazie Alessandro!
   I love making tomato sauce, especially with fresh tomatoes! One thing I saw in Italy was the canning of fresh tomatoes for the winter months. Start doing this, it does take a day out of your week, but it is so worth it. If you want to learn, click here for Gena on Youtube. She will also make you smile and want to hug your nonna.
   
   Recipe quickbit:
   10 fresh tomatoes
   1 red onion shaved
   5 sprigs of basil
   2 pinches of salt
   3 tbsp olive oil
   

5. Sauce Hollandaise. If you have ever had a poached egg, this is usually the sauce that comes over it. Careful with this one - just a little too warm, it breaks, and just a little too cool, it breaks. The reason is, it is an emulsion. This one takes a little bit to master, I have to be honest. It has simple ingredients though, egg yolks, clarified butter, salt, and lemon juice. Whisk your egg yolks with the salt and lemon juice until they double in volume over a bain-marie. After, add the butter little by little while whisking until the consistency is of a very thin mayo. Adjust with salt.

   The children that come from this mother are béarnaise (shallots, tarragon, and white vinegar) and choron (béarnaise with diced tomatoes). Both are mighty fine with the first used over steaks or eggs and the latter for vegetables and seafood. I like to kick my sauce choron up with a dash or two of sriracha. It is not traditional but it is every bit good.
   
   Recipe quickbit:
   3 egg yolks
   1 pinch salt
   ½ juice of a lemon
   2 sticks of clarified butter

Now with this bit of knowledge, there comes what is called the sauce test. When you are in France, you are subjected to this. It is when a spoon is dipped into the sauce and turned over. A finger is whipped down the backside of the spoon. To be a perfect sauce, the sides on each side of the wipe should maintain their viscosity and not run off or into the part of the spoon where the finger was ‘wiped’. It is a little intense. Speaking of intense, I once asked a French chef, how do you fix a sauce? His response? French chefs don’t fix sauces, they make them perfect the first time.

Sunday Dinner: Dégaine ta cuillère !

For this week I thought it would only be appropriate to offer up some videos on a few sauces that you can make at home in this season of giving. The first will be a cream-based sauce for salmon. Next, mayo. It really is great with fries! And finally a stock, chicken/blond stock for your pleasure! Plus for your chicken stock knowledge, you get to learn what chicken jus is.

Salmon Sauce

Mayo

Chicken Stock

Microwaving those leftovers: Weekly wrecking ball of goods for your enjoyment.

• I’ve had a lot of fun watching Hot ones. It is a Youtube show and pits the spiciest of spicy hot sauces on chicken wings that celebrity guests eat while answering very thoughtful questions. I chose for you the best episode in my opinion, with Gordon Ramsay. It has over 75 million views. Then get the sauces from the show and challenge yourself! 

• Binging with Babish. Here is a guy I have been following over the years. He will re-make food from your favorite shows and movies - Ratatouille, anyone? Here is him explaining sauces for yourself. So sit back, relax, and click here.

• If you have eaten Taco Bell, you probably asked for sauce, equally spicy and entertaining with their funny messages printed on the packets. My favorite? If you never do, you’ll never know!

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Now that your mouth is on fire, do you have a go-to relief system? Do you think milk is best, or iced water? I always advise not to let the hot stuff touch your lips, do you have other tips for me? 

That was a lot we unpacked with sauces today and we still haven’t even talked about soy sauce, remoulade, salsa, toum, newberg, american, or dulce de leche. Part 2 is again, coming soon. What sauces would you like for me to explore in the next edition?

Thank you for your time in reading this week’s newsletter, and thank you to the best team in the business for making it possible. Try out one of the recipes and don't hesitate to share with me the pictures of what you've been cooking by tagging me on Instagram @cookingwithburtonwebb or just by hitting the comment button.

Au revoir,

Burton