Sauces 101

A mother sauce is a base sauce that can be enhanced with additional flavors and textures. If you learn the technique behind any of the mother sauces, you can use that knowledge as a jumping-off point to experiment and create your own sauces. You are only limited by your imagination!

Basic Sauces to Learn:

• Quick Pan Sauce. Experiment with various aromatics, liquids and thickening agents in this base sauce to create a zillion sauces on the fly. Seriously, the math on this one is there.

• Sauce Bechamel is a white mother sauce made with roux (flour and butter) and milk. Add cheese, it becomes cheese sauce (for mac and cheese); add egg yolks, it becomes Sauce Mornay (used as a soufflé base). Swap half the milk with stock, and this variation, called Velouté, is used for pot pies, casseroles, and as a creamy gravy, etc.

• Egg Yolk/Butter Sauces. Examples: Beurre Blanc, Hollandaise, Sauce Bearnaise

Dishes to Eat:

• Sauteéd King Trumpet Mushrooms with Potato Puree and Red Wine Pan Sauce

• Autumn Vegetable Pie with Sauce Supreme

• Roasted Butternut and Sage Benedict with Hollandaise

Cost: $320 for 4 friends

*Note: Menu can change slightly due to product availability.