Bchamel Sauce Recipe

Bchamel is a basic white sauce and one of the five mother sauces of
classical cuisine. That means it's the starting point for making other sauces,
like the Cheddar Cheese sauce and the Mornay sauce.
You can also season it and serve it as-is. Or try making it with bacon or
sausage fat for an amazing white gravy.
Also see these 7 Bchamel Sauce Variations.
Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

2 Tbsp clarified butter, or stick unsalted butter (about 30 grams)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour (also 30 grams)

onion, peeled

1 whole clove

Kosher salt, to taste

Ground white pepper, to taste

Pinch of ground nutmeg (optional)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Preparation
1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer over a
medium heat, stirring occasionally and taking care not to let it boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter
over medium heat until it's liquefied. Don't let it turn brown, though
that'll affect the flavor.

3. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the melted butter a little bit at
a time, until it is fully incorporated into the butter, giving you a paleyellow-colored paste. This paste is called a roux. Heat the roux for
another minute or so to cook off the taste of raw flour.
4. Using a wire whisk, slowly add the hot milk to the roux, whisking
vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps.
5. Now stick the pointy end of the clove into the onion and drop them into
the sauce. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the total volume has
reduced by about 20 percent, stirring frequently to make sure the
sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom of the pan.
6. The resulting sauce should be smooth and velvety. If it's too thick,
whisk in a bit more milk until it's just thick enough to coat the back of a
spoon.
7. Remove the sauce from the heat. You can retrieve the clove-stuck
onion and discard it now. For an extra smooth consistency, carefully
pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of
cheesecloth.
8. Season the sauce very lightly with salt and white pepper. Be
particularly careful with the white pepper and the nutmeg, if you're
using it. A little bit goes a long way! Keep the bchamel covered until
you're ready to use it.
Makes about 2 cups of bchamel sauce .
Chicken Velout Sauce
Velout is one of the five mother sauces of classical cuisine. It can be made
with any white stock, but this version, the chicken velout, is made with
chicken stock and is the most common. There's also a veal velout and a fish
velout.
Chicken velout is the basis for the traditional Suprme sauce, as well as the
classic Mushroom sauce, the Aurora sauce and many others.
Note that the velout is not itself a finished sauce that is to say, it isn't
typically served as is. You could, however, simply season it with salt and
pepper and use it much as you would a basic gravy.
Ingredients

6 cups chicken stock

2 oz clarified butter

2 oz all-purpose flour

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Preparation
1. Heat the chicken stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then lower
the heat so that the stock just stays hot.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the clarified
butter over a medium heat until it becomes frothy. Take care not to let
the butter turn brown, though that'll affect the flavor.
3. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the melted butter a little bit at
a time, until it is fully incorporated into the butter, giving you a paleyellow-colored paste. This paste is called a roux. Heat the roux for
another few minutes or so, until it has turned a light blond color. Don't
let it get too dark.
4. Using a wire whisk, slowly add the hot chicken stock to the roux,
whisking vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps.
5. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by
about one-third, stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't
scorch at the bottom of the pan. Use a ladle to skim off any impurities
that rise to the surface.
6. The resulting sauce should be smooth and velvety. If it's too thick,
whisk in a bit more hot stock until it's just thick enough to coat the
back of a spoon.
7. Remove the sauce from the heat. For an extra smooth consistency,
carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a
piece of cheesecloth.
8. Keep the velout covered until you're ready to use it.

Makes about 1 quart of chicken velout sauce.

3. Espagnole Sauce
The Espagnole Sauce , also sometimes called Brown Sauce, is a slightly more
complex mother sauce. Espagnole is made by thickening brown stock with
roux. So in that sense it's similar to a velout. The difference is that
espagnole is made with tomato pure and mirepoix for deeper color and
flavor. Moreover, brown stock itself is made from bones that have first been
roasted to add color and flavor.
The espagnole is traditionally further refined to produce a rich, deeply
flavorful sauce called a demi-glace. The demi-glace is then the starting
point for making the various small sauces. A demi-glace consists of a mixture
of half espagnole, half brown stock, which is then reduced by half.
For a short-cut, you could skip the demi-glace step and make the small
sauces directly from the espagnole. You'll lose some flavor and body, but
you'll save time.
Ingredients

cup onions, diced

cup carrots, diced

cup celery, diced

1 oz clarified butter

1 oz all-purpose flour

3 cups brown stock

2 Tbsp tomato pure

-------- For Sachet: --------

1 bay leaf

tsp dried thyme

3-4 fresh parsley stems

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minutes

Total Time: 16 minutes

Preparation
1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat
until it becomes frothy.
2. Add the mirepoix and saut for a few minutes until it's lightly browned.
Don't let it burn, though.
3. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the mirepoix a little bit at a
time, until it is fully incorporated and forms a thick paste or roux.
Lower the heat and cook the roux for another five minutes or so, until
it's light brown. Don't let it burn! The roux will have a slightly nutty
aroma at this point.
4. Using a wire whisk, slowly add the stock and tomato pure to the roux,
whisking vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps.
5. Bring to a boil, lower heat, add the sachet and simmer for about 50
minutes or until the total volume has reduced by about one-third,
stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom
of the pan. Use a ladle to skim off any impurities that rise to the
surface.
6. Remove the sauce from the heat and retrieve the sachet. For an extra
smooth consistency, carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh
strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.
7. Serve hot. If not serving the sauce right away, keep it covered and
warm until you're ready to use it.
Makes about 2 cups of Espagnole sauce .
Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
Hollandaise is a wonderfully rich, lemony and buttery sauce that goes with
eggs, vegetables and poached fish.
For a full demonstration of making hollandaise, with photos illustrating each

step, check out this step-by-step tutorial on how to make hollandaise sauce.
These tutorials on how to separate eggs and how to clarify butter may also
come in handy.
NOTE: For safety, it's best to use pasteurized eggs when making hollandaise
sauce. Here's a resource that can help you locate pasteurized eggs at
retailers near you. Or if you prefer, you can pasteurize your own egg yolks at
home in the microwave.
Ingredients

1 cup clarified butter (about 2 sticks before clarifying)

4 egg yolks

2 Tbsp lemon juice (the juice from 1 small lemon)

1 Tbsp cold water

Kosher salt, to taste

Cayenne pepper (or a dash of Tabasco sauce), to taste

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Preparation
1. Heat an inch or two of water in a saucepan over a medium heat. Also,
your clarified butter should be warm, but not hot.
2. Combine the egg yolks and the cold water in a glass or stainless steel
bowl (not aluminum) whisk for a minute or two, until the mixture is
light and foamy. Whisk in a couple of drops of lemon juice, too.
3. The water in the saucepan should have begun to simmer. Set the bowl
directly atop the saucepan of simmering water. The water itself should
not come in contact with the bottom of the bowl. Whisk the eggs for a
minute or two, until they're slightly thickened.

4. Remove the bowl from the heat and begin adding the melted butter
slowly at first, a few drops at a time, while whisking constantly. If you
add it too quickly, the emulsion will break.
5. Continue beating in the melted butter. As the sauce thickens, you can
gradually increase the rate at which you add it, but at first, slower is
better.
6. After you've added all the butter, whisk in the remaining lemon juice
and season to taste with Kosher salt and cayenne pepper (or a dash of
Tabasco sauce). The finished hollandaise sauce will have a smooth,
firm consistency. If it's too thick, you can adjust the consistency by
whisking in a few drops of warm water.
7. It's best to serve hollandaise right away. You can hold it for about an
hour or so, provided you keep it warm. After two hours, though, you
should toss it both for quality and safety reasons.

Classic Tomate Sauce

This classic Tomate Sauce recipe is one of the five mother sauces of classical
cuisine. It's also the starting point for making the traditional Spanish sauce,
Creole sauce, Portuguese sauce or Provenale sauce.
It is similar to, but more complicated than, the basic tomato sauce that is
commonly served with pasta. Here's the recipe for the basic tomato pasta
sauce.
Some versions of this tomate sauce recipe use a roux to thicken the sauce,
but this isn't really necessary. The tomatoes themselves are enough to
thicken the sauce.
The Spanish sauce is a spicy tomato sauce made with sauted onions, green
peppers, mushrooms and garlic. It's great with chicken, veal, pork and
seafood.
NOTE: This recipe calls for 2 cups of the classic tomato sauce, which is one
of the five so-called mother sauces of the culinary arts. You could instead use
2 cups of basic tomato pasta sauce, which is easier to make, but not as
flavorful.
If you wanted to get the best of both worlds, add a ham bone to the basic
pasta sauce while it simmers, then remove the bone before you pure it. You

could even simmer a ham bone in sauce from a jar, just to give it some more
depth of flavor.
Ingredients

2 cups tomato sauce

cup sliced mushrooms

cup chopped onions

cup diced green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Tabasco sauce (or another hot pepper sauce), to taste

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Preparation
1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, saut the onions, green pepper and
garlic until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the mushrooms and continue to saut until the mushrooms are
soft.
3. Add the tomato sauce, bring to a simmer and cook for about 5
minutes.
4. Season with the salt, pepper and Tabasco and serve right away.
Makes about 2 cups of Spanish Sauce.
Stocks

A stock is the essence of flavor dispersed into water. There are countless
stocks that span many nations and cultures. A stock that is unique to a
culture defines and dominates that regional flavoring. Mexican food has their
own stocks. The Japanese have their own stocks. China, Thailand, India,
France you name it. We are going to stick with classic stock making, but
TheCulinaryCook may do a write up of some international stocks at a later
date. A classic stock can be defined into 4 types

White stock

Brown Stock

Fish Stock

Vegetable Stock

White Stock
A white stock is a stock made from bones that have not been roasted or
browned. They are usually raw and the most common type of white stock is
the all-purpose Chicken Stock. A white stock has a lightly golden color that is
clear and mild in flavor. White stocks are typically used as bases in soups
and as a substitute for water (Pilafs, for example). They can remain relatively
colorless if colorless vegetables are used (a white mirepoix for example).
Chicken stock /white stock tends to have less gelatin content than
brown/beef stock so thickening by reduction does not produce the results
one would see from a brown stock.
Brown Stock
Brown stocks are typically made with beef bones. The best types of bones to
use are the knuckle/shank from veal , as they contain higher collagen
content that produces the ever appealing gelatin look. By roasting the bones
prior to making the stock, you get a deep, rich, dark brown color. The
caramalization of the bones gives the stock its color and flavor.
Frozen Beef Stock
Brown stock is also the most difficult to make, as it not only requires the
proper type of bones, the precise browning of said bones, and the 8-12 hour
cooking times, but also a certain level of understanding about the process
and desired outcome of the stock. I encourage everyone to practice and

experiment making brown stock, because thats the only way youre going to
get better!
The uses for brown stock are usually reserved for darker dishes such as beef
gravies, stews, and jus. It is also the base for making demi-glace,
espagnole and, the ultimate in decadence, glace de viande which are used
in the production of the most advanced sauces. Developing your own brand
of brown stock (Or any stock) is vital to your success as a cook.

Fish Stock
Fish stock is derived from the bones of non-fatty fish. The preferable bones
are that of the halibut, or if unavailable, other non-fatty flat fish. They are a
snap to make, taking only 45 minutes, and are essential for dishes that
showcase seafood as its main. Chowders are a great use for stocks, as well
as a poaching liquid for other fish. A Fish stock is clear with a pronounced
fish flavor and very light body. There is a variation to the fish stock called a
fumet. A fumet is a fish stock that has white wine added to it. A fumet is
strongly flavored and aromatic. Reducing a fumet by half results in an
essence.
Fish bones should be washed before use but never blanched as will lose
flavor. Due to the short cooking time, mirepoix or other vegetables should be
cut small and sweated to encourage flavor extraction.
Vegetable Stock
A vegetable stock is just as the name implies. It is a low-cost vegetarian
stock used in soups with no meat, or as a flavor enhancer in place of water. A
good vegetable stock should be clear and light-colored. There is no gelatin
content due to no animal products used. Vegetable stock can be used in
place of many meat-based stock recipes. It is very convenient when
preparing vegetarian dishes or as a lighter, more healthful alternative when
preparing sauces or soups. While many different types of vegetables can be
used for stock making, more variety is not always better. Sometimes only
using one or two vegetables that compliment the finished dish works out
better than a stock made with too many vegetables.
Court Bouillon
A court bouillon is an acidic cooking liquid that is not actually a stock. It is
prepared in the same manner as a stock, so we will cover it in this section. A
court bouillon is usually water with wine or vinegar, where vegetables and

seasonings have been simmered to extract their flavors. It is excellent for

poaching foods such as fish and shellfish. A court bouillon is best when it is
prepared fresh.

Kinds Of Stock
First Stock. This stock is carefully made from uncooked bones and meat,
suitably and nicely flavored, and is used for consommes, and all high-class
soups.
Second Stock. This is made from the meat and bones from which the first
stock has been strained, then recooked with fresh water and vegetables. It is
used for soups that do not depend on the stock for their principal flavoring.
Household Stock. This stock is made from scraps of cooked or uncooked
meat and bones, vegetables, and such other materials as the careful cook
saves for the stock pot. It is used for everyday soups, and for sauces, or
made-up dishes.
Vegetable Stock. This stock is made from vegetables alone, either fresh or
dried, or a mixture of the two. It is much used in vegetarian and Lenten
cookery.
Fish Stock. This stock is made from fish or fish trimmings, with vegetables
added to give flavor. The addition of a few pieces of shellfish is an
improvement. The stock is used for fish soup or sauces.
Game Stock. This is made from any kind of game bones and trimmings, with
vegetables added to give flavor. It is used for game soups or sauces served
with reheated dishes made with cold game.
Brown Stock. This is made principally from beef bones and beef, with
sometimes a little veal or some poultry or game bones added, and usually
flavored with vegetables.
White Stock. This is made principally from white meat, such as mutton,
poultry, rabbit, or veal, with sometimes a calf's foot added, and usually
flavored with vegetables and herbs.
Bone Stock is made from bones alone, with vegetables added to give flavor.
Glaze is stock which is so much reduced in quantity that when cold it forms
almost a solid substance.

Cold water should be used for making stocks, as it extracts the juices better.
Allow one quart to every pound of bones, meat, or vegetables. Do not add
anything greasy, starchy, or highly colored. After cooking, strain into clean
basins and allow to cool before setting away. When cold, remove all fat from
the surface; this crust of fat, if allowed to remain over the top, is apt to turn
it sour, as it excludes the air.