Derivatives

For every Mother Sauce, there are many daughters. Here’s a helpful family tree.

I’ve always had a fascination with Mother Sauces. Learn how to make one, and you’re 50% along the way to knowing how to make multiple types of sauces. I find that idea both comforting and appealing.  

These are called daughter sauces or (as I prefer to call them)... derivatives. In my previous post about sauces, I focused on the different thickening agents used to turn a liquid to a sauce. This time I’ll dig into each Mother Sauce and their various derivatives, compiled by the type of thickener used. 

Amazingly, it’s very difficult to find a simple, at-a-glance resource that lists all the Mother Sauces and their derivatives, with details of each included. They’re either too detailed, or not detailed enough. So I decided to make my own, and hopefully others will find it useful as well. 

I’ll say upfront that this is not an exhaustive list. But that’s kind of the point. These are the basics, from which you can build your own as you like. It also sticks to the classic Mother Sauces, not salsas, vinaigrettes, or pasta sauces (like ragu) because there’s really no set base sauce to start with for any of those… they’re more techniques than sauces based on a common Mother. 

And, it’s not complete… some of the derivative sauces still need exact measurements for the individual components, but I’ll update as I learn them. The point is to have a clear understanding of the building blocks of nearly any sauce. So if you’re making a chicken, or a fish, or a steak, and halfway through you suddenly need or want to add a sauce you can just make one without Googling a whole start-to-finish recipe around what you’ve started with. You can customize and create; adapt, react, and improvise. 

So many recipes lay out the process for making these sauces, but they bury them in the process for the rest of the dish… spreading out the steps so you have to jump from the sauce, to the protein, to the side dish, back to the sauce. That makes it nearly impossible to see clearly any single component. 

That’s what makes component cooking so appealing. A 12-step recipe suddenly becomes three steps — protein, sauce, side. But recipe writers rarely organize their dishes that way, because few people have learned the relationships between these different components… particularly the sauce. 

But this is not a recipe blog. I’m far more interested in learning the underlying principles and fundamentals of cooking which can then be applied to any recipe or any dish I dream up at the moment. 

It’s freedom. And it’s fun. 

(For details on each thickening method, refer back to the original Sauces post)

Roux Sauces

Remember, a roux is equal parts butter and flour, cooked on low until it no longer smells like cookie dough.

Veloute

4 oz roux + 1 qt light stock (chicken/fish/veal)

• + Pan Drippings = Gravy

• + 1c Cream = Supreme

• + 4 Egg Yolks/1 c Cream = Allemande

• + 1c Pureed Tomatoes = Aurore

• + 1c Reduced White Wine = Bonnefoy

• + 4T Curry Powder (optional 1/3c cream) = Curry

• + Tarragon = Estragon

Espagnole

4 oz roux + 1 qt dark stock (beef/veal)

• + White Wine

  • + 1c Mushrooms/ ¼ c Shallots/ ½ c Cognac/ 1T Tarragon = Chasseur

  • + Shallots/Tomato/Paste of mushrooms, onions, herbs, and pepper) = Duxelles

  • + ½ c Chopped Onion/1t Dried Mustard = Robert

• + Red Wine

  • + 2 c Demi-glace/ ¼ c Red Wine/1T Butter = Madeira

  • + 1 c Reduced Red Wine/2t Lemon Juice/1/2 c Marrow/4T shallots = Bordelaise

• + Vinegar

  • + Mirepoix/Meat/Wine/Pepper = Poivrade

  • + Shallots/Wine/Gherkins/Parsley/Chervil/Tarragon = Piquante

  • + Shallot/Bread/Parsley/Lemon = Zingara

Bechamel

4 oz roux + 1 qt milk

• + 1c Gruyere = Mornay

• + 1c Pecorino Romano = Alfredo

• + 2c Cooked Onion Puree = Soubise

Tomato

1.5 c poix + 2 oz roux + tomato paste + bouquet garni + 1 qt. crushed tomatoes 

• + Anchovy/Fish Stock = Marinara

• + Capers/Olives/Anchovy = Puttanesca

• + Parm/Cream/Tomatoes = Napolitaine

• + Onion/Olives/Tomatoes = Nicoise

• + Ham/Parm/Mushroom = Milanaise

Emulsions

Hollandaise

3 egg yolks + 1 cup clarified butter + vinegar 

• + Tarragon/Vinegar Reduction = Bearnaise

  • + Tomato = Choron

• + Whipped Cream = Mousseline

• + Blood Orange = Maltaise

• + Mint = Paloise

Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk + 1 cup oil

• + Garlic + Lemon = Aioli

  • + Anchovies/Worshistere = Caesar 

• + ¼ c Dijon Mustard = Dijonnaise

• + Capers/Cornichons/Herbs/Anchovies = Remoulade

• + Chives/Cornichons/Capers/Hard Boiled Eggs = Tartare