To learn the fundamentals, we first focused on the classic mother sauces in the Article about Classic Mother Sauces. The original classification was developed by French chefs Marie Antoine Carême and Jules Gouffé in the 19th century, and it was further refined and simplified by Auguste Escoffier in the 20th century.
The four classic mother sauces according to Auguste Escoffier are:
- Espagnole (a brown base sauce)
- Velouté (a stock thickened with roux)
- Béchamel (a milk-based sauce thickened with roux)
- Tomato sauce
Often, Hollandaise sauce is listed as a mother sauce in many sources, but according to Escoffier, it’s just another subdivision (“daughter sauce”). Instead, Escoffier lists mayonnaise as a cold mother sauce.
This may sound a bit confusing, but it’s not crucial for us and simply a matter of classification. However, if a discussion about the classification of mother sauces arises in the kitchen, it can’t hurt to have a bit of expertise to contribute.
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is one of the most important and widely used sauces in the kitchen. Technically, mayonnaise is an oil-in-water emulsion achieved by slowly mixing small amounts of oil with an egg yolk. The egg yolk helps facilitate this binding of water and oil because it contains lecithin, which is a natural emulsifier. The two ingredients blend into a velvety and flavorful sauce that can be infused with various flavors.
