Growing up in the Wright household food was always an important subject. Mostly because we love to eat and we were always wondering "when is dinner going to be ready?" We were all busy going in different directions but my parents insisted we have dinner together most nights. You had to finish everything on your plate and stay at the table until everyone was finished. Table manners were a must and conversation was expected. I believe this is where my love of dining and enjoying a meal all started. Even though I didn't realize it then, my parents were creating a love for the art of dining inside my head!
So when I decided to attend culinary school after graduating high school, it seemed like a natural progression. Little did I know the insanely crazy and competitive world I was entering. Culinary school opened me up to a whole new universe of food, drink and the inner-workings of the restaurant business. I knew I would never dine or view food in the same way again after my first week!
That was over ten years ago and my passion is still going strong. I have had the good fortune to work with some amazing chefs and restaurateurs over the years and dining out is still one of my favorite things to do!
I don't know everything, I have forgotten a lot and I still have so much to learn. But what makes the culinary world so great is that it is constantly evolving while still being founded on the same old principles!
Enjoy!
The 5 Mother Sauces
The "mother sauces" are five basic sauces, which are the foundation for making hundreds of various secondary sauces or "small sauces." Once you master these five sauces, you can make most any sauce to compliment, enhance and bring out the flavor of the food it is served with.
Bechamel - This classic white sauce, was named after its inventor, Louis XIV's steward Louis de Bèchamel. The king of all sauces, it is often referred to as a cream sauce because its appearance and is probably used the most frequently in all types of dishes.
Made by stirring milk into a butter-flour roux, the thickness of the sauce depends on the amount of roux you add to the milk.
Veloutè- Is a stock-based white sauce. It can be made from chicken, veal or fish stock. The term veloutè is from the French adjectival form of velour, meaning velvety. In preparing a velouté sauce, a light stock is thickened with a butter-flour roux.
Espagnole - Also called a brown sauce, it is traditionally made of rich meat stock, a mirepoix of browned vegetables (a mixture of onions, carrots and celery), a browned roux, herbs and sometimes tomato paste.
Hollandaise/Mayonnaise - Two sauces that are made with an emulsion of egg yolks and fat. Hollandaise is made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice, usually in a double boiler to prevent overheating, and served warm. Mayonnaise is an emulsion of vegetable oil, egg yolks, lemon juice or vinegar and seasonings. It is widely used as a spread or base for an Aioli or Remoulade.
Tomato -This sauce resembles the traditional tomato sauce that we might use on pasta and pizza. The tomato sauce of classical French cooking consists of salt belly of pork, onions, bay leaves, thyme, tomato purée or fresh tomatoes, roux,
garlic, salt, sugar, and pepper.
Vinagrettes are often included in this group, but were not part of the original five. In the early 19th century, the chef Antonin Carême
created an extensive list of sauces, many of which were original
recipes. It is unknown how many sauces Carême is responsible for, but it
was estimated to be in the hundreds.
In the late 19th century, and early 20th century, the chef Auguste Escoffier consolidated Carême's list to five mother sauces.
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