Kitchen & Cooking Tips, Menu Tips

What Are The Five Mother Sauces?

Last updated on Feb 26, 2021
Corrinn McCauley

The five mother sauces are hollandaise, tomato (sauce tomat), bechamel, Espagnole, and veloute. French chef Auguste Escoffier identified the five mother sauces, forever associating them with French cuisine. However, mother sauces are relevant in all modern cooking practices. We can categorize nearly every sauce as an expansion, reduction, or alteration of one of the mother sauces. Whether you’re working on becoming a chef or looking to enhance your restaurant menu, mastering the mother sauces provides the foundation you need to build your own signature flavors.

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You can click on any of the mother sauces below to discover the sauce that most interests you, read on to explore them all, or jump ahead to our five mother sauces chart.

  1. Hollandaise Sauce
  2. Tomato Sauce (sauce tomat)
  3. Bechamel Sauce
  4. Espagnole Sauce
  5. Veloute Sauce

What Is A Mother Sauce?

A mother sauce is a foundational sauce that serves as the basis for a variety of derivative sauces. A derivative sauce is a sauce that adds ingredients and flavors to a mother sauce. Chefs also refer to derivative sauces as daughter sauces, small sauces, or secondary sauces. French cuisine claims that there are five foundational mother sauces from which we form all other sauces. Each mother sauce has a unique liquid, thickening agent, and distinct flavorings. Three of the five mother sauces use a roux as their thickening agent.

Use our informative list of the five mother sauces as your guide to their flavor profiles, ingredients, popular derivatives, and common uses.

1. Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise offers the rich flavor of buttered cream laced with lemon and is the most well-known mother sauce. While some mother sauces are less famous than their derivatives, hollandaise is the star of its sauce family tree. Hollandaise sauce is an emulsion (meaning its ingredients don’t combine naturally). The word hollandaise is French, and it translates to “Dutch sauce” in English. While its name suggests otherwise, hollandaise is a definitively French sauce hailing from a small Norman town renowned for its butter and cream.

  • Hollandaise Sauce Tastes Like - buttery cream laced with lemon
  • Hollandaise Ingredients - egg yolks, unsalted butter, lemon juice, water, cayenne pepper, salt, freshly ground black peppercorns
  • Uses for Hollandaise Sauce - eggs Benedict, poached salmon, flowering vegetables
  • Hollandaise Sauce Derivatives - bearnaise sauce, maltaise sauce, choron sauce

Hollandaise Recipe

Follow these simple steps to make a classic hollandaise sauce.

  1. Melt 1/2 cup of unsalted butter.
  2. In a metal bowl, force four egg yolks and 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice to mix by whisking them vigorously.
  3. When the mixture doubles in volume, pour it into a double broiler and continue whisking.
  4. As soon as the color of the yolks lighten, steadily pour and whisk the melted butter into the saucepan (this keeps the eggs from scrambling).
  5. When the mixture doubles in volume, remove it from the heat.
  6. Whisk in salt, cayenne pepper, and freshly ground black peppercorns to taste.
  7. Keep your hollandaise sauce in a warm place until you're ready to serve it.

Note: If your hollandaise becomes too thick, whisk a few drops of warm water into the sauce before serving it.

2. Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce, or sauce tomat in French, is a tomato-based sauce that serves as one of the five mother sauces. Tomatoes have high water content and tender flesh that cooks into thick sauces without emulsification. Tomato sauce is popular in Italian cuisine, which uses an array of secondary tomato sauces for pasta and pizza. In his publication, Auguste Escoffier didn’t signify a particular tomato variety, leaving room for seasonal availability and flavor preference. We provide the ingredients for Escoffier’s sauce tomat below.

  • Tomato Sauce Tastes Like - pleasantly acidic tomatoes imbued with garlic, onion, and herbs
  • Tomato Sauce Ingredients - white veal stock, butter, all-purpose flour, tomatoes, salt pork, carrots, white/yellow onion, bay leaf, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar
  • Uses for Tomato Sauce - pasta, pizza, shakshouka
  • Tomato Sauce Derivatives - vodka sauce, BBQ sauce, arrabbiata sauce

Tomato Sauce Recipe

While not the simplest version of tomato sauce, Escoffier's sauce tomat is as decadent as it is famous. Learn how to make the traditional tomato-based mother sauce below.

  1. Render 2-3 oz. of salt pork by placing it in a heavy-bottom saucepan with one tablespoon of water, covering it, and cooking it over medium heat to create steam (about 5 minutes).
  2. Peel and medium-dice 3 oz. of carrot and 3 oz. of white or yellow onion.
  3. When the salt pork is rendered, add the diced carrot, onion, and 2 oz. of butter to your saucepan.
  4. Cook over medium heat until the ingredients are tender and aromatic.
  5. Use this time to quarter 5 lb. of high-quality tomatoes.
  6. Create a brown roux by mixing 2-3 oz. of all-purpose flour into your saucepan and cooking the mixture until it achieves a brown shade.
  7. Incorporate the quartered tomatoes. Simmer them until they soften and burst.
  8. Add 1 clove of freshly crushed garlic and 1 qt. of white veal stock. Bring to a boil.
  9. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1 bay leaf and 1 sprig of thyme.
  10. Escoffier's recipe calls for a pinch of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Keep your sugar portion to a minimum to avoid over-sweetening the sauce.
  11. Cover your saucepan and leave it to simmer for 90 minutes.
  12. Once it's cooled enough to handle, strain your sauce through a chinois.
  13. Your traditional sauce tomat is ready to serve. Extra sauce will freeze and defrost well when stored in an airtight container.

To Achieve a Smoother Sauce: we recommend blending the sauce tomat before passing it through the chinois.

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3. Bechamel Sauce

Bechamel Sauce

Bechamel is the original cream sauce and serves as the foundation for every cheese sauce you know and love. In its simplest form, bechamel is a combination of milk and white roux. Traditional French, Greek, and Italian bechamel recipes incorporate salt and nutmeg into their sauces. Bechamel was originally an Italian sauce, Balsamella, that became a hit in the French royal court of King Louis XIV where it was renamed ‘bechamel’ after his chief steward. Escoffier standardized the name bechamel when he published his list of mother sauces.

  • Bechamel Sauce Tastes Like - velvet cream with a lingering, buttery essence
  • Bechamel Sauce Ingredients - butter, flour, whole milk, salt, nutmeg
  • Uses for Bechamel Sauce - mac and cheese, lasagna, croque monsieur
  • Derivatives of Bechamel Sauce - Alfredo, mornay, cheddar cheese sauce

Bechamel Sauce Recipe

Learn how to make bechamel sauce by following this simple recipe.

  1. In a large saucepan, melt five tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
  2. Mix 1/4 cup of flour into your melted butter until smooth.
  3. Cook the sauce until it turns a light sand color (approximately seven minutes). Stir constantly.
  4. Turn your heat to medium-high and whisk in a qt. of milk. Continue whisking the milk into the roux until it thickens.
  5. Lower your heat to medium-low and allow your sauce to simmer. You want the flour to soften and lose its gritty taste (approximately 10 to 20 minutes).
  6. Season your sauce with 2 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg before serving/storing it.

4. Espagnole Sauce

Espagnole Sauce

Espagnole is a brown sauce thickened with a roux composed of brown stock, mirepoix, and tomatoes. Mirepoix is a French aromatic flavor base of onion, celery, and carrot cooked together in butter or oil over low heat, so they release their flavors without browning. Espagnole is the most complex mother sauce. It has a potent flavor that easily overpowers, so you will rarely directly apply it to your meals. Subsequently, Espagnole sauce is far more popular in its reduced, derivative forms.

  • Espagnole Sauce Tastes Like - rich stock lightened with the mild acidity of tomatoes and saturated with earthy spices
  • Espagnole Sauce Ingredients - butter, flour, brown stock, tomato puree, carrot, onion, celery, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf
  • Espagnole Sauce Uses - steak + French fries, braised beef short ribs + mashed potatoes, roasted lamb shanks + creamy polenta
  • Derivatives of Espagnole Sauce - demi-glace, sauce bourguignon, red wine reduction

Espagnole Sauce Recipe

Easily create the most complex mother sauce with our Espagnole recipe.

  1. Coarsely chop 1 small carrot, 1 celery rib, and 1 medium onion.
  2. Cook the chopped vegetables and 1/2 stick of butter over moderate heat until golden in a heavy 3 qt. saucepan. Stir occasionally.
  3. Create a roux by reducing the temperature to low heat and stirring in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. Cook to medium brown.
  4. Pour 4 cups of hot brown stock into the saucepan. Whisk as you pour.
  5. Mix in 1/4 cup tomato puree, two cloves of coarsely chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorn, and 1/2 a California bay leaf.
  6. Continue stirring the sauce until it comes to a boil. Then, lower the heat to a light simmer.
  7. Leave the sauce to simmer uncovered until it reduces to approximately 3 cups (approximately 45 minutes). Stir periodically.
  8. Once reduced, strain the Espagnole sauce through a cheesecloth before using it as a topping or a base for another sauce.

5. Veloute Sauce

Veloute Sauce

Veloute sauce is a versatile white sauce made by blending a white roux and white stock. There are three types of veloute (chicken, fish, and veal) depending on the variety of white stock used. The most common variety is chicken veloute. Veloute is the most neutral of the five mother sauces, serving as a clean canvas to layer a diverse array of flavors onto. You’ll find veloute sauce as the base in a variety of chicken dishes, creamy soups, and other comfort food staples.

  • Veloute Sauce Tastes Like - silken white stock
  • Veloute Sauce Ingredients - white stock, butter, flour, salt, white pepper
  • Veloute Sauce Uses - chicken supreme, cream of mushroom soup, cream of broccoli soup
  • Derivatives of Veloute Sauce - white wine sauce, Allemande sauce, Normandy sauce

Veloute Sauce Recipe

Learn how to make the most versatile white mother sauce with our easy-to-follow veloute recipe.

  1. Melt 3 Tbsp. of unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
  2. Whisk 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour into the butter until the mixture is smooth.
  3. Cook the roux until it turns blond.
  4. Incorporate 2 cups of white stock (chicken is the most common choice) into your roux in small increments. Each time you add more stock, whisk your mixture and bring it to a gentle boil. Repeat this process until you've added all the stock and your sauce is a velvety texture.
  5. Season to taste with salt and white pepper and serve.

Note: Veloute sauce thickens as it cools. If you aren't using it immediately, you can thin the sauce by adding more hot stock before serving.

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5 Mother Sauces Chart

Mother Sauces Chart

Mother Sauces FAQs

As specialty sauces become one of the most popular food trends, it’s important for restaurants to master the mother sauces so they can create their own derivates and hone their signature flavor. We answer the common questions that arise when chefs make the five mother sauces below.

What Is a Sauce?

A sauce is a liquid combined with a thickening agent and flavorings. You can vary your thickening agent to create a sauce that is fluid, semi-solid, or anywhere in between. Sauces enhance the texture, flavor, and aesthetic appeal of other foods. You can incorporate sauces during the cooking process, add them after you plate your food, or serve them on the side.

What Is a Roux?

A roux is a thickening agent made from equal parts flour and fat. You will thicken three of the five mother sauces with a roux. To make a roux, blend flour into melted fat on the stovetop. Cook the mixture between 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit until it reaches your preferred level of browning. You can stop or extend the browning process to make a white, blonde, or brown roux.

History of Mother Sauces

Published by esteemed chef Auguste Escoffier in the 19th century, the five mother sauces are the branches of the sauce family tree, and all other sauces are leaves growing from their branches. However, the mother sauces were not always as we know them today. In the 1800s, French chef Marie-Antoine Carême classified veloute, bechamel, allemande, and Espagnole as the foundational (mother) sauces. In the 19th century, Auguste Escoffier revolutionized the culinary world by updating traditional haute cuisine and redefining the mother sauces, making him the father of modern French cuisine. Escoffier identified allemande as a derivative of veloute and removed it from the list of mother sauces. He then added tomato sauce (sauce tomat) and hollandaise to the list of foundational sauces, solidifying the five mother sauces we still recognize today.

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Mother sauces are the matriarchs of the five major sauce families. Perfecting the mother sauces will allow you to venture on your own sauce journey with a solid foundation of time-tested flavor as your guide. If you’re ready to get started, check out our saucepan buying guide and discover the right saucepan for your needs.

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To protect your hands, work with a well-sharpened knife and follow knife safety best practices as you master the different knife cuts. 1. Dice One of the most popular knife cuts, dicing, creates small blocks (aka “dice”) out of food items. There are three sizes of dice cuts: small dice, medium dice, and large dice. Small dice are foods cut into 1/4 x 1/4" cubes, medium diced items are 1/2 x 1/2" cubes, and large diced items are 3/4 x 3/4" cubes. Diced foods cook evenly and are aesthetically pleasing. Dice Cut Definition: The dice cut creates super-fine, consistent, and neat cubes. Dice Cut Size: The dice cut sizes are 1/4 x 1/4" for small dice, 1/2 x 1/2" for medium dice, and 3/4 x 3/4" for large dice. What Does the Dice Cut Look Like? The dice cut looks like small, cubed pieces. What Is the Dice Cut Used For? The dice cut is used for stir-fries, soups, and stews. How to Dice Follow these simple steps to easily dice almost any item. Wash and dry your vegetables before dicing them. You should peel most vegetables before cooking them, so peel your produce if necessary. Evaluate your item and see if there is a flat side you can rest against the cutting board for stability. Slice the entire vegetable into round steaks according to the size of dice you want to create. Slice the rounds into sticks (known as batons). Stack a few rounds together to expedite the baton-making process. Bundle the batons together and slice them horizontally to create cubes of your desired dice size. 2. Julienne The julienne cut, also known as matchsticks, are thin, evenly and meticulously cut planks. Introduced in the French cookbook "Le Cuisinier Royal" in 1772, the julienne cut is a timeless element of classical French cuisine. It ranges in size between 2" and 3" long and 1/16- and 1/8" thick. To achieve the julienne cut, you must work with a high-quality utility knife with a well-sharpened blade. The julienne cut works best on firm produce like root vegetables, apples, and carrots. Julienne Cut Definition: The julienne cut is a method of slicing food items into matchstick-shaped sticks. Julienne Cut Size: The julienne cut is 2-3" long and 1/8" wide. What Does the Julienne Cut Look Like? The julienne cut looks like thin, even planks. What Is the Julienne Cut Used For? The julienne cut is used for extra crispy fried potatoes, adding apples and vegetables to salads, and vegetables for Asian noodle stir-fries. How to Julienne Follow these steps for the classic way to julienne foods: Make the produce rectangular by cutting off any rounded ends. Slice the vegetable into 1/8" thick planks. Stack the planks and then slice them lengthwise into 1/8" strips. Trim the 1/8" x 1/8" strips so their length is between 2-3". Short Cut Julienne While the method above is traditional, you’ll waste a lot of the vegetable by squaring it off. Try this shortcut to reduce food waste and save on prep time. Shortcut julienned pieces will be slightly pointed at the base compared to vegetables cut using the classic method. However, the pointed edge can add visual appeal. Slice your vegetable on an extreme bias into 1/8" planks. Stack the 1/8" planks and cut them lengthwise into 1/8" sticks. 3. Mince At just 1/16 ", mincing is the smallest knife cut size without chopping food into a puree or pulp. Aromatic root vegetables like ginger and garlic are the most popular candidates for mincing. Minced vegetables are often used as a seasoning or added to stir-fries and soups where their flavors distribute evenly. Minced aromatics practically dissolve when sauteed, leaving behind their strong flavor and aroma. Additionally, chefs mince their garnishes to create artful plating presentations. Mince Cut Definition: Mincing is the finest level of dicing and creates the maximum flavor dispersion. Mince Cut Size: The mince cut size is 1/16". What Does the Mince Cut Look Like? The mince cut looks almost granular. What Is the Mince Cut Used For? The mince cut is used to prepare aromatics for seasonings, stir-fries, and soups. Garnishes are minced for plating presentations. How to Mince While these steps can be used on any vegetable, we’ve chosen to explain the mincing process with carrots. Carrots are the standard vegetable culinary schools use to teach knife skills. Start by julienning your carrots. Form your fingers into a claw and anchor the julienned carrots to the cutting board. Slice the julienned carrots into the smallest pieces you can achieve, aiming for 1/16". Retract your fingers as you slice. If desired, run your knife through the carrot pieces to make them even smaller. 4. Chiffonade Chefs use the chiffonade knife technique to cut leafy greens and aromatic herbs into long, thin strips. The official translation for the French word chiffonade is rags, but don’t let that deceive you. The chiffonade knife cut creates beautiful curling strips that resemble ribbons. Garnish pizzas and pasta with ribbons of basil or create a gourmet salad by cutting different types of greens in the chiffonade style. Chiffonade Cut Definition: Chiffonade is a French cooking technique for slicing herbs and leafy green vegetables into long, thin strips. Chiffonade Cut Size: The chiffonade cut creates 1/8" strips. What Does the Chiffonade Cut Look Like? The chiffonade cut looks like ribbons of leafy greens. What Is the Chiffonade Cut Used For? The chiffonade cut is used for garnishing pasta, topping pizza, and creating artful salads. How to Chiffonade Cut Wash and dry the leafy greens. Lay them flat on top of each other on your cutting board. Roll your stack of greens together. Slice your greens widthwise. Cut through your greens quickly to minimize bruising and discoloration. 5. Chop Chopping is slicing vegetables into small pieces of the same relative size, making it the easiest knife cut. Chefs rely on the fast and simple chopping method for recipes where the appearance and texture of the ingredients don’t matter. The classic cooking base, mirepoix, and purees use chopped vegetables. Chop Cut Definition: When it comes to cooking, chopping is a generic term for cutting bite-sized pieces of food. Chop Cut Size: The chop cut size is self-determined. What Does the Chop Cut Look Like? The chop cut looks like non-uniform, relatively even-sized pieces. What Is the Chop Cut Used For? The chop cut is used for mirepoix and preparing ingredients for pureeing. How to Chop Wash and dry the produce. Peel them if necessary. Decide how large you want your pieces to be. Cut the produce into similarly sized pieces. Back to Top 6. Brunoise Brunoise is a French word that translates to tiny cubes, and it is the smallest cubed knife cut. An offshoot of the julienne, chefs set their julienne pieces side by side and then dice them into 1/8" cubes. Precision is key, or your brunoise cut will become a mince. Chefs favor the brunoise cut for their soups, stews, and stocks, but also use it to create garnishes. Brunoise Cut Definition: The brunoise cut is the smallest form of the dice cut and is derived from the julienne cut. Brunoise Cut Size: 1/8 x 1/8". What Does the Brunoise Cut Look Like? The brunoise cut looks like tiny cubes. What Is the Brunoise Cut Used For? The brunoise cut is used for soups, stews, stocks, and garnishes. How to Brunoise Start with a julienne cut item. Cross-cut the julienne horizontally into 1/8" equal-sided cubed pieces. 7. Rondelle Rondelle, which means round, are coin-like pieces cut from cylindrical or conical vegetables. It is one of the easiest classic knife cuts to achieve. Typical candidates for the rondelle cut are cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, and eggplant. Because rondelle mirrors the shape of the product, there aren’t precise dimensions for this cut. However, the rondelle pieces must be uniform and have the same thickness. Most chefs cut their rondelle slices between 1/8 to 1/2" thick. Produce cut into the rondelle shape is perfect for roasting, sauteing, and raw consumption. For variety, you can adjust how you perform the rondelle cut. Achieve coin-like rondelle pieces by slicing your vegetable straight. If you want to create an oval rondelle cut, slice the vegetable on a 45-degree bias. For a pretty plating presentation, use a channel knife to carve 6 stripes along the length of your vegetable before slicing it to yield star-shaped pieces. Rondelle Cut Definition: The rondelle cut slices round or oval-shaped food items into coin-like pieces. Rondelle Cut Size: The rondelle cut is 1/8- to 1/2" thick and its height corresponds to the product it's cut from. What Does the Rondelle Cut Look Like? Depending on whether you cut it straight or on a bias, the rondelle cut looks coin-like or oval. What Is the Rondelle Cut Used For? The rondelle cut is used for vegetable roasts, sauteed vegetables, veggie trays, and salads. How to Rondelle Cut Follow these steps to achieve the rondelle knife cut: Wash your produce and peel it (if necessary). For round rondelle slices, cut the vegetable straight down into uniform circles of your desired thickness (between 1/8 and 1/2"). For oval rondelle slices, cut your vegetable at a 45-degree angle into your desired thickness (between 1/8 and 1/2"). For decorative rondelle slices, use a channel knife to carve stripes into your vegetable before slicing it. 8. Batonnet The batonnet cut, which means baton or stick in French, produces thick, rectangular vegetable sticks. The measurements for the batonnet cut are 1/4" x 1/4" by 2 to 2-1/2". Chefs favor the batonnet cut for vegetable presentations since they’re easier to handle and hardier than the classic julienne cut. Slice your vegetables into an attractive batonnet shape to elevate your charcuterie board or slide batonnet sticks into a charcuterie cone for a trendy, portable appetizer. Batonnet Cut Definition: Batonnet is a French term that translates to small stick, so when chefs use the batonnet cutting method, they are slicing food items into small, square sticks. Batonnet Cut Size: The batonnet cut size is 1/4" x 1/4" x 2-2-1/2". What Does the Batonnet Cut Look Like? The batonnet cut looks like thick, squared sticks. What Is the Batonnet Cut Used For? The batonnet cut is used for charcuterie boards, French fries, stir-fries, and veggie platters. How to Batonnet Cut Cut off both ends of the item (this is known as topping and tailing). Form the item into a rectangle by squaring off its sides. Cut the rectangular item lengthwise into 1/4" slabs. Stack the 1/4" slabs and slice them into 1/4" strips. Trim the strips to achieve a length between 2-2-1/2". 9. Paysanne Chefs use the paysanne cut to create thin slices of vegetables that mirror their natural shapes. Paysanne is a French term that translates to country-style because it is less precise than other knife cuts used in classic French cooking. The paysanne cut size is 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8". Paysanne Cut Definition: Paysanne, which means country-style in French, is a cutting method used to slice thin, naturally shaped food pieces. Paysanne Cut Size: The paysanne cut is 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8". What Does the Paysanne Cut Look Like? The paysanne cut looks like thin slices of produce that mirror its natural shape. What Is the Paysanne Cut Used For? The paysanne cut is used for dense soups and thick stews. How to Paysanne Cut Since the paysanne cut mirrors the natural shape of the food item, how you’ll use the paysanne cut depends on the vegetable you’re slicing. Paysanne is often used to cut different types of potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery. In our example below, we explain how to paysanne cut carrots. Cut the carrot in half. Cut the thinnest part of the carrot lengthwise into four pieces. Place the four pieces together and position your fingers in a claw atop them, anchoring them to the cutting board. Slice the carrot pieces into small triangles, retreating your clawed fingers as you slice. Slice the thick, second half of the carrot in half, lengthwise. Then, slice the halved pieces lengthwise into 3 long pieces. Place the 6 long pieces next to each other. With your hand in a claw, anchor the carrot pieces to the cutting board and slice them into small pieces. Like before, retreat your clawed fingers as you slice. Repeat with as many carrots as necessary for your recipe. Back to Top While it takes more time, using culinary knife cuts will ensure your dishes cook correctly and create a professional presentation. Sharpen your knives, grab a cutting board, and start practicing the different knife cuts. You can always refer back to this guide whenever you take on a new recipe.