Topic · Sauce Making Fundamentals

Sauce Family Groups

The Sauce family groups comprise of white sauces, brown sauces, cold emulsified sauces, hot emulsified sauces and sweet sauce.

To make good sauces is an art, and you cannot become a Saucier within a few days. A Saucier can be translated into English as Sauce Chef. It is the highest position of the station cooks and the Saucier is still considered subordinate to the Chef and the Sous-chef. I said that to emphasize the degree of complexity in this case.

The definition of a sauce is: “A sauce is a liquid served on or used in the preparation of food, which adds flavor, moisture and visual appeal to a dish.” This liquid should condense flavors that can be used in all sort of dishes, so there are all kind of sauces. Sauces are always made with a flavoring plus adding liquid.

For example the flavoring can be an herb, a wine, an alcohol, a mushroom, an alliaceous, vinegar, a citrus or a fruit; and the liquid can be anything like a stock, a fat, water, milk, a vegetable or fruit juice, etc.

Sauce Family Group	Sauce Names	Common Flavoring Agent	Liquid Base	Main Usage
Cold emulsified sauces	Vinaigrette, Mayonnaise, dressings, thick sauces	Vinegar, lemon, lime, condiments	Oil	Appetizers, salads, cold meats, cold fish
Puree cold sauces	Coulis,	Fruits, vegetables, herbs	Water + chopped fresh Fruits or vegetables or herbs	Garnish appetizer, seafood, meat, deserts
White sauces	Veloute, béchamel	Wine, seasoning, herbs, etc.	White stock, milk	Main courses, egg, appetizers, meat, seafood
Brown sauces	Espagnole, gravy, jus, reduction sauces, tomato	Alcohol, herbs, tomato, wine, mustard, truffles, mushrooms, etc…	Brown stock, espagnole, Demi glace, Glace de viande, tomato	Main courses, egg, appetizers, meat, seafood, pasta
Hot emulsified sauces	Beurre blanc, Hollandaise	Vinegar, citrus , wine (red or white)	Butter	Main courses, egg, appetizers, meat, seafood
Dessert sauces	Coulis, caramel, cooked, custard, crème Anglaise chocolate	Fruit, chocolate, vanilla, liquor, sugar	Fruit, milk, cream	Pastry, dessert, ice cream