Hollandaise is one of the five mother sauces, and a great topping on eggs benedict.  But there are many well known ways to slightly change hollandaise to create a different sauce.

Bavaroise- made with crayfish butter, cream and crayfish meat, common on fish

Bearnaise- Tarragon reduction, fresh tarragon and chevril, common on grilled meat

Choron- Bearnaise with tomato added, commonly served with meat and poultry

Foyot- Bearnaise with Demi-Glace, common on Meats and Offal (oragans)

Maltaise- Hollandaise with blood oranges, (some suggest adding orange zest also) commonly paired with asparagus

Mousseline- Hollandaise with heavy cream, common on fish and asparagus

Paloise- Hollandaise with mint reduction and fresh mint, common on grilled meats

Royal- Equal parts Veloute, hollandaise and whipped heavy cream, common with poached poultry and fish.

Baisc Hollandaise Recipe:

4 egg yolks
12 oz melted butter
2 Tbsp white wine vinigar
lemon juice
salt
peppercorns

1.  Reduce white wine vinigar with cracked peppercorns, by about 3/4 the volume.  Let cool
2.  Add egg yolks to the reduction, and whish over a double broiler.  Remove from heat if mixture is gettign to warm.  When egg yolks triple in volume stop whisking.
3.  Slowly add butter, if hte sauce starts to break add a small aplash of water to it.  If the sauce gets to thick add a splash of lemon juice. 
4.  Finish the sauce to taste with salt, pepper, or cayanne.  Or make another type of sauce form it.

When making Bearnaise, Choron, or Foyot sauce add the tarragon to the vinagar before making the sauce.  Add mint to the vinagar before making Paloise.

Bordelaise- Flavor with bone marrow, red wine, and shallots- commonly used with red meats, In New Orleans bordelaise is commonly made with garlic, parsley, shallots, olive oil and butter.  Escoffier suggests shallots, red wine and mignonette powder, with thyme and bayleaf reduced, then glace is added.  With a suggested finishing of lemon juice and bone marrow, dding but will make the sauce smoother but less clear.

Bourguignonne- Red wine, shallots, thyme, parsley, mushrooms, finished with butter and cayenne, common on beef, eggs on some dishes, more common with beef and egg noodles.  Means made in Burgundy, according to the Food Lover's Companion the sauce is made by braising meat in red wine with small mushrooms and onions
 




Deviled Sauce- Shallots and white wine, reduced, and glace and reduce more, add cayanne pepper.  Common with game fowl. Spicy sauce

Sauce Diable Escoffier- Finish deviled sauce with an equal part butter, Common with fish and grilled foods.
Spicy sauce


Financiere (called Perigueux in Escoffier)-Madiera and truffles, Common with beef.  Means Bankers style



Madiera- Glace, and Madiera wine


Mushroom- Mushrooms and butter, common with beef, veal and poultry

Piquante Sauce- Shallots, vinagar, white wine, reduced, add glace, skim, finish with capers, chopped gherkins (tiny cucumber commonly made into pickle), chevril, parsley, tarragon.  Serve with beef, tongue, and pork



Rouennaise- Prepare a Bordelaise Sauce, (Shallots, red wine, thyme, bayleaf, bone marrow) then add duck livers passed through a sieve to puree.  Do not let the sauce boil or cook for a long period of time.  Serve with duck.

While originally brown sauces were espagnole and demi-glace, now they have expanded to include jus lie, pan sauces, and brown stock reductions. 

To make espagnole you should make a brown veal stock, then add more roasted mirepoix, and aromatics (like a bouquet garni) and thicken it with a roux.  Demi-glace is a mixture of half espagnole and half brown stock that is reduced by half to create a thick.  Jus lies are brown sauce reductions thickened with a starch slurry.  Pan sauces are like gravy, made with the drippingsin the bottom of the pan. 

The most important step in making brown sauce is to create a high quality stock. 

Step 1:  Brown the Bones and mirepoix

Step 2:  Deglaze the pan and use the deglazing liquid in the pot to simmer the bones and mirepoix.

Step 3:  Simmer the stock.

Step 4:  Add Aromatics to stock, Skim, placing pot off center of the burner will help impurities coolect to one side of the pot. 

Step 5:  Strain stock, return to light simmer if needs to be reduced more.

Step 6:  Thicken sauce with desired thickening agent

Tips:  When storing sauce put plastic wrap on the surface of the sauce, this will prevent a thick film from forming on the top of the sauce. 

Many sauces can be created from this sauce.  Commom derivatives, flavor profiles, and common pairings of Brown Sauce to be posted soon on a seperate link. 

A stock is a flavorful liquid prepared by simmering bones, shells, or vegetables in water until the water takes on the flavors, smells, and color of the simmered ingredients. In France they are sometimes called Fonds du Cuisine, the "foundation of cooking." There are three basic types of stocks, white, brown, and fumets.

White stocks are made by adding all the ingredients of the stock into cold water and slowly bringing them to a simmer. This kind of stock goes best when adding to cream sauces or when a light colored subtly flavored stock is needed. To avoid the stock from getting cloudy you should blanche the bones first.

Brown stocks are made by browning the bones and mirepoix, commonly in the oven or stove top, before adding them to the water.(for small batches it is easier to heat bones on stove, larger batches are quicker in the oven) Brown stocks will have a stronger flavor then white stocks. One source claims that if a brown stock is made starting with cold water and not allowed to boil the broth will still remain clear.

Fumets are made by sweating the main ingredients of the stock before simmering, (most of the time the ingredients are simmered in white wine.

What kinds of bones should you use? Bones of young animals have more cartilage and connective tissues, which will break down into gelatin and give the stock body. Knuckle, back and neck bones are great for stock too. Thaw bones before simmering them into stock, cutting bones into 3 inch pieces will help speed the process up. Bones should be rinsed to wash away blood and impurities that can ruin the stock.

DO NOT LET THE STOCK BOIL it will dispense the fat and make a greasy tasting stock. You can cool the stock and when the fat solidifies on the top remove it the next day. Always start with cold water when making a stock, to prevent the starches on the vegetables surface from expanding.

Add a sachet or bouquet garni to the stock to add more flavor. Some people choose not to tie the boquet or sachet since they are going to strain the stock when its finished, but tying the bouquet makes it easier to remove if the herbs begin to impart to much flavor.

Another way to make the stock darker and richer in flavor is to add tomato paste to the browned ingredients. Red wine can be used to deglaze the pan that the browned ingredients are cooked in. Trimming and dried mushrooms can also be added to add more flavor to the stock.

Stock pots are the tallest pots in the kitchen, this is so they have less surface area on the flame to reduce the amount of evaporation. Keep a ladle or skimmer ready to remove impurities throughout the cooking process. For larger batches a kitchen may decide to invest in a tilting kettle, but expect to pay $10-20 thousand for one. Cheesecloth, sieve, or colander will be needed to strain the stock when it is finished. An ice paddle should be used to bring the temperature back down to under 40F in less then 4 hours, as mentioned in Servesafe equirements to prevent food contamination. A cheap way to create an ice paddle is freeze a 2 liter soda bottle 3/4 filled with water (not recommended in institutional use). Or separate the stock into numerous small containers for quick cooling. If bubbles appear in a refrigerated stock dispose of it, it is contaminated.

Remouillage is French for rewetting, it means to use the bones and mirepoix again after it has already been used to make stock.

Glace is the term for a highly reduced stock and will have a cooled consistency of gelatin.

Commercial bases are a common way many places make their stocks or add stronger flavor to handmade stocks. I remember when reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain mentioning adding bouillion cubes to his stock in culinary school and no one understanding how he could get so much more flavor out of the bones. Some bases are highly reduced forms of stock, some are powders or cubes. Check the ingredients for any being used, some bases are very high in sodium and some contain few real base ingredients.

Basic Meat stock recipe: yield one gallon
8 lbs of bones and trimming
1 gallon cold water
1 lb mirepoix
1 bouquet garni

1. decide if you want white or brown stock
2. For brown stock lightly oil the pan, add bones and mirepoix to pan and roast at 425F for 30 minutes. (omit this step for white stock)
3. Place bones and mirepoix in stock pot of cold water, deglaze pan with water or red wine, bring pot to a light simmer.
4. Simmer the pot for 1 hour.
5. Skim, strain and cool

Clarified butter is made by melting butter and removing the milk solids and water. To do this first melt the unsalted butter over low heat and let it separate. Then skim off the foam floating on top of the butter. After that ladle out the top layer of the butter leaving the water and milk solids in the bottom of the pan. The clarified butter or butterfat is the top layer that is clear. If you start with a pound of butter you will roughly get 3/4lb of clarified butter.

Clarified butter is used because of its higher burn temperature. Regular butter will burn at approximately 250F. The burn temperature of clarified butter is closer to 400F, making it more suitable for high temperature cooking like sauteing.

Another book mentions heating the butter over low heat and letting the water in the butter evaporate out. When the water is evaporated out chill the bottom of the pan to harden the milk solids and pour out the clarified butter, (through a strainer or cheesecloth to prevent any milk solids from mixing into the clarified butter). This method will require attention though due to the low burn temperature of butter.

Other common uses for clarified butter are in hollandaise sauce (depending on the chef) and bearnaise.

In Asian and Indian cuisines ghee is often made. To make ghee heat one pound of butter on low heat. Keep heating until the water in the butter evaporates out leaving a bottom layer of brown milk solids and the butterfat is a golden color. Separate the butterfat and milk solids with cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer. This will add a nutty flavor to the butterfat.

The French version of ghee is called beurre noisette or brown butter. Melt butter over medium low heat (works great in a pan already used to cook fish), and cook until butter becomes light brown while stirring to help it cook evenly. This sauce is commonly used on fish and vegetables. To make beurre noir or black butter cook until butter turns dark brown.

There are a few possible ways to thicken a sauce, soup, or stock each having their own advantages and disadvantages.

One way is to make a roux. A roux is a blend of flour and a fat that is heated up and added to the liquid. Clarified butter is usually the most suggested type of fat used, but regular butter, oils, and rendered animal fats may be used. The mixture of 3 parts flour, 2 parts fat (many other books suggest equal ratios) should be heated in a suate pan to the desired color. A white or lightly cooked roux will thicken the sauce more then a darker roux, but will leave a more floury flavor. Cooking the roux darker will add a more nutty aroma and flavor, and can change the color of the sauce. A white roux would be better used in a sauce like bechemel or veloute. A brown roux which is cooked until it turns dark is commonly used in Cajun/creole cooking in dishes like gumbo.
The flour used also can impact how the roux will thicken, cake flour (higher starch to protein) will thicken more than bread flour. All-purpose flour is a mixture of the two and is the most commonly used. It is suggested to add a hot roux to a cold sauce, or to add a hot sauce to a cold roux (to avoid lumping). Avoid adding hot roux to a hot liquid, since it may splash and cause burns. Also, when adding roux the sauce will need to be stirred until thickened. Roux can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the freezer, freezing the roux in ice cube trays may help measure for consistency. 2 ice cubes with one tablespoon each of roux will thicken one cup of liquid. After the roux is added and the sauce is heated and thickened it is suggested to skim the sauce to remove impurities in the flour.
If fat floats on top of the flour, the roux has separated, throw out the roux and start over.

A beurre manie is mixture of equal parts flour and butter, kneaded together, so as the butter melts it mixes with the flour, and slowly thickens the sauce as you add more.

Another way to thicken a sauce or soup is to create a starch slurry. Corn starch is the most commonly used, but arrowroot, tapioca, rice flour, and potato starch can also be used. Corn starch is translucent, thickens when heated, but can gel when cooled, too much heat will reduce its thickening abilities. Arrowroot has the same thickening power as cornstarch, but will not gel when cooled, also will hold up better to heat for a longer period of time. Tapioca flour stronger then cornstarch, available at Asian grocery stores. Potato starch is the strongest of the starches, but costs more. Rice flour is the weakest of the starches, can be frozen, but can be expensive. Disadvantages also include that starches do not thicken with acidic sauces and a skin will form over chilled dairy sauces.

Liaison is a mixture of egg yolks and cream used to slightly thicken sauces and add a smooth texture, bold flavor, and a slight ivory color. Cream and eggs (8 oz cream to three egg yolks) are whisked together, this raises the cooking temperature of the eggs. After mixing the eggs and cream gradually add the hot sauce to the egg mixture while constantly. This process is called tempering and is done to prevent the egg from cooking. When about 1/3 of the sauce is mixed in the egg bowl you can dump the egg/sauce mixture into the pot with the rest of the sauce and whisk. Be careful not to let the sauce get over 185F or the eggs will curdle ruining the sauce. Flour in the sauce can help reduce the eggs from cooking in the sauce also. If the sauce gets to hot you can try to save it by placing the put in an ice bath to quickly bring the temperature down, whisk in more cream, you can also try to straining the sauce. Sauces in aluminum pots containing egg yolks can turn grey.

If the sauce is chunky try pureeing the sauce to thicken it.

File powder will also help thicken a gumbo, but should be added after the gumbo is removed from heat, and does not reheat well, so should be added right before gumbo is served.

Before adding a roux or starch to a stock always skim the fat off the top, once the roux or starch bounds to the fat in the stock it will be impossible to skim the fat out.

Gums like guar, xanthan, tara, carob, tragacanth, and arabic gums can also be used. Guar gum (E-412) is a powder made from the seeds of the leguminous plant. It is soluble in cold water and still works as a thickener under the use of high heat. Xanthan gum (E-415) is a powder produced from fermented cornstarch with bacteria from cabbage. It can resist thawing and freezing, is soluable in hot or cold water, stable in acids, and gels when mixed with equal parts carob gum. Carob gum (E-410) main use is to add elasticity to gels made with agar and carrageenans to help them avoid cracking. Tragacanth gum (E-413) is a thickener that works with acidic foods. Arabic gum (E-414) also called acacia gum or Senegal gum, is a weakest of the gum thickeners but can also be used to help emulsify essential oils into soft drinks.
The (E-NUMBER) is the European code for the elements found in food.

Mirepoix is similar to bouquets, sachets and oignon brules in the fact that they are used to added subtle flavors to enhance a dish. One chef I used to work with claimed this was the necessary start to every soup in order for it to taste balanced. A miropoix is usually a blend of aromatic vegetables, most commonly a mixture of 2 parts onion, and 1 part each of celery and carrot. This mixture is sometimes changed to include leeks, parsnips, tomatos, garlic, mushrooms, shallots, peppers, and ginger.

A pound of mirepoix is usually enough to add flavor to one gallon of stock.

Different styles and regional cooking can require a different style of mirepoix. When making a white sauce you may wish to use a white vegetable mirepoix of 2 parts onion, 1 part celery root and one part parsnips. In Asian dishes you may want to have a mirepoix of 2 parts ginger, 2 parts garlic, and 1 part scallion. The cajun trinity is 2 parts onion, 1 part pepper, and one part celery.

After cleaning the vegetables, you can decide whether or not you wish to peel them. Onion skins can give the liquid a yellowish orange tint. Scrubbing, and not peeling the vegetables can reduce prep time. Cut the vegetables in uniform sizes based on the cooking time of the dish, if the dish is cooking for a short time a smaller mirepoix will be necessary to extract the necessary flavors. Large cut vegetalbe are best for dishes like pot roast and demi-glace.

CIA suggests starting with suating the onions, then the carrots in fat like butter (Italian versions use olive oil and are called soffrito). Once the onions and carrots are starting to sweat or turning brown add the celery. If you place a lid on the pot while sweating the mirepoix it is a technique called smothering. Some recipes suggests adding tomato paste to the mirepoix after it has been sweating to add flavor and color. If adding tomato paste cook until the paste starts to turn brown. This technique is called pincage, which means to stiffen or pinch.

Chef Daniel Boulud suggests using a mirepoix when braising meats. The mirepoix is seared with the meats, then pan roast it until its lightly carmelized. After the dish has been pan roast to carmelize the dish is drain of fats, flour added, and then the dish is cooked in red wine or other braising liquid.

Bouquet garni, sachets, and oignon brules are herb, vegetable, and spice mixtures commonly used to add flavor and aromatics to stocks, sauces, and soups.

The Bouquet garni is commonly made with a sprig of thyme, parsley stems, a bay leaf, 2 or 3 leek leaves, and a celery stalk. After cleaning the leeks, lay them down and place the other ingredients on the leeks, roll the leek leaves around the other ingredients and tie them with a piece of string. Tie one end of string to the pot handle and the toss the bouquet garni into the stock, sauce, or soup. Pull it out when you feel enough of the flavor has infused into the dish.
Julia Childs uses a bouquet of just parsley, thyme, and bay leaf then wraps them in a cheesecloth for easy removal. The Joy of Cooking gives an optional suggestion of using cloves in the bouquet and provides a suggestion if you only have dried herbs available, converted measurement for one bouquet, 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp dried marjoram, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 tsp dried celery leaves. A sachet usually contains spices, herbs, and vegetables. A common sachet includes parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, and garlic cloves. These ingredients are commonly tied up in a cheesecloth for easy removal, but can be added without a cheesecloth if the sauce or stock will be strained. The sachet is basically like a teabag for stocks and other flavors can be added to create new flavors. Also, for beef based stocks in the Provencal tradition orange rind and marjoram is added to the bouquet garni.

CIA suggests adding bouquet garnis and sachets in the last fifteen minutes when making small batches of less then a gallon and an hour before for larger amounts. They also recommend tasting the dish before, and after the bouquet is added to realize the effects the bouquet has on the dish so the flavors do not overwhelm the sauce. James Peterson's book sauces suggests adding to bouquet garni in the last hour of the sauce making process and if the sauce, stock, or soup tastes bland add another bouquet garni at the end of the cooking process to provide more flavor.

The oignon brule, or burnt onion is commonly used in bechemel sauce (cream based mother sauce). But was not used in the bechemel recipe in the CIA textbook. To make a oignon brule, cut an onion in half or quarters depending on how much sauce your making. Quickly char the edges of the onion in a dry skillet or grill. Stick a toothpick through it and add garlic cloves, bay leaf to the onion, then add it to the sauce.

I have decided to put a new focus section on the daily blog, called Back to the Basics. My reason for this is because for many "chefs" there becomes an excitement to cook dishes beyond their skill level. A few months back when I was working full time I took the cookbook Alinea to work with me. Anyone familiar with the Chicago restaurant Alinea, Chef Grant Achatz, or molecular gastronomy will understand why I can comfortably say the book is probably above the abilities of 98% of chefs. Deconstructed dishes, molecular compounds, powders, foams, sous-vide, "caviar" not the fish egg kind, but turning a liquid into a caviar like state by using sodium alginate and calcium lactate, and many other cutting edge cooking techniques. And even though the pictures and ideas in the book are inspiring to look at a general knowledge of your own abilities and limits is necessary when looking at cookbooks. Everyone in the kitchen wanted to change their style of cooking immediately, but there was one problem, some of the cooks in the kitchen still had trouble making a classic vinaigrette and didn't know what a mother sauce was.

I have decided to spend some time everyday going back to study the basics, research skills, tips, and tricks that may help with some of the basics. This is so I can share the most important skills in becoming a chef with everyone, and fill in any gaps from on the job training that I may have. I will use the Culinary Institute of America's book The Professional Chef 8th edition as a basis on the path to follow to guide me on the path on knowing the basics. I will skip the first few chapters of this book on culinary math, identifying products, world cuisine, sanitation, equipment identification, and nutrition for the time being, but will occasionally add a blog about them to.
I am chosing this book based on the reputation that CIA has established for itself, the number of 5 star reviews it has recieved, and the favorable reviews of some of the best chefs in the industry.

I will begin this section of the blog in chapter 14 of the CIA textbook on Stocks, Sauces, and Soups.

Without the Basics you will not be able to become the next great chef, please take your time and learn the skills that I will describe in future posts.