Velouté / Espagnole (Stock to Roux)

10

white or brown stock (as appropriate) — Velouté: well-clarified veal, chicken, or fish stock. Espagnole: rich brown veal or beef stock, preferably already lightly gelatinous

1

roux (equal parts fat + flour, cooked) — Velouté: blonde roux (5–8 min cook, pale gold). Espagnole: brown roux (15–20 min cook, mahogany). Both: 1:1 fat-to-flour by weight

~15% of stock weight

mirepoix (Espagnole only) — Onion, carrot, celery in 2:1:1 ratio; sautéed until caramelized before adding to the Espagnole

~5% of stock weight

tomato purée or paste (Espagnole only) — Adds color, acidity, and body to Espagnole; not used in velouté which should remain pale

1 per batch

bouquet garni — Parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf; removed before straining

VELOUTÉ: Bring white stock to a simmer. Whisk hot stock into a blonde roux (or roux into stock) in three stages, whisking after each addition. Simmer gently 20–30 minutes, skimming impurities and fat frequently, until the sauce has reduced by ~20% and coats a spoon. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve or chinois. ESPAGNOLE: Sauté mirepoix in fat until well caramelized. Add tomato purée and cook out 2 minutes. Add brown roux, then warm brown stock gradually, whisking to prevent lumps. Add bouquet garni. Simmer 1–1.5 hours, skimming constantly; the sauce should reduce by roughly one third. Strain through a fine chinois pressing the solids. Cool quickly and refrigerate; skim congealed fat before use.

• Quality of the stock is everything — a thin, under-flavored stock produces a thin, flavorless sauce regardless of how precisely you hit the ratio.
• Add stock to roux gradually and always hot; adding cold stock to a hot roux, or stock all at once, causes lumps that are difficult to remove without straining.
• Skim obsessively during simmering: Espagnole in particular releases large quantities of fat and impurities from the mirepoix and marrow-rich bones; a lazy skim yields a greasy sauce.
• The 10:1 ratio produces a medium sauce; for a coating sauce reduce to 8:1; for a thick sauce for soufflé or croquette bases reduce to 5:1 (same as thick béchamel logic).
• Cool rapidly and refrigerate overnight — skimming the solidified fat cap the next day produces a cleaner result than skimming a hot moving sauce.

• Sauce suprême (from volaille velouté)

  Chicken velouté finished with heavy cream and butter; enriched derivative, served with poached chicken or sweetbreads

• Sauce Allemande / parisienne (from veau velouté)

  Veal velouté reduced with egg yolks and cream (liaison); lighter and more unctuous than the base velouté; historical predecessor of suprême

• Sauce vin blanc (from poisson velouté)

  Fish velouté reduced with white wine and shallots, finished with butter; the base for classic sole preparations

• Demi-glace (from Espagnole)

  Espagnole reduced 50% with additional brown stock; intensely gelatinous, the ancestor of all modern brown butter sauces and restaurant 'jus'

• Sauce Robert (from Espagnole)

  Espagnole with white wine, onion, mustard; classic accompaniment to pork chops

• Sauce Bordelaise (from demi-glace)

  Demi-glace with red wine, shallots, and marrow; the canonical steak sauce of French bistro tradition

• Roux (Equal Parts Fat to Flour by Weight)

  The upstream preparation — the roux component of both velouté and Espagnole

• Béchamel (Roux to Milk)

  Same roux arithmetic applied to milk instead of stock; milk produces a white sauce, stock a savory thickened sauce

• Stock (Bone to Water Ratio)

  The quality of the stock feeding into this ratio determines the ceiling of the finished sauce's flavor

1. 1.Le Guide Culinaire — Auguste Escoffier
2. 2.Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making — James Peterson
3. 3.Larousse Gastronomique — Prosper Montagné (ed.)
4. 4.The Professional Chef, 9th ed. — The Culinary Institute of America
5. 5.French Provincial Cooking — Elizabeth David

Confidence: high