Velouté sauce
Encyclopedia
A velouté sauce, pronounced və.lu.te, along with Allemande
, Béchamel, and Espagnole
, is one of the sauces of French cuisine
that were designated the four "mother sauces" by Antonin Carême in the 19th century. The French chef Auguste Escoffier
later classified tomato
, mayonnaise
, and Hollandaise mother sauces as well. The term velouté is from the French adjectival form of velour, meaning velvet
y.
In preparing a velouté sauce, a light stock (one in which the bones used have not been previously roasted), such as chicken, veal or fish stock, is thickened with a blond roux
. Thus the ingredients of a velouté are equal parts by mass butter and flour to form the roux, a light chicken, veal, or fish stock, and salt and pepper for seasoning. Commonly the sauce produced will be referred to by the type of stock used e.g. chicken velouté.
Allemande sauce
Allemande sauce is a sauce in French cuisine that is based on velouté sauce, but thickened with egg yolks and heavy cream, and seasoned with lemon juice...
, Béchamel, and Espagnole
Espagnole sauce
In cooking, espagnole sauce is one of the mother sauces that are the basis of sauce-making in classic French cooking. In the late 19th century, Auguste Escoffier codified the recipe, which is still followed today....
, is one of the sauces of French cuisine
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
that were designated the four "mother sauces" by Antonin Carême in the 19th century. The French chef Auguste Escoffier
Auguste Escoffier
Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine...
later classified tomato
Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
, mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
, and Hollandaise mother sauces as well. The term velouté is from the French adjectival form of velour, meaning velvet
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...
y.
In preparing a velouté sauce, a light stock (one in which the bones used have not been previously roasted), such as chicken, veal or fish stock, is thickened with a blond roux
Roux
Roux is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Clarified butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a...
. Thus the ingredients of a velouté are equal parts by mass butter and flour to form the roux, a light chicken, veal, or fish stock, and salt and pepper for seasoning. Commonly the sauce produced will be referred to by the type of stock used e.g. chicken velouté.
Derived sauces
Sauce velouté is often served on poultry or seafood dishes, and is used as the base for other sauces. Sauces derived from a velouté sauce include:- Sauce Vin Blanc: By adding white wine and heavy cream to fish velouté.
- Albufera SauceAlbufera SauceAlbufera sauce is a small compound sauce. It has as its base the mother sauce velouté. Escoffier gives a recipe in Le Guide culinaire which consists of a base of Suprême Sauce to which is added meat glaze in order to lend the latter an ivory-white tint which characterizes it. It is served...
: Addition of meat glazeMeat glazeMeat glaze, French: Glace de viande, is a dark brown, gelatinous, flavouring agent used in food preparation. It is obtained by reducing brown stock through evaporation by slow heating. Its high viscosity and salt content gives it an unusually long shelf-life....
glace de viande. - Allemande sauceAllemande sauceAllemande sauce is a sauce in French cuisine that is based on velouté sauce, but thickened with egg yolks and heavy cream, and seasoned with lemon juice...
: By adding a few drops of lemon juice, egg yolks, and cream - Bercy: ShallotShallotThe shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...
s, white wineWineWine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, lemon juice and parsley added to a fish velouté - Poulette: Mushrooms finished with chopped parsley and lemon juice
- Aurora: Tomato purée
- Hungarian: Onion, paprika, white wine
- Sauce ravigoteSauce ravigoteSauce ravigote is a classic, lightly acidic sauce in French cuisine, which may be prepared either warm or cold. The warm sauce is based upon velouté, cut with white wine vinegar, though not classically with Dijon mustard as it is universally nowadays, and the cold is a vinaigrette based on a meat...
: The addition of a little lemon or white wine vinegar creates a lightly acidic velouté that is traditionally flavored with onions and shallots, and more recently with mustard. - Normandy: Mushroom cooking liquid and oyster liquid or fish fumet added to fish velouté, finished with a liaison of egg yolks and cream
- Suprême sauceSuprême sauceSuprême sauce is one of the classic "small sauces" of French cuisine, that is, one made by combining a basic or mother sauce with extra ingredients.-Recipes:...
: By adding a reduction of mushroomMushroomA mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
liquor (produced in cooking) and cream to a chicken velouté - Venetian sauceVenetian sauceVenetian sauce is a classical French herb sauce used to accompany fish. It consists of:* a velouté and fish fumet base* equal quantities of tarragon vinegar and white wine reduced with:* chopped shallots and chervil...
: TarragonTarragonTarragon or dragon's-wort is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae related to wormwood. Corresponding to its species name, a common term for the plant is "dragon herb". It is native to a wide area of the Northern Hemisphere from easternmost Europe across central and eastern Asia to India,...
, shallots, chervilChervilChervil is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. Sometimes called garden chervil, it is used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture fines herbes.-Biology:...