Mastering the Velouté
The velouté is the backbone of refined home cooking. Mastering this allows you to create everything from creamy gravies to complex base sauces for fish and poultry.
Temperature control is your best friend.
Keep your stock cold or at room temperature while adding it to the hot roux to prevent the flour from clumping. If the roux is too hot, it will seize the flour; if the stock is boiling, you risk steam burns and uneven thickening.
- Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- Balloon whisk
- Fine-mesh sieve
What goes in.
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 2 cupslight chicken or fish stock, room temperature
- to tastefine sea salt
Cooking out the starch
You must cook the butter and flour together for at least three minutes. You are looking for a gentle foam and a smell like toasted biscuits, which ensures the sauce won't taste like raw flour.
The method.
Melt the butter
Place the saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the butter is melted and foaming, add the flour.
Create the roux
Whisk the butter and flour constantly for 3 to 4 minutes. Stop when the color shifts from white to a pale golden blonde.
Incorporate the stock
Add a quarter-cup of stock while whisking vigorously to incorporate. Once smooth, add the remaining stock in a steady stream.
Simmer and refine
Bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook for another 10 minutes, skimming any foam that rises to the surface.
Strain
Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl to ensure the texture is entirely smooth.
Other turns to take.
Sauce Allemande
Whisk a mixture of egg yolks and heavy cream into the finished velouté off the heat.
Sauce Suprême
Finish the chicken velouté with a splash of heavy cream and a knob of cold butter.
When it doesn't go to plan.
If lumps form, do not panic; pull the pan off the heat and whisk violently, or use an immersion blender to smooth it out.
Always use a cold or room-temperature liquid; hot stock and hot roux are a recipe for lumpy sauce.
A velouté should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to coat a spoon; add more stock if it tightens too much as it cools.
The ones that keep coming up.
How do I know when the roux is done?
The transition is subtle. The mixture will go from pasty and white to a loose, bubbling foam that smells toasted rather than raw.
Can I make this in advance?
Yes, but place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the sauce while it cools to prevent a skin from forming.
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