Mother sauces, in 2026

I. Béchamel — still in daily use

Butter, flour, milk. The most useful sauce in the European kitchen and one of the most frequently made badly. Cold milk into warm roux. Whisk continuously. Season with salt, white pepper, fresh nutmeg. Foundation of lasagna, moussaka, croque monsieur, soufflé, gratin dauphinois, mac and cheese.

II. Velouté and Hollandaise

Velouté: butter, flour, light stock. Most practical application is chicken velouté from pan drippings. Hollandaise: emulsified butter sauce from egg yolks, clarified butter, lemon, salt. Unstable but pleasurable. Blender method is foolproof and most cannot distinguish it from classic.

III. Espagnole, demi-glace, and tomat

Espagnole and demi-glace take most of a day and can be purchased in acceptable commercial form. Buy the tub. Sauce Tomat of the classical canon has been simplified into a well-made tomato sauce in modern kitchens. The classical exists in history. The simple exists in kitchens.

Recipe — Béchamel

Camille Laurent · Lyon · makes ~2 cups · 10 minutes · medium heat

• 2 cups
• 3:3 butter:flour
• 2 c cold milk
• 10 min

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk, cold
• Salt, white pepper, fresh nutmeg

The method

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, whisk constantly 2 minutes — pale yellow, faintly nutty.
2. Remove from heat. Add cold milk all at once, whisking vigorously. Return to medium heat.
3. Cook whisking constantly, reaching corners of the pan, until thickened — about 5 minutes.
4. Season with salt, white pepper, fresh nutmeg.
5. Use immediately or press plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent skin.

About the contributor

Camille Laurent

Camille Laurent writes about classical French cooking and its contemporary relevance from Lyon, France. She trained at a restaurant where the chef made béchamel every week for forty years.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the roux. Three stages: blanc (béchamel), blond (velouté), brun (espagnole). Same ingredients, different cooking time. Learn the colour at each stage.

A note on the nutmeg. Half the amount you think is correct. Pre-ground is inferior — volatile aromatics dissipate within weeks of grinding.

A note on the white pepper. Not black. Visible speckles in a white sauce read as «burnt bits» even when not. The flavour is also slightly different.

A note on the chef. Forty years of béchamel, one comment about it: «C'est correct.» The standard was clear. The reverence was for the standard, not for the sauce.

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