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Sauces and condiments

The only cooks in the civilized world are French cooks. . . . Other nations understand food in general; the French alone understand cooking, because all their qualities - promptitude, decision, tact - are employed in the art. No foreigner can make a good white sauce. Roqueplan, La Vie parisienne (1853)

France is the undisputed world champion when it comes to sauces.
‘Sauces are the splendor and the glory of French cooking’ as Julia Child says. The Larousse Gastronomique lists pages and pages of them, including endless variations on the famous Five Mother Sauces of French Cuisine, plus all the ‘orphans’.

I’ve included the ones you’re most likely to encounter or else this app would be twice as long! Everyone I know agrees on one thing: since French sauces are so good, why are restaurant chefs often so stingy with them? Why is there only a thin little zigzag or three arty drops of a delicious something on the side of dish so small you can barely taste it? Why?

aïoli

garlic sauce of the south

anchoïade

anchovy sauce or paste served on toast

Baume de Bouteville

French balsamic vinegar

béchamel

classic white sauce

beurre blanc

classic fish sauce

chatini

Creolo chutney

chaud-froid

prepared hot, served cold

cinq sauces mères

Escoffier’s five mother sauces

court-bouillon

bouillon for poaching seafood

demi-glace

‘half glaze’ sauce

fond de veau

veal stock

fond de volaille

chicken stock

forestière

creamy mushroom sauce

fumet

concentrated fish stock

Grand-Veneur

wine sauce for game dishes

harissa

spicy sauce from Tunisia

hollandaise

a base for so many others

houmous

hummus

huile

oil

marchand de vin

wine and shallot sauce

mayonnaise

a French invention

ménagère

home style sauce

meunière

brown butter, lemon juice and parsley

mousseline

foamy savoury sauce

moutarde

mustard

moutarde violette de Brive

spicy grape must mustard

nage

‘in the swim’

Nantua

crayfish sauce

Patrelle

savoury food colouring

pebronata

a tomato-based sauce or stew

rémoulade

mustard mayonnaise sauce

rougail

spicy condiment or stew

rouille

garlicky sauce to go with fish soup

roux

flour and fat for thickening sauces

sabayon

whipped egg yolks and white wine

sauce aigre doux

sweet and sour sauce

sauce allemande

‘German’ white sauce

sauce américaine

lobster sauce

sauce banquière

Madeira and truffle sauce

sauce béarnaise

daughter of hollandaise

sauce bordelaise

rich wine sauce

sauce chasseur

a popular sauce with rabbit dishes

sauce dijonnaise

creamy mustard sauce

sauce espagnole

‘Spanish’ tomato sauce

sauce gribiche

cold hard boiled egg sauce

sauce lyonnaise

onion and beef sauce

sauce madère

Madiera sauce

sauce Marie-Rose

popular with seafood

sauce poivrade

pepper sauce

sauce Périgueux

truffle sauce

sauce robert

brown mustard sauce

sauce suprême

creamy sauce for poultry

sauce tartare

tartar sauce

sauce tomate

one of the five ‘mother sauces’

sauce Vincent

caper and anchovy sauce

sauce vénitienne

green sauce for seafood

sauce à la moutarde

creamy mustard sauce

saupiquet

wine and cream sauce

soubise

onion sauce

tapenade

olive paste

velouté

thick creamy soup or sauce

verjus

verjuice

vinaigre

vinegar

Text © Dana Facaros

Image by erichbauer0