Did you know that there are about five to six basic sauces, which actually give birth to the rest of the varieties? Most of you out there might never have imagined a homemade sauce! It’s easier to walk to the grocery for sauces and other condiments and easiest to order online! But wait, there’s nothing more interesting and thrilling than homemade ones.

In culinary art, making sauces is simpler than you could have imagined. Sauces are simply a combination of a liquid, some thickening agents, and flavored ingredients. Be it your Thanksgiving party or a family get-together on Christmas eve, sauces are an inevitable part. The smoky grilled chicken and even the pasta salads need a sauce-dipping or a salad dressing (for the latter).

Let’s get straight into the details of the 5 mother sauces that gift several other secondary sauces to titillate your taste buds!

The Bechamel sauce

Bechamel sauce happens to be the base for most of the white sauces, cream sauces as well as cheese-based sauces. The recipe is simpler than you could have imagined. What's needed is milk, flour, and butter. Heat the milk with a roux (for thickening purposes). Roux is a mixture of flour and fat (one might use oil as a fat source) used as thickening agents. This mixture is then flavored with onion and cloves. Simmer it unless you get that creamy, velvety texture. Enjoy the resultant with your casseroles and baked pasta!

Mayonnaise

This one’s one of the most common names as far as sauces are concerned and when you’re reading this carefully it hints that Mayonnaise is one among your favorites! Homemade mayonnaise is tastier than you will expect while making one. So here's the mayonnaise formula and it's even simpler – 

Take your food processor and take some whole eggs. Process the latter for about 10 mins. Add mustard, vinegar, and salt to get that tingling flavor. Tiny drops of oil should be added slowly. (Be careful, you’ll be in a soup if you are pouring it all at once!)

Taste your mayonnaise. It’s certainly going to be awesome. An extra pinch of salt and/or lemon might be added to make things perfect. This is the classic mayonnaise – fresh herbs, roasted garlic, curry powder, or chipotle could be for some extra fun!

Hollandaise

This one’s a popular one, it’s specialty being – it's purely buttery! The egg is the primary ingredient and all you need is 2 egg yolks, lemon juice (1/4th of a lemon), salt, cayenne pepper, and salted butter. The egg yolks, salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper are beaten together, slowly heated with the melted butter being added gradually to yield the creamy texture.

Hollandaise sauce is often seasoned with white vinegar and peppercorns! You can garnish your veggies like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and also the steaks with some Hollandaise.

Velouté Sauce

The velouté has non-vegan varieties which are yummy to have with continental dishes or simply with some roasted chicken! You may have the fish velouté or the chicken velouté incorporated in your Thanksgiving menu this year! The basics of a velouté sauce are flour and butter. The roux of flour and butter with some added flavors or simply a dash of salt to add taste does your job.

Just for a tip: velouté sauce is great to have with white meats.

Espagnole

This is what we commonly know as ‘brown sauce'. This one's a bit complicated but interesting at the same time. The meat bones are first roasted to add color to the sauce. The meat stock is simmered until it settles down to a rich and thick matter that's lovely brown in color.

Brown sauce is a sheer love when it comes to grilled or roasted red meat.

Finally, we can’t afford to miss out on the classic tomato sauce! You can say this is the sixth mother sauce. The processing involves a little more steps than the ones we discussed so far. Perhaps that makes it the most 'revered' sauces across the globe! Apart from tomatoes, its basic ingredients include a few more – salt pork, aromatic vegetables, stock, and ham bone. They are all cooked in an oven and simmered for a few hours to yield the puree.

These days chefs need a roux to thicken tomato sauce as tomatoes are not thick enough to do the job!