Sauces More Essential Than Sauce Gardner

As a New York Jets fan, I can't help but wonder what could have been as the NFL heads into this year's playoffs. While my favourite team didn't make the playoffs (again), their defense improved enough to keep them in most of their games this year, and at one point, a wildcard spot was a serious possibility. But, as usual, the Jets faltered. The only consistent bright spot on the Jets this season was rookie cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner. Selected fourth overall in the 2022 NFL Draft from the University of Cincinnati, Sauce helped lift the Jets' defense from the bottom of the league to place in the top 5 in several categories this season. A good sauce can also improve the taste of something you plan on eating. Classified by legendary French chef Marie-Antoine Carême and expanded upon by equally legendary chef Auguste Escoffier in the 19th century, mother sauces serve as a starting point for a variety of different sauces. With the recipes below, these sauces can help lift your dishes to even greater levels of success.

Béchamel sauce (white sauce)

Ingredients:

15 g butter
9 g flour
240 mL milk

1. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Create a roux by whisking in the flour and continue mixing until everything is completely combined, cooking it for several minutes until the mixture turns a blond to light brown colour.
2. Pour in the milk, and increase the heat to medium-high. Continue whisking until the mixture has thickened.
3. Season with salt and freshly ground nutmeg.

If there's one sauce any cook should know how to make, this would be it. It can be used in gravies and dessert bases, and it adds richness to pasta, meat, and vegetable dishes all on its own. Like all mother sauces, this recipe can be modified to make other sauces, such as:

• Mornay sauce (cheese sauce): Traditionally, this is Béchamel sauce with equal parts Gruyere and Parmesan cheese added to it. Use about 100 g of grated cheese (any cheese that melts well works) for every 240 mL of milk used, adding the cheese a bit at a time for it to properly melt.
• Mustard sauce: This is Béchamel sauce with a spoonful of mustard added to it; with the addition of some cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce, it makes a nice cheddar cheese sauce.
• Bayou sauce: For any Louisiana-style Cajun cooking you're planning, sauté a large diced onion in the butter first, then add some diced garlic, and Creole seasoning. Add the flour and cook the roux until the mixture takes a dark brown colour.

Velouté sauce

Ingredients:

15 g butter
9 g flour
240 mL chicken stock (fish stock or vegetable broth can be substitited)

1. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and continue mixing until everything is completely combined, cooking it until the mixture turns a blond colour.
2. Pour in the stock, and increase the heat to medium-high. Continue stirring until the mixture has thickened.

A great topping for fish and other mild-flavoured meats, velouté sauce with a few tweaks can be turned into the following:

• Albufera sauce: Add some lemon juice, egg yolk, and cream; try it on chicken or asparagus.
• Bercy sauce: Add some chopped up shallots and parsley along with a splash or two of white wine.
• Poulette sauce: Add some chopped mushrooms, parsley, and some lemon juice. 

Hollandaise sauce

Ingredients:

120 g butter
2 large egg yolks
juice from 1 large lemon
salt

1. Cut the butter into eight pieces and set aside.
2. In a saucepan, whisk the egg yolks, the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt together. Set the heat to low and continue whisking the mixture until it just begins to thicken - you know you're good when you can see a trail left behind from the whisk on the bottom of the pan. Avoid overheating by briefly removing the saucepan from the heat while stirring as necessary.
3. Add the butter one piece at a time, whisking continuously until it's melted completely.
   
   A few dashes of cayenne pepper and freshly ground white pepper can be added. For less of a lemony flavour, substitute 15 mL of lemon juice with an equal amount of water.

The most recognizable sauce on this list, hollandaise can be used for more than a topping for asparagus and Eggs Benedict, as it can be turned into:

• Béarnaise sauce: For a great steak sauce, simmer 10 g diced fresh tarragon and two finely diced shallots in 30 mL of white wine or champagne vinegar. Add this to the sauce before the butter is added. 
• Dijon sauce: After the hollandaise has been made, add some Dijon mustard to taste.

Sauce tomate

Ingredients:

900 g crushed tomatoes
480 g Béchamel sauce
60 g bacon
50 g diced carrots
50 g diced onion
15 g butter
4 g sugar
3 g salt
1 bay leaf or sprig of thyme
1 crushed garlic clove

1. Render the bacon in a saucepan with the butter. Once all the fat has melted, add the carrots, onions, and bay leaf or thyme. Cook for about five minutes to soften and lightly brown everything, then add the flour and continue cooking until the mixture is light brown.
2. Add the tomatoes and Béchamel sauce. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a low heat, and add the garlic, the sugar, and the salt. Cover the saucepan and let the sauce simmer for about an hour.
3. Strain the sauce through a strainer to remove any remaining vegetable and bacon, or run the sauce through a blender. Add fresh ground black pepper and more salt to taste.

This is basically the French version of an Italian tomato sauce - for a more familiar sauce, leave out the bacon, flour, and white sauce, and cook it a bit longer to thicken it. 

• Vodka sauce: Near the end of cooking the sauce tomate, add 120 ml cream and 120 mL vodka, and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Espagnole sauce (brown sauce)

Ingredients:

2 L basic brown stock (canned stock can be used, but a packet of unflavoured gelatin should be added to it)
60 g butter
60 g tomato purée
50 g diced carrots
50 g diced celery
50 g diced onion
36 g flour
1 bay leaf and some sprigs of thyme

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the carrots, celery, and onions. Sauté the vegetables until they're medium brown in colour.
2. Add the flour and cook everything until the flour turns light brown, then add the tomato purée, the brown stock, the bay leaf and the thyme. Let the sauce simmer for 2 hours, until it reduces down by half. While the sauce simmers, skim any foam off the top as needed. 
3. Remove the sauce from the heat and let in cool. Strain the sauce through a strainer to remove any remaining small particles.

Used on braised and roasted meats, espagnole is the most time-extensive sauce on this list if you plan to make your own stock. It is well worth the effort, as it allows you to make the following:

• Bordelaise sauce: Served traditionally on filet mignon, this can be made by adding some red wine, shallots, and aromatic herbs.
• Diable sauce: Add cayenne pepper, shallots, and white wine.
• Poivrade sauce (pepper sauce): Add vinegar and a large spoonful of crushed black pepppercorn at the end of cooking, and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes - the peppercorns will become bitter if the sauce is cooked for too long.