The Mother Sauces

by | Jan 14, 2021 | Cooking, Food & Drink, LifeSkills, Recipes | 316 comments

A sauce is a liquid that has been thickened and flavored.  The right sauce can take a dish from plain and boring to something truly wonderful.  What is turkey without gravy, after all. Making a good sauce is a skill every home cook should master. Once you understand how they’re made, you won’t need a recipe to up your game.

In classical French cooking there are five ‘mother sauces’ that serve as a starting point for making a wide variety of sauces.  The five sauces are called mother sauces because each one gives rise to its own family of sauces.  Escoffier defines the mother sauces as:

  • Hollandaise – an emulsion of egg and butter. Variations include bearnaise and Dijon sauces.
  • Bechamel – milk, butter, and flour. Variations include cheese, mornay, and mustard sauces.
  • Veloute – light stock thickened with white roux. Variations include mushroom, allemande, and white wine sauces.
  • Espagnole – brown stock, softened mire poix, and thickened with brown roux. Variations include madeira, demi-glace, and lyonnaise sauces.
  • Tomat -salt pork and tomato sauce thickened with roux. Variations include creole and marinara sauces.

Some cooks add mayonnaise as a sixth sauce.  It is an emulsion of egg and oil, served cold.  Variations include remoulade and gribiche.

One of the keys to a good sauce is technique.  It can be hard to show techniques in static pictures and words, so KK and I decided to team up and make videos showing how to make each of the mother sauces. The videos will be coming soon.

What are your favorite sauces?

About The Author

KK and Tulip

KK and Tulip

KromulentKristen: practically passable in every way. Tulip: a literary figment of your imagination.

316 Comments

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    explain all the roux and mire Poix please, we Americans don’t speak cooking,

    • Count Potato

      Roux is flour fried in fat or oil.

      Mirepoix is two parts onion, one part celery, one part carrot.

      • westernsloper

        Unless you are going holy trinity which if you are not you should be.

      • Tulip

        Holy trinity isn’t mire poor. Fun fact, it’s a substitution because Carrots don’t grow well in Louisiana. But, you probably knew that anyway.

      • westernsloper

        No I did not know the reason, I just know it is better.

      • rhywun

        Carrots don’t grow well in Louisiana

        🙁

        I hated carrots when I was little.

        Can’t imagine living without them now.

      • Swiss Servator

        “Can’t imagine living without them now.”

        I knew I liked you for at least one other good reason!

      • Don escaped Two Corinthians

        two parts onion, one part celery, one part carrot

        an acquired taste? am I up to it?

    • mrfamous

      Roux is equal parts (by weight, IIRC) of fat and flour. EG, melt 14 grams of butter in pan, add 14 grams of flour mix it into a paste and cook until it’s the color you want, then add your liquids.

      You can make homemade mac and cheese this way. Make the roux first, before adding the milk and cheese to make the cheese sauce.

      • UnCivilServant

        You weigh it out?

        Since I only ever make it with the fat left over in the pan after cooking meat, I just eyeball it and add a little more flour if it looks under.

      • mrfamous

        I do when I’m starting for scratch (like for mac and cheese). But if I, for example, brown a bunch of ground beef, then I just add the flour after it’s browned and mix it and cook it until the ground beef looks dry with a matte finish. Add the beef bouillon to make the gravy, and once that’s reduced enough can add it to whatever I’m planning to add it to. For example, a shepherd’s pie.

        Just so complete beginners know, flour clumps if you add it directly to a liquid. By cooking it in fat before the liquid is added, you prevent this. Also, the claim is that cooking it in the fat removes the bitter taste you’d get if you just tried to eat flour raw for some strange reason. Frankly I’ve not really had too many issue with that.

      • Mojeaux

        I prefer using corn starch instead of flour.

      • Count Potato

        Then there isn’t frying.

      • westernsloper

        Someone cat butt this woman.

      • Swiss Servator

        I decline your invitation.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I, uh, how does that even work? I would think that would make the sauce almost gummy.

      • Count Potato

        Cornstarch, tapioca, arrowroot, etc. all work as thickeners, but are very different than roux.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Right, but the texture of cornstarch would be different than flour in a 50/50 mixture with butter, yes?

        I’m thinking like it would be approaching the texture of that ooblek stuffooblek stuff.

      • Count Potato

        Well, yes, it would, but there is no point in mixing cornstarch with butter.

        Flour needs to be cooked, otherwise it tastes like raw flour. It also has gluten.

        Cornstarch, tapioca, arrowroot, etc. don’t have much besides amylopectin and amylopectin. So nothing much happens in cold water. Then it thickens as soon as it’s heated.

        Flour in water needs heat for a relatively long time (lots of simmering and stirring) because it’s limited by the boiling point of water. Flour in fat or oil can take more heat, so the flour cooks in a much shorter time. Flour also won’t maillard in water, so you can’t “brick” it unless it’s in fat.

      • Count Potato

        uh, amylose and amylopectin

      • rhywun

        My half-assed internet research + some book learnin’ told me that flour is appropriate at the beginning of cooking, and corn starch only at the end.

      • Count Potato

        That’s mostly true. You can knead butter and flour together “beurre manie”, or mix cold water and flour together in a slurry, and add it towards the end if necessary, or if you want add shine or have less fat, respectively.

  2. westernsloper

    Green Enchilada

    • Tulip

      I learned to make a green enchilada sauce in a cooking class last time I was in Mexico. It was a lot of fun.

      • westernsloper

        My green enchilada is essentially my green chili. I am not a fan of the watered down version.

  3. DEG

    Bechamel – milk, butter, and flour. Variations include cheese, mornay, and mustard sauces.

    I had a brain fart. When I read this I thought, “Wait, cheese isn’t a sauce. Oh. Duh. Cheese sauce.”

    KK and I decided to team up and make videos showing how to make each of the mother sauces. The videos will be coming soon.

    Excellent. I look forward to seeing them.

    I like the beer gravy that is part of an Irish pot roast recipe I have.

  4. Rebel Scum

    Ketchup.

    • rhywun

      ?

    • Tulip

      It’s only recently that ketchup was defined as a tomato product. Maybe we should make an older version of ketchup, like mushroom.

      • Rebel Scum

        For you.

        These days it is called Worcestershire, which is delicious.

      • Mojeaux

        I once thought there was no such thing as too much Worchestershire, but then I tried that out in my prize meatloaf and found out that wasn’t really true.

      • Count Potato

        Stupid Lee & Perrin’s changed their recipe.

      • Count Potato

        In the version they sell in the U.S., they replaced the malt vinegar with white vinegar.

    • Rat on a train

      banana ketchup

  5. Mojeaux

    Hollandaise sauce is actually a beverage.

    • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

      The spousal unit certainly thinks so.

      I can hardly wait to get back into restaurants so I can watch her go face down in a plate of Eggs Benny. In public. The woman has no shame.

      • Mojeaux

        Shame has no place in eggs Benedict consumption.

      • rhywun

        Want.

        I don’t think I’ve ever had it.

      • Mojeaux

        *gasp*

        I first had it at Brennan’s in NOLA. I was a convert.

      • Tulip

        Also *gasp*

        Rhywun, that is so sad.

      • Swiss Servator

        DO try it, it is also a great hangover food…FWIW.

      • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

        Shame has no place in eggs Benedict consumption.

        You and the spousal unit would get along like a house on fire.

  6. The Other Kevin

    Fucking cool. You guys are the best. Can’t wait for the videos.

  7. But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

    What are your favorite sauces?

    {sniff} I love all my children equally.

    • Ted S.

      STEVE SMITH LOVES YOUR CHILDREN TOO.

      • Swiss Servator

        STEVE SMITH LOVE EVERYONE! BY LOVE, MEAN…

      • rhywun

        CRYPTID LOVE VERY DIFFERENT FROM SQUARE LOVE

      • one true athena

        STEVE SMITH LOVE YOU LONG TIME. LONG LONG TIME

  8. Yusef drives a Kia

    Chile verde with fresh Green chiles, onions and Tapatio!

  9. Jerms

    There was a gyro place across from Madison Square Garden, called King Gyro. Instead of using a tzatziki sauce they had a really sweet sauce that was probably the best sauce id ever tasted. I would go there before Ranger games and would sometimes drive from Brooklyn to get my fix. I would always pepper the workers and try and give me the ingredients, to no avail.
    What i did was call them up sounding distressed and asked to talk to the owner. I told him me and my young child had come in there and had gyros and the kid had a bad allergic reaction and the doctors had instructed me to find out everything he had eaten that day so we would know what he couldnt eat in the future. Guy fell for it and i put that stuff on everything for about a year until i got sick of tasting it.
    I still remember it was Admiration mayonnaise, sugar, dill, lemon and salt and pepper. Took a while to get it perfect but i got it.

    • Mojeaux

      You are an evil man and I love you for it.

    • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

      Golf.
      Clap.

      That’s genius. Gotta rip that off.

    • westernsloper

      Nice. I have had the sweet sauce a few times on Donair which is what Americas hat calls Gyro. They also call it Shwarma and the differences should be the libertarian debate on food because they are all the same. I had a Donair pizza with sweet sauce that rocked.

      • rhywun

        Döner kebab is very popular in Germany, which is stuffed with Turks. Appears to be the precedent for the gyro.

      • UnCivilServant

        No durprise Donner Kebab is made of people.

        😛

      • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

        Those terms are essentially interchangeable here in Edmonton.

        I imagine most of those places will be gone forever by the time the ‘Vid is declared “defeated.”

      • westernsloper

        Best Shwarma on the planet is found in Calgary.

      • DEG

        I like Döner Kebab. I eat a lot of it while in Germany.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I miss real shawarmas. Falafel is awful, though.

      • one true athena

        A good falafel is perfection. But many of them are awful, unfortunately. They don’t keep, at all, so if you can’t get them fresh don’t even bother, but even then, I’ve had bunch that were chokingly bad.

    • Count Potato

      It’s usually made from yogurt.

    • pan fried wylie

      *Grins* You like-a da sauce.

    • Rebel Scum

      Didn’t NY Post break the Hunter Biden story? Anyway, I am done with this white-supremacy bs. It’s the “OK” sign of approval. Grow up. I mean, you can’t even adjust your jacket without these tards seeing it through the lens of skin pigment and calling you a white-supreme because of their faux “dog-whistles.

      • rhywun

        OFFS.

        Yeah, I’m not doubting that Mr. Rittenhouse is trolling the cameras here.

        Doesn’t mean shit.

      • C. Anacreon

        The press is soon going to be aghast when they learn scuba divers worldwide are flashing the white power sign while underwater, every time the dive master checks with them to see if they are in good shape.

  10. rhywun

    I’ve been digging on fry sauce lately. Stupid easy to make, allows for lots of variety, and a huge improvement over just ketchup or mayo on fries.

    • westernsloper

      I am a fan of fry sauce.

    • Mojeaux

      Welcome to Utah.

      • Mojeaux

        Keychup + mayo.

      • westernsloper

        + mustard

      • Mojeaux

        I’ve never heard that. Vinegar yes. Mustard, no.

      • rhywun

        I sometimes add a little mustard but usually just ketchup, mayo, some pickle juice, and a little cayenne and/or smoked paprika.

      • rhywun

        Oh and Worcestershire.

      • rhywun

        I find these stories ridiculous.

        Like Heinz needs to clear its trademarks with the half dozen people who speak that language? You could play this game forever.

      • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

        I just thought it was funny that the translation worked out like that. Maybe bullshit, like “Nova” doesn’t mean “doesn’t go” in Portuguese, but still.

      • But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

        An inferior substitute for pindasaus, the Indonesian-inspired spicy peanut sauce enjoyed on fries in Belgium and the Netherlands.

        Some fry sauce recipes here: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/fry-sauce/

      • Swiss Servator

        Colonizing the Dutch East Indies was the best thing for Dutch cuisine ever. Native Dutch food is…well…I’ll just say nothing and not offend my relatives.

      • pistoffnick

        The Dutch gave us gin and Gouda cheese. I can forgive them for any genetic defects (Factor 5) I inherited from my ancestors.

  11. Rebel Scum

    Buffalo, garlic parm, marsala, BBQ. Classic Texas Pete is the best on eggs. Zesty Italian, that Asian dressing you get at hibachi restaurants. Yum Yum…

  12. grrizzly

    JetBlue has upgraded its wine list. I can now sip champaign to justify staying mask less.

    • westernsloper

      Look at snobby Mcshampagne over here.

      • Swiss Servator

        You are just jealous because all you got was a warm Pepsi on the flight out of the Central African Republic.

      • KromulentKristen

        High five

  13. Pi Guy

    I use bechamel fairly often, especially with cheeses- cheddar for veggies, parmesan and asiago for pasta are go-tos.

    And I’ve never made mayonnaise but it’s also a great starter. For so much.

    I look forward to more saucy goodness!

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      We use béchamel in lasagna and pastitzio.

  14. dbleagle

    Stopping by my local place to pick up wasabi scallop poke for dinner. I will wash it down with JCB 46.

    • westernsloper

      *deletes comment*

    • Tulip

      Mine wasn’t printable either. So, so jealous!

    • one true athena

      Our put-over-twice flight to Maui is currently still scheduled for March. so weird to go to an island where we’ll have zero family connections, though.

  15. But Enough About [this space intentionally left blank]

    Tonight’s repast: Chicken cordon bleu, Greek salad, leftover butter chickpea with brown basmati rice, and a nice Okanagan Valley Viognier to wash it all down with.

  16. mikey

    Thx Tulip.
    I like your cooking theory articles. I can follow a recipe, but I really don’t know what I’m doing. These help.

    Milk gravey with sausage over biscuits. i make a mean biscuit.

    • Tulip

      The you’ve basically made a bechamel with added sausage. Very similar technique.

      • mikey

        But bechamel sounds soooo sophisticated. Not sure I can picture myself being sophisticated.

      • UnCivilServant

        I think it sounds snooty instead. I hate the name.

  17. pistoffnick

    Two (mythical libertarian) girls, one cup five (or six) sauces!

    So Hawt!

    *I’ll be in my bunk*

    • Tulip

      Women. We are women.

      • Fourscore

        Thank god!

        /atheist

      • KromulentKristen

        Yup – as Col Jessup said in A Few Good Men: “I believe I’ve earned it”

      • pistoffnick

        But the joke…2 girls, 1 cup…anyone, anyone?

      • Animal

        In Japan they sell One Cup sake. I’ll let you draw any necessary conclusions for yourself.

      • pistoffnick

        *I guess I won’t quit my day job*

        *hangs head*

      • Swiss Servator

        Don’t even mention that …thing. Gah!

      • pistoffnick

        *notes Swiss is scat-averse*
        *thinks “how can I use this to my advantage during the next zoom”*

    • Rebel Scum

      Everyone likes their own brand . . .

      • Tulip

        Seriously, you are not funny.

  18. mrfamous

    I use a sauce of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, garlic and whatever other spices you want, and bake boneless skinless chicken thighs in the sauce. Tasty.

    • rhywun

      *drool*

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      That sounds good..

    • Count Potato

      “John Sullivan was at the forefront of pro-Trump violence in the Capitol, egging it on as he filmed.

      Now he’s Exhibit A in right-wing claims that Antifa instigated the riot.

      I investigate his disturbing history of sabotaging BLM while posing as a leader.”

      https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1349793533931233295

      • Count Potato

        “In an interview with Rolling Stone published Wednesday, Sullivan said he was putting on an act to build rapport with the protesters.

        “I had to relate to these people, and build trust in the short amount of time I had there to get where I need to go,” he told the magazine. “To the front of the crowd to see the dynamic between the police and the protesters, because nobody wants to see the backs of people’s heads from a far-off distance.”

        He apparently made it there. During the unrest, he tweeted up-close video of the moment a Capitol Police officer fatally shot Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt during the riot. It had been taken just a few feet away, at the height of the chaos outside the Speaker’s Lobby.”

    • Count Potato

      “Here’s the Trump supporter who was arrested for agitating the attack on Capital Hill, John Sullivan, oh… wait….
      he’s actually a left wing activist wearing a Trump hat.”

      https://twitter.com/DarlaShine/status/1349868175421304832

    • Count Potato

      “BREAKING: CNN’s Jade Sacker penetrating the Capitol with a member of BLM/Antifa cheering, “We did it!” And then asking her conspirator if he was filming, he said he’d delete it, he lied. CNN was in on it.”

      https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1349885882262761473

      • Count Potato

        “2/ To make this clear. CNN was embedded with BLM/Antifa pretending to be Trump supporters videoing them incite a riot. This is freaking huge. If CNN is allowed to maintain its press access anywhere in DC there needs to be a serious overhaul of our entire system.”

    • Count Potato

      “A progressive activist has been arrested and charged with participating in last week’s U.S. Capitol riot a week after he uploaded footage of the event to YouTube.

      Utah resident and anti-Trump activist John Sullivan told Just the News last week that he had been present at the riot, including inside the Capitol, “specifically [as] a journalist, just to record the events that were going down.”

      Yet FBI agent Matthew Foulger alleged in an affidavit on Wednesday that, rather than merely act as a journalist during the riots, Sullivan “knowingly and willfully joined a crowd of individuals who forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol and impeded, disrupted, and disturbed the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.”

      Foulger in the affidavit said that footage taken by Sullivan at the riot shows the activist accompanying and cheering on the rioting crowd by saying things such as “Let’s go. This shit is ours!” and “Let’s burn this shit down.” ”

      https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/fbi-agent-says-progressive-activist-was-participating-capitol-riot

    • Count Potato

      “If you want to see how Antifa/BLM incited violence at the Capitol just go through @realjaydenx
      (John Sullivan) Twitter feed. Twitter is allowing his account to remain active while banning President Trump’s account. This is sick. @DonaldJTrumpJr”

      https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1349882825894490112

      • Count Potato

        “BREAKING: The FBI has arrested #BlackLivesMatter self-described anti-fascist John Sullivan for leading the charge during the insurrection at the Capitol. Sullivan goaded the first casualty of the event to climb through a window just before she was killed.”

        https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1349865669383356419

      • Urthona

        The interesting part of the story that I want to see more of….. he told the epoch times he knew about a plot to storm the capital from message boards he reads beforehand.

        what message boards?

        Gligertarians.com?

        Just kidding. I mean left wing or right wing? hmm.

      • Count Potato

        That, and he was working with someone from CNN.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        The ones that I don’t sympathize with! Duh. Its like you don’t even politics.

  19. pistoffnick

    I have made Hollandaise, Bechamel, and Veloute. I might have to try the other two.

    • KromulentKristen

      Next up is likely Espagnole

  20. Crusty Juggler

    PHOTOS: Phyllis McGuire owned one of the most unique homes in Las Vegas

    The home has bulletproof windows, a basement disco and electric shutters that close instantly at the touch of a button. There is also a guest mansion, two swimming pools, a lagoon, a tennis court, and Phyllis’s Place with a grill, ice cream bar and soda fountain.

    McGuire’s Las Vegas mansion was built for her in 1967 by the boyfriend who succeeded Giancana: high-rolling-gambler and oil-man Edward “Tiger Mike” Davis.

    Who is Tiger Mike Davis? My business hero.

  21. Yusef drives a Kia

    Gourmet Mushrooms, my new Company, grows the following Mushrooms,
    Clamshell, brown and white
    Nameko
    Trumpet Royale
    Velvet pioppini
    Nebrodini
    and Maitake frondosa,
    any of those good?

    • pistoffnick

      I looked at their website. They are working on Cultivated Morels.

      Morels mushrooms fried in butter > than any other mushroom dish.

    • The Other Kevin

      You had me at “mushrooms”.

      • Count Potato

        Just don’t inject them into your veins.

  22. Animal

    What are your favorite sauces?

    Dave’s Insanity.

    In all seriousness, I actually collect hot sauces. I have bottles of various kinds of hot sauce from all over: Japan, China, South Africa, Mexico, and local blends from all over the U.S.A. – my one limitation is that I have to buy them on-site and in-person. I only have sauces from places I’ve actually been.

    I have some stuff I picked up in South Africa, has a rhino on the label. It’s pretty tough stuff.

    • Rebel Scum

      Does hot sauce expire? I recently found one, unopened, in my pantry from a couple years ago. I don’t want to just toss it because it is produced by a small, local-ish business and idk if I can get it now.

      • Animal

        If there’s an expiration date on the label, then yes; even so I wouldn’t eat it after, say, two years. A lot of my stuff is more souvenir then seasoning.

      • Count Potato

        Expiration dates are bullshit.

    • Plinker762

      Do you always keep some with you in your murse?

  23. Urthona

    I’ll be honest. I like it all, man.

  24. Ownbestenemy

    A red-wine mushroom sauce is probably my favorite

  25. Swiss Servator

    “What are your favorite sauces?”

    Yes.

    • Animal

      Having been in your company when you were hitting the sauce, I can readily believe that.

      • Swiss Servator

        The Swissinator : [picking up bottles at a bottle shop, while looking at the bottles on the wine rack behind the clerk] The Red 750ml.

        Clerk : That’s Italian. You can go dry or semi-dry.

        Clerk : [hands the Swissinator the Chianti bottle]

        The Swissinator : The magnum of champagne, with laser etching.

        Clerk : [hands the Swissinator a bottle from the glass case in front of the clerk] These are brand new; we just got them in. That’s a good drop. Just touch the cork, the bottle pops, and the booze goes right in the glass. You can’t miss. Anything else?

        The Terminator : Irish Pot Still Whisky, in the 100-proof range.

        Clerk : [annoyed] Hey, just what you see, pal!

        The Swissinator : [looks around] The Cote d’ Rote.

        Clerk : You know your alcohol, buddy. Any one of these is ideal for home consumption. So uh, which will it be?

        The Swissinator : [pointing the champagne magnum towards the door] All.

        Clerk : I may close early today. There’s a 15-day wait on the Cote d’ Rote but the other wines you can take right now.

        [sees the Swissinator chug his magnum of champagne]

        Clerk : You can’t do that.

        The Swissinator : [drops bottle] Wrong!

      • Animal

        I’d say something about the impropriety of chugging good hooch, but who am I to talk?

      • Count Potato

        LOL

  26. pistoffnick

    My family goes through jars and jars of Thai Peanut sauce. It is especially nice on skewered chicken. They like the commercial versions better than my home-made version. *sad face*

    • UnCivilServant

      I’ve never had a thai peanut sauce that I cared for.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m sure it’s just my sense of taste.

      • Rebel Scum

        Me neither. I opt for the basil sauce when I get Thai.

      • Rebel Scum

        Of course, consuming and enjoying the foods and culinary methods of other cultures is cultural appropriation, which makes you a bigot…somehow…

      • pistoffnick

        Embraces the bigotry. The tasty, tasty bigotry!

      • rhywun

        Not a fan either.

      • Count Potato

        It’s great on bok choy.

      • UnCivilServant

        Lul.

        Apparently, I had this box of microwave thai rice noodles with peanut sauce in the kitchen. I just cooked it, and it has the first iteration of the sauce that I liked the taste of.

    • Rebel Scum

      Dude really needs to declassify anything and everything. He has until 1pm Jan. 20. Do better.

      • db

        Even the parts where [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] [REDACTED] with all of the [REDACTED]? Or where the senior [REDACTED] [REDACTED] the [REDACTED] in the [REDACTED]?

        Certainly not the part about the [REDACTED] [REDACTED] extra[REDACTED] [REDACTED] the [REDACTED] [REDACTED] in exchange for [REDACTED] [REDACTED] the [REDACTED] [REDACTED]?

    • Count Potato

      “ALSO BREAKING: President Trump has declassified large numbers of documents related to Russia Collusion hoax.

      FBI has tried to keep many of these documents secret.

      Incldng, Christopher Steele admits he created Trump-Russia collusion hoax to distract from Clinton email scandal.”

      https://twitter.com/EricGreitens/status/1349893940309340161

  27. Spudalicious

    My favorite has to be a good pan sauce. After you pan cooked a piece of meat, add some shallots, deglaze with wine, cook it down until it’s starting to thicken. Maybe a little demiglace. Then take it off the heat and swirl in several tablespoons of butter. Adjust seasoning and serve.

    • rhywun

      Yum.

      I’m no perfeshonal but I’ve tried my hand at that a couple times and damn it’s tasty.

    • whahappan

      That’s my goto also.

      • whahappan

        Although I don’t use actual demiglace, just beef base.

  28. DEG

    New travel restrictions

    Effective January 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will require all air passengers entering the United States (including U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents) to present a negative COVID-19 test, taken within three calendar days of departure​, or proof of recovery from the virus within the last 90 days. Airlines must confirm the negative test result or proof of recent recovery for all passengers prior to boarding. ​Airlines must deny boarding of passengers who do not provide documentation of a negative test or recovery.

    • Rebel Scum

      “Show me your papers.”

    • Urthona

      what if you’re one of the millions who have either had covid or been vaccinated? massive waste of time and money.

      • mrfamous

        Yes, but it’s your time and money so they don’t care.

      • Chafed

        Exactly this.

      • Raven Nation

        According to the FAQ page, being vaccinated doesn’t exclude you from having to get the test.

      • Urthona

        dumb

      • Chafed

        They have really lost the thread. If I’m under 70,why am I getting it if I still have to be tested?

    • mrfamous

      Bastards. People keep telling me tune this stuff out and go about my business, but it seems near impossible to tune things like this out.

      • grrizzly

        I try to ignore it as much as I can. For example, I do absolutely nothing to comply with quarantine/test requirements while crisscrossing the country.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      So wait, they can legally block AMERICANS from coming back home?

      GTFOH.

      • mrfamous

        Seems like a court challenge in the works

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Looks like conservative/libertarian lawyers are about to be enriched by the flood of suits that are bound to come in.

        We can only hope that court packing doesn’t happen. If it does, we’re really fuuuuuuuuuucked.

      • Chafed

        You say the enriching lawyers part like it’s a bad thing.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *rains dollar bills on the ground*
        *picks them back up and stuffs them back into the Dave Ramsey envelope*

      • Chafed

        *stuffs Dave Ramsey approved debit card deep into pocket*

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Definitely not.

      • Count Potato

        Well, maybe not legally…

    • db

      “Airlines.”

      What does it say about private and charter flights?

      • Raven Nation

        Same rules

  29. The Late P Brooks

    hoisin

  30. pistoffnick

    “What are your favorite sauces?”

    1 Béchamel (specifically Biscuits and Sausage Gravy)
    2. Hollandaise (specifically Eggs Benedict)
    3. Soy
    4. Mayonnaise
    5. Wasabi (more of a paste than a sauce)
    6. German mustard or Chinese mustard
    7. Thai peanut

    • pistoffnick

      OMG I forgot Hoisin and Tonkatsu sauce!

    • rhywun

      I am currently addicted to Boar’s Head deli mustard with white wine and horseradish.

      *Homer drool*

      • pistoffnick

        There used to be a restaurant in Wichita that made Chicken Mutarde (Mustard Chicken) that was divine. That was pre-children.

      • Count Potato

        I should try that.

    • straffinrun

      Throw some Karashi on that list.

  31. rhywun

    Way to start big, Rangers. It’s going to be a long, short (asterisked) season.

    • Raven Nation

      Hah! You beat me to the snark.

  32. rhywun

    Ugh I’ve only been employed here for 3 months and I’m already in a position where I’m incapable of doing anything better than a half-assed job. “What do you mean you can’t work 24 hours a day?”

    Sometimes I think managers are just trolling.

    • pan fried wylie

      “What do you mean you can’t work 2428 hours a day?”

  33. Ownbestenemy

    LA Kings announcers all have masks at all times…makes sense I guess cause LA is all about it.

    Ugh. I just can’t bring myself to watch the Wild announcers but at least they aren’t muffled.

    • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

      Is Jim Fox still on the Kings’ broadcasts? That guys timbre and inflection bugged the hell out of me.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yes still color. As long as it isnt Haywood I am okay.

      • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

        Hayward on the Ducks’ broadcast? That guy is the biggest homer ever.

      • Chipwooder

        Does Rick Jeanneret still do Sabres games? That guy is the real biggest homer ever.

  34. db

    I hate it when I come back to the site after a few hours to find a great post and I have no idea of where to begin to respond and join the conversation, and I have to go to bed soon.

    Anyway, looking forward to the saucy ladies’ upcoming reports. I love cooking, I love chemistry, and I love the chemistry of cooking.

    • rhywun

      I don’t know if I can say I “love” cooking yet, but I’ve grown to appreciate it a lot more in the last couple years. I’ve learned a lot from all of you reprobates.

      But some nights – like tonight – I just want to pop a frozen dinner into the microwave and be done with it.

      • Tulip

        Nothing wrong with that.

      • db

        I still have a lot to learn about cooking, and I especially like it when smart people I find interesting want to talk about how they cook.

      • EvilSheldon

        Dinner tonight was leftover dumplings from lunch, a couple handfuls of peanut-butter-filled pretzel nuggets, and around five fingers of cinnamon-infused bourbon with a splash of Amaretto. I own it.

      • Tulip

        Nothing wrong with that

      • Chafed

        Right there with you microwave brother.

      • Akira

        But some nights – like tonight – I just want to pop a frozen dinner into the microwave and be done with it.

        I like to have some frozen portions of chili or something in the freezer for such occasions. It’s home cooking with the laziness of microwave food!

  35. straffinrun

    5 pieces in a row by the libertarian ladies. Good stuff. Is this a hostile takeover?

    • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

      They have desecrated the temple of our toxic masculinity.

      • straffinrun

        I do like the new toilet seat cover.

      • db

        If the seat has to be down, the lid goes down too. If one of us has to lift something to make the toilet useful, both of us do.

    • one true athena

      I’m letting down my sisters!

  36. grrizzly

    The only place I’ve ever seen OANN in any TV lineup was on JetBlue. Used to be. No icky channel anymore.

    • db

      There is a bagel shop run by Koreans in Tyson’s Corner, VA that had Fox on until after the election and then they switched to OAN.

      • slumbrew

        Koreans, man. The Texans of Asia. ?

  37. Chipwooder

    Holy shit did the Rangers look awful. Can we fire Quinn yet?

    I’m not sure it quite qualifies as a sauce, but a good homemade Russian dressing can’t be beat on a roast beef or corned beef sandwich. Mayo, chili sauce, finely minced onion, horseradish, a dash of Worchestershire, and a squeeze of lemon.

    • rhywun

      Can we fire Quinn yet?

      Yes, please.

      I’m so bummed the Islanders got Trotz.

  38. Chipwooder

    Oh, and a good remoulade is essential for crab cakes.

  39. creech

    Wow, a woke pajama boy from Brooklyn could wander in here tonite and discuss artisanal mayonnaises and feel right at home.

    • rhywun

      *burp*

      *scratches self*

      What?

    • slumbrew

      This is what happens when you let women start posting.

      *runs away in a cowardly fashion*

      • one true athena

        *rusty tin can lid rattles ominously*

  40. R C Dean

    My favorite sauce?

    Abuela Dean’s New Mex red sauce.

  41. OBJ FRANKELSON

    Do Arby’s Cheese or Popey’s Mardi Gras Mustard sauce count as mother sauce? If so, consider me a connoisseur of fine sauces.

  42. slumbrew

    I’ve gotten on a Franks kick for a while now, if we’re talking bottled sauces.

    My sauce game is admittedly a bit weak, but the pan sauce I made as part of ATK’s “Weeknight Roast Chicken” was just dynamite.

    Roux aren’t done here much at Chez Slum, since the wife has a legit gluten allergy – don’t think GF flour makes a proper roux.

  43. pistoffnick

    I lost a dick swinging contest today.

    Apparently my dick isn’t big enough.

    Hard times ahead, friends, hard times.

    • slumbrew

      No judgement, you do you.

      • pistoffnick

        My boss’s boss decided over me on a decision that I had talked to him personally about 3 months ago.

        Storage issues. I guess I’ll just leave my test articles in the snow bank. (it’s not like there is a lot of time and money tied up in building, certifying, and testing these things) *rolls eyes*

      • Chafed

        I read test articles as testicles. Make of it what you will.

    • rhywun

      hard times

      ?

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Were the parameters for victory velocity or frequency?

  44. Old Man With Candy

    Fantastic stuff, many thanks for this!

    Sabayon, my favorite dessert sauce, not sure if it falls into one of the mother sauces. And fonduta is an Italian sauce that wants to be French, and has clogged my veins more times than I can count..

    • pistoffnick

      Swiss fondue is a type of sauce. Cheese, garlic, and wine. Thickened with corn starch. Slathered onto bread cubes (or cauliflower and broccoli, in my case). It is my 2nd favorite Christmas meal. First is raclette.

      • Old Man With Candy

        RACLETTE!!!!!

  45. Chafed

    I had to order some books earlier this week. Without thinking, I went to Amazon and picked what I needed. Just before ordering, I was reminded how revolted I am by what AWS did to Parler. I don’t have a Parler account and haven’t been on Parler. I compared prices between Barnes & Noble and Amazon. I paid more for two out of three books on B&N. I put my money where my mouth is bought the books from B&N. I just couldn’t stomach placing an order with Amazon when I had an alternative. Maybe B&N can figure out a way to lower their prices and really get in the game.

    • straffinrun

      One sideboycotting/banning/deplatforming etc and the other side not employing the same tactics means the outcome is assured. Makes you think the only possible peaceful solution is separation.

      • Chafed

        I’m wondering if there are techies with deep pockets or venture capitalists (but I repeat myself) who are either sick of this shit or see an opportunity. If they built the plumbing for the internet and had took on anyone not committing a crime then it would completely undermine the power play. Naturally, progressives would be incensed and happily stay where they are. Most, if not all, deplorables would migrate. We would, in effect, have two internets divide by politics.

      • straffinrun

        Progressives are on a crusade and while they need echo chambers to recharge their batteries, their whole mission is to go out slaying infidels. They are a bigger threat and more zealous than Al Qaeda.

  46. pan fried wylie

    You know how you have oranges, and then you have “mandarin oranges” – the little ones? Once sitting in a meeting in China, there was a bowl of little oranges on the table. One of my US-ian colleagues asked “what do y’all call these?”, and our Chinese guys looked at us like he was a nut. “It’s an orange. I thought you knew what an orange was.”

    They have plenty of the big ones – just don’t make the distinction, especially with “mandarin”. Thought it was funny.

    Does anyone else get pissed off about the state of agricultural genealogy and etymology?

    • pan fried wylie

      Also, Chinese guy in story is asshoe. Yeah, I know what an orange is. ‘what do you call it’, because, and you’re gonna love this, we call em…

      • commodious spittoon

        Why bother paying any respect to the peasant? They know our leaders are CCP property.

  47. Gustave Lytton

    Who surfaces in public first? Jack Ma or Gina Haspel?

    • straffinrun

      We’ve always been at war with Jack Ma.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Ali Baba and the 1.1B Intellectual Property Thieves?

      • limey

        ?

    • one true athena

      Options for Jack Ma are dead or working a gulag somewhere in China, so I gotta take Haspel, but I admit the whole Haspel thing is a bit weird. Grade A swamp creatures don’t disappear, they join the board of Raytheon or whatever, so why is that not known, if Biden’s gonna replace her?

  48. straffinrun

    Just found out that I’m mentally retarded and everyone I encounter is simply humoring me. Good news is that I can masturbate in public now.

      • commodious spittoon

        You’d have to be retarded not to masturbate in public. Who’s gonna stop you? It’s the perfect crime.

    • egould310

      This week I have been getting real dumb. I used to be pretty smart, but not anymore. Here is a short list of things that have confused and confounded me this week:
      Gravity
      Cardinal directions
      Time
      Chairs
      Parking lots
      The Sun
      Keys

      I would normally blame it on alcohol, but I’ve been fairly sober this week. I’m getting older. Retarded, maybe? Maybe a brain tumor?

      • Gustave Lytton

        You’re really Primitive Unfrozen Caveman Auditor, aren’t you?

      • pan fried wylie

        ITS NOT A TUHMAH

      • Rat on a train

        Gravity confuses many people. Fortunately my cats are working on it with multiple experiments each day.

      • UnCivilServant

        I read that as “Gravy confuses many people…” and wondered how much cooking your cats did.

      • Rat on a train

        could explain the mess in the kitchen

    • Gadfly

      Good news is that I can masturbate in public now.

      If you choose to, you can either blame it on retardation, or genius.

      I submit for your consideration, the philosopher Diogenes, one of the founding fathers of Cynicism. From wiki:

      Diogenes taught by living example. He tried to demonstrate that wisdom and happiness belong to the man who is independent of society and that civilization is regressive. He scorned not only family and socio-political organization, but also property rights and reputation. He even rejected normal ideas about human decency. Diogenes is said to have eaten in the marketplace, urinated on some people who insulted him, defecated in the theatre, and masturbated in public. When asked about his eating in public he said, “If taking breakfast is nothing out of place, then it is nothing out of place in the marketplace. But taking breakfast is nothing out of place, therefore it is nothing out of place to take breakfast in the marketplace.” On the indecency of his masturbating in public he would say, “If only it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly.”

    • mrfamous

      Thank you for your service

  49. Yusef drives a Kia

    In other news, it seems my Kittah refuses to die, she’s eating better, and walks with a normal gait again, and of course complains like a Cat does,
    Happy Yusef!

    • Sean

      Yay!

    • Gender Traitor

      That’s wonderful news!

  50. Yusef drives a Kia

    I’m off to grow Mushrooms,
    Cheers everybody!

    • UnCivilServant

      Cheers.

      Happy farming.

    • hayeksplosives

      Good luck with the shrooms!

  51. westernsloper

    I don’t want to go to work.

    • Gender Traitor

      Me neither. This week has been draining my energy and trying my patience.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have no desire to connect to work today either.

        Is it something in the air(waves)?

      • Gender Traitor

        ::refers back to Sunday’s IFLA post:: I dunno. My tarot reading was actually good for a change.

      • Gender Traitor

        In more tangible air, we’re getting rain with snow bearing down right behind it.

      • hayeksplosives

        Maybe we are experiencing a little cabin fever due to winter and exacerbated by Covid lockdown.

        The days are getting longer so that tends to make us want to get out and gambol outside.

        Here we are due for a heat wave today: 80 degrees!! I’m gonna want to bail out early but my schedule says not a chance.

      • hayeksplosives

        Me threener.

        Gotta get to the plant early to bring in some specialty tools from home to do a delicate disassembly task on some parts before the technicians try to come along and brute force it.

        The items needing assembly have the wrong thickness of o-ring, and they pieces all snap together are meant to stay together. So late last afternoon, we found that air was leaking due to inadequate o-rings, and now we have to perform delicate surgery to un-snap the assemblies and replace o-rings.

        Naturally the technicians assembled all of the units without checking the performance of the first article. Grrr…

        But, on the bright side I have a job.

    • Festus

      #metoo but it’s the New Normal dontchaknow… Down to six nights a week. #winning!

    • Sean

      I’m at work.

      /frowny face

    • Don escaped Two Corinthians

      working on a humidifier for a hospital: easy day

  52. hayeksplosives

    I thought of sources not listed, but all I could think of were dessert sauces, like caramel or chocolate.

    Then I recalled my mother’s New Orleans style bread pudding drizzled with whiskey sauce. She always used Crown Royal to make the sauce.

    Now I must seek out bread pudding.. Might have to make it from scratch.

  53. Festus

    Howdy neighbors! And no, no I have not read the fricken article yet. Going back a a little now.

    • hayeksplosives

      Morning, Festus!

      Festus for the rest’us.

      • Festus

        Hey, hey Hayek!

  54. Rat on a train

    I like toyomansi. It is a mix of soy and calamansi sometimes with chili. Thai chili suace is also good.

  55. Festus

    I used to use roux for many base sauces. Taught to me by a stoner friend that was bankrolled by his wealthy parents so that he could open a restaurant. He showed up sporadically and the place went under in 6 months. I remember running the kitchen and front alone until the 17 year-old waitress could arse herself out of bed come Saturday morn. Two weekends of that bullshit ended a long friendship.

  56. Festus

    The double boiler and the whisk are your friends.

  57. wdalasio

    Great list. I really look forward to the videos.

    On a tangent, I recently came to a conclusion on whether the red stuff you put on pasta is a sauce or a gravy. My conclusion is that Bolognese is a gravy, since it is cooked in the fats of the meat being served. The rest are sauces.

    • UnCivilServant

      How is gravy not a sauce?

      • Festus

        Wops call termater sauce “gravy”. Real gravy is made once you remove the meat from the roaster and then add some thickening agent to the juices.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have never heard anyone call tomato-based sauce gravy.

      • Trigger Hippie

        I know a few Italian dudes who call it that. Not sure why.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Heh, forgot Wop was a derogatory word for Italian. Been a minute since I’ve seen or heard that word.

      • Festus

        I’m just fucking around. In fact the first time I heard it referred to as gravy was while watching “Goodfellas”. Bigotry confirmed.

      • wdalasio

        To be fair, it’s probably the right reference for a lot of homemade pasta “sauces” in the U.S. Historically, Italian-Americans usually had pasta with “gravy” because they were poor and it was cheap. But, they usually made, even unwittingly, some variant of a Bolognese, using a little bit of meat stretched a long way in the gravy. I’d argue that the meat makes it a gravy and not strictly a sauce.

      • wdalasio

        Okay, and is the Southern breakfast dish, “Biscuits and Sauce”?

  58. Gender Traitor

    Would I once again “out” myself as a hopeless non-foodie if I gave a shout-out to Alfredo sauce?

    Sadly, the version in the frozen Atkins Chicken Broccoli Alfredo always seems too watery.

  59. Festus

    Granma Marge taught me how to be a short-order cook. The one thing that she and I sparred about was her using 1940’s slang when placing orders. “Jesus Christ! Just hang them up like a normal person!” Fast talking high pants, indeed.

  60. Tundra

    Good morning, everyone!

    Nice article, Tulip. Since jerk is my favorite food, I gotta go with a good, hot jerk sauce.

    • Festus

      Phrasing… Nobody ever does phrasing no more.

      • Sean

        Sad!

      • Tundra

        Jerk.

      • Sean

        I’ve been pondering going full jerk for 2021.

        *starts shopping for a bullhorn*

      • Festus

        🙂

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I was born a poor black child…

      • Rat on a train

        I am not a bum.

  61. Cliche Bandit

    OK, so I know I am late to the thread…hey I have a job. Anyway,
    Here is MY hollandaise recipe. Please note I am a traditionalist and use a Bain Marie, never any blenders etc.
    The key “magic” that I should NOT be sharing is in the ingredients:

    1 cup of clarified butter
    2 egg yolks (some people like it more eggy ergo 3 yolks is fine)
    juice of 1 fresh squeezed lemon
    1 shot glass of cold water
    kosher salt
    (1 tsp cayanne – optional)
    1 bottle Moet Chandon Imperial Champagne
    – gently heat the egg yolks while whisking constantly in Bain Marie
    – add 1Tbps of lemon juice (really to taste, I like it more lemony, just don’t go and add the whole thing. There will be time to add more later)
    – add 1Tbps of champagne and start drinking the rest (this is the magic maker)
    when yolks and acids are combined and look thin, homogenous, and lack bubble then S L O W L Y drip butter into mixture
    YOU DAMN WELL BETTER NOT HAVE STOPPED WHISKING!!
    now, play the “how fast” game…keep slowly adding the butter, you can increase the stream slightly as the emulsion gets bigger and more stable
    (this works well if it is still hot from the classification process)
    about 2/3ds of the way through the butter check for taste, salt to desired level

    Notes: You should be constantly moving the bowl on and off the Bain Marie which should be just under boiling/simmering
    Glass bowls are best for beginners, metal moves very quickly so shit can go catywompus fast
    The shot glass of water is for dripping into the mixture if it needs cooling or is too thick, Also you should just use more Champagne

    Continue to add and adjust water/champagne/salt/and butter until result is perfect.
    The ONLY time you stop whisking is when you grab a spoon to put it on someones plate.
    If you have made it this far then pat yourself on the back, then realize you never finished mis and you are well and truly screwed.
    Strip off clothes and jump in, you have literally seconds for best results.

    (Yes this sauce IS a bitch and takes a lot of focus and effort BUT it has never not been worth it)
    If your sauce breaks – kill a small furry animal in anger, once calm again realize there IS a way to fix it…but that is one too many secrets for a single comment.

    On a personal note, once the searing hot rage has left, actually seeing the sauce break is fascinating.