The 5 Mother Sauces – Espagnole sauce – brown sauce

Espagnole is a classic brown sauce, typically made from brown stock, mirepoix, and tomato product, and thickened with roux. This is one of the five mother sauces.

Espagnole sauce

1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion
1 celery rib coarsely chopped
3/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2  cup all purpose flour
4 cups of hot beef stock
¼ cup canned tomato paste
2 large whole garlic cloves peeled
½ tsp of whole black peppercorns
1 Turkish or ½ California bay leaf
1 bu. Parsley (stem only)

Preparation:

In a stock pot, make the roux with equal amounts of butter and flour, whisk in the hot stock. In a large saute pan, heat remaining butter, add the onions, celery,carrot and garlic. Saute until wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir the tomato paste into the vegetables and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato/vegetable mixture to the stock/roux mixture. Add the parsley stem, peppercorns, and bayleaf and continue to simmer, skimming as needed. Season with salt. Simmer the sauce for about 45 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine strainer.

Tags: Beef recipes, Blog, Sauces