In classical French cuisine, a brown sauce is generally a sauce with a meat stock base, thickened by reduction and sometimes the addition of a browned

roux Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cook ...

, similar in some ways to but more involved than a

gravy Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt ...

. The classic

mother sauce In French cuisine, the mother sauces (french: sauces mères), also known as in French, are a group of sauces upon which many other sauces"daughter sauces" or are based. Different sets and classifications of mother sauces have been proposed sinc ...

example is

espagnole sauce Espagnole sauce () is a basic brown sauce, and is one of Auguste Escoffier's five mother sauces of classic French cooking. Escoffier popularized the recipe, and his version is still followed today.Escoffier (1903), ''Le Guide culinaire'', Editions ...

as well as its derivative

demi-glace Demi-glace (, 'half glaze') is a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces. The term comes from the French word ''glace'', which, when used in reference to a sauce, means "icing" or "glaze." It is tradition ...

, though other varieties exist.

Scandinavia

In Danish cuisine brown sauce (''brun sovs'') is a very common sauce, and refers to a sauce with a meat stock base (in modern times, often replaced by

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...

made from

bouillon cube A bouillon cube ( Canada and US), stock cube ( Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and UK), or broth cube (Asia) is dehydrated broth or stock formed into a small cube about wide. It is typically made from dehydrated vegetable ...

s), thickened by a roux, and sometimes colored a rich, deep brown with a product consisting of dark caramelized sugar, known as ''brun kulør'' (literally, "brown colouring") or ''madkulør'' (literally, "food colouring") or collorit soya (in Sweden). It is similar to what is known in the UK as gravy browning and in the U.S. as a brown gravy. Variations include mushroom sauce, onion sauce, and herbed brown sauce. The Norwegian variety (''brun saus'') is made in the same way as the Danish brown sauce, usually from wheat flour. The sauce is colored by first browning the butter in the pan, before adding the wheat flour and letting it brown further. Food coloring (''sukkerkulør'', literally "sugar coloring"), soy sauce, and brown cheese (both for colour and taste) are sometimes added. The sauce may acquire different tastes depending on the meat served, as it is common to cook the meat for a while in the sauce before serving. In Sweden (''brunsås'') and Finland (''ruskeakastike''),

meatball A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many type ...

s are usually served with a light brown, thick sauce, prepared in the same manner as

sauce espagnole Espagnole sauce () is a basic brown sauce, and is one of Auguste Escoffier's five mother sauces of classic French cooking. Escoffier popularized the recipe, and his version is still followed today.Escoffier (1903), ''Le Guide culinaire'', Edition ...

(combining dark brown

with stock), but attains a lighter colour and smoother consistency due to the addition of

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

. It is spiced with black pepper, and it is common to add soy sauce, blackcurrant jelly, apple sauce, onions, mustard, allspice, tomato puree or other ingredients to add flavor. It is available as ready-to-use or in dehydrated form in stores.

References

{{Brown sauces Danish cuisine French sauces Norwegian cuisine da:Brun sovs sv:Brunsås