Espagnole sauce () is a basic

brown sauce Brown sauce is a condiment commonly served with food in the United Kingdom and Ireland, normally dark brown in colour. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce. Brown sauce is typically eate ...

, and is one of

Auguste Escoffier Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoi ...

's five

mother sauces 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 ...

of classic

French cooking French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the r ...

. Escoffier popularized the recipe, and his version is still followed today.Escoffier (1903), ''

Le Guide culinaire ''Le Guide Culinaire'' () is Escoffier's 1903 French restaurant cuisine cookbook, his first. It is a classic and still in print. Escoffier developed the recipes while working at the Savoy, Ritz and Carlton hotels from the late 1880s to the time ...

'', Editions Flammarion Espagnole has a strong taste, and is rarely used directly on food. As a mother sauce, it serves as the starting point for many derivatives, such as sauce africaine, sauce bigarade, sauce bourguignonne, sauce aux champignons, sauce charcutière, sauce chasseur, sauce chevreuil, and

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 traditio ...

. Hundreds of other derivatives are in the classical French repertoire. Escoffier included a recipe for a

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Jesus, temptation by Satan, according ...

en espagnole sauce, using fish stock and mushrooms, in ''

'', but doubted its necessity.

Preparation

The basic method of making espagnole is to prepare a very dark brown

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 c ...

, to which

brown stock Stock, sometimes called bone broth, is a savory cooking liquid that forms the basis of many dishes particularly soups, stews, and sauces. Making stock involves simmering animal bones, meat, seafood, or vegetables in water or wine, often for an ...

(stock made from simmering roasted bones, meats and aromatics) is added, along with roasted bones, pieces of

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

brown sugar Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar. Brown Sugar may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul * ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...

and various

seasoning Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, salts, and/or sugar, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". ...

s. This blend is allowed to slowly reduce while being frequently skimmed. The classic recipe calls for additional veal stock to be added as the liquid gradually reduces, but today, water is generally used instead.

Tomato paste Tomato paste is a thick paste made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce the water content, straining out the seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. It is used to impart an inten ...

or pureed tomatoes are added towards the end of the process, and the sauce is further reduced. Another version can be made with white stock and butter by adding onion, ham, red pepper, celery, cayenne pepper and parsley, with flour as thickener.

Etymology

''Espagnole'' is the French word for "Spanish", but the sauce's origin story is argued by French cooks. According to

Louis Diat Louis Felix Diat (May 5, 1885 – August 29, 1957) was a French-American chef and culinary writer. It is also believed that he created vichyssoise soup during his time at the Ritz Paris. Biography Childhood Diat was born in 1885 in Bourbon-l' ...

, the creator of ''

vichyssoise Vichyssoise ( , ), also known as potage Parmentier, velouté Parmentier, or crème Parmentier, is a thick soup made of boiled and puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. It is traditionally served cold, but it can be eaten hot ...

'' and the author of the classic ''Gourmet's Basic French Cookbook'': In ''Kettner's Book of the Table'', published in 1877, an entirely different explanation is given: The name "Kettner" in the title refers to Auguste Kettner, former chef to

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

, who emigrated to England and in 1867 opened a restaurant in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

, Kettner's, one of the oldest restaurants in London.

References

External links

''The Cook's Decameron'' from Project Gutenberg

Emeril Lagasse's recipe at emerils.com
{{portal bar, Food Brown sauces French sauces Mother sauces de:Spanische Sauce#Spanische Sauce

Preparation

Etymology

See also

References

External links