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midnightsmum

Weekend Trivia ~ Saturday

Good Morning After Boxing Day, Cottagers!! I hope that Santa was good to you all!! 'Tis a grey day, a mild day here...we had a green Christmas which suited us just fine!! Good for travelling, as we went to a town nearby for Christmas Dinner. So nice having a dinner I didn't have to cook!!

Not that I mind cooking - I find we are better cooks than those at the many restaurants here in town. Sad really, it's nice to go out for dinner, but only when the food is better. I've practiced up on some Chinese, Indian and other ethnic dishes. It's part of what I miss about living in a big city. I love cooking shows, watching to glean what I can to learn more!! We had a lovely brunch yesterday, that I cooked, and then of course our own turkey!!
French cuisine is a real challenge - learning it is quite difficult, and I sometime envy Julia Child's opportunity to learn in Paris. So many of our common techniques and sauces come from there, which leads me to my question: the French have 5 'Mother sauces'. These are the most common sauces and the basis for the most common sauces used in cuisine. Can you name 2? One will be very easy, 2 not so much!! I will be back with clues, of course.

Nancy.

Comments (28)

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Only need to name two? I am so golden!

    Cynthia

  • thinman
    9 years ago

    I know a sauce, or maybe a sauce base that starts with an R. How about the H one or the B one? Are they French sauces?

    Gray, rainy, and mild here too, which I have no problem with, because you don't have to shovel rain. DW copes by sitting in front of her SAD light, which does seem to help.

    TM

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago

    Season's Greetings everybody.
    Darn, I wish DS2 was still here he's a red seal chef, right now he's in the air on the way up to the ice roads, he'd know all of these. I can come up with possibly three of these.
    We're babysitting Sealy his yellow lab while he's away, 4 weeks in 2 weeks out. I think we've just about convinced Sealy he can't eat Percy (our cat).

    Annette

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Golden indeed Cyn!! That is the one I completely ruined yesterday morning! Our Microwave clapped out so had to do in the stove - I usually make it from scratch, and just didn't use enough patience - that'll learn me! So I went to the store and got the packaged stuff, which didn't turn out too bad, with a touch of cayenne in it!! If I am reading TM correctly, the B one is a derivation of H. Unless it is the other B, which is on that list of Mother Sauces!! The list, btw, was created by no lesser light than Escoffier. We also need a T, a V and an E. Hmmm....
    Annette - wow - now does DS2 build those roads or drive them? My cousin's son, who is usually building them this time of year, is off on a Caribbean cruise. Lucky guy!!

    Nancy.

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    {{gwi:2124447}}

    TM, this is a late Christmas gift for you, that friend just shared on facebook!!

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    I love sauces! Put a sauce on it and I will eat it. Guess that is why I love France and French food so much. One I associate with the south of France more, but the rest are to me quintessential sauces. I never heard them called "Mother" sauces, but I like that term. My favorite is a must with asparagus! This is making me hungry! I think I have made all of these.

    Cynthia

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Well, hoping the E is the French word and you will accept the English term! The rest of the names I have for sure.

    I have started using the mix for H, too. I should make it from scratch again.

    Cynthia

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago

    Nancy, DS2 runs the camp kitchens, makes sure those drivers are fed good.
    When Crisco changed the formula in their shortening, I had trouble making a decent pastry, needless to say I hate it!!! He showed me a way to make it a little more acceptable, still not as good as the old Crisco but what can you do :(.

    Annette

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Annette, my mother's pie crusts were always made with Crisco and they were the best!

    Cynthia

  • mnwsgal
    9 years ago

    I know the H sauce and the B sauce from watching Martha Stewart's Cooking show.

  • thinman
    9 years ago

    The R word I am thinking of is roux which may not qualify as a real sauce. Back in the day when DW was working and I was cooking many suppers for the family, I got fairly good at making a nice smooth roux. Lest you think that I was actually a good cook, let me tell you that as often as not, (Chefs, avert your eyes.) I would toss in tuna and hard-boiled eggs, make some toast, and call that dinner. And of course, as far as I knew, I was making a white sauce until I read somewhere about the French term.

    As for our trivia today, I suspect I am seriously out of my league.

    TM

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago

    Tuna and hard boiled eggs, add a bit of chopped green onion and diced celery, a big spoonful of salad dressing and you have a yummy sandwich filling. A bit of minced parsley optional :). I have the B, the H and the E but the other two, I'm drawing a blank.

    Annette

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The B is a lovely roux, and the topping for Greek Moussaka!! E has a brown roux and H is said to have come from the Netherlands!!

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    The V uses a roux for the base, too. Has to be velvety smooth!

    Cynthia

  • thinman
    9 years ago

    Great cartoon, Nancy! Thank you.

    TM

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yes, Cynthia, velvety smooth. TM, I am glad you understand the cartoon - it is from one of my more math inclined friends, and I only get the Santa's bit -lol.
    And Annette - I am glad Percy will not be eaten, with or without sauce!!

    Nancy.

  • mnwsgal
    9 years ago

    Just in from shoveling snow. We have a snow removal guy for the driveway but I still like to make a path that is to the bare asphalt for when we go to the mailbox area to get mail and the paper. The snow gets packed from the truck with the scoop on it but there is usually a place just along the edge that doesn't get packed which is what we clear. Then there is the back patio which needs clearing to get to the bird feeders and birdbath. Last is the deck because we have a feeder there as well and also like to use the barbecue grill all year. I'm tired because we have a very long driveway.

    Was thinking about sauces while shoveling and remembered the v one.

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago

    Mmmmmm, I think I may have the V one now :).

    Annette

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    T is actually quite easy, though you may think of a more latin country.

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Yes, that is the one I associate with the south of France, Nancy.

    When can we post answers? I guess I will wait-I just get so excited when I know the answers! ðÂÂÂ

    Cynthia

  • mnwsgal
    9 years ago

    I think I know the other two sauces but not what they are called.
    One is a brown sauce and one is a tomato based sauce. Perhaps they are called the French name for brown and tomato.

  • bragu_DSM 5
    9 years ago

    B E C H V â¦. THINK OF THE FIRST FOUR LETTERS of the B one, and smack a V on the end, the roman numeral for five.

    like the great lakes

    h o m e s

    dave

  • mnwsgal
    9 years ago

    Bechamel, white sauce
    Hollandaise, (made with egg, yellow sauce?)
    Veloute, velvet smooth
    Brown Sauce
    Tomato Sauce

    edited to add: Merry xmas

    This post was edited by mnwsgal on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 4:16

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Agree-
    Sauce Hollandaise
    ...velouté
    ...béchamel
    ...tomate
    ...brown-not sure of the French name of this one-with roux and reduction becomes a demi-glace

    Wishing I were eating Eggs Benedict right now!

    Cynthia

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Ah, we do love to eat, don't we? Welcome Dave, to our little game - Cynthia has another question today, and you got all 5!!

    Sauces in French cuisine date back to the Middle Ages. There were many hundreds of sauces in the culinary repertoire. In 'classical' French cooking (19th and 20th century until nouvelle cuisine), sauces were a major defining characteristic of French cuisine.

    In the early 19th century, the chef Marie-Antoine Carême created an extensive list of sauces, many of which were original recipes. It is unknown how many sauces Carême is responsible for, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds. The cream sauce, in its most popular form around the world, was concurrently created by another chef, Dennis Leblanc, working in the same kitchen as Carême. He considered the four grande sauces to be espagnole, velouté, allemande, and béchamel, from which a large variety of petites sauces could be composed.

    In the early 20th century, the chef Auguste Escoffier refined Carême's list of basic sauces in the four editions of his classic Le Guide Culinaire and its abridged English translation A Guide to Modern Cookery. He dropped allemande as he considered it a variation of velouté, and added hollandaise and sauce tomate, defining the five fundamental "mother sauces" still used today:

    Sauce Béchamel, milk-based sauce, thickened with a white roux.
    Sauce Espagnole, a fortified brown veal stock sauce, thickened with a brown roux.
    Sauce Velouté, light stock-based sauce, thickened with a roux or a liaison, a mixture of egg yolks and cream.
    Sauce Hollandaise, an emulsion of egg yolk, butter and lemon or vinegar.
    Sauce Tomate, tomato-based

    A sauce which is derived from one of the mother sauces by augmenting with additional ingredients is sometimes called a "daughter sauce" or "secondary sauce." Most sauces commonly used in classical cuisine are daughter sauces. For example, Béchamel can be made into Mornay by the addition of grated cheese, and Espagnole becomes Bordelaise with the addition of reduction of red wine, shallots, and poached beef marrow.

    And yes, we did have Eggs Benedict for brunch on Boxing Day. And I did ruin it, so ran over to the grocery store to get packets of mix, which they were out of, so I borrowed from my cousins DH and made Bearnaise - yum!! Which, as always, got me thinking. Bearnaise, btw, is a daughter sauce. Hollandaise is interesting: It is so named because it was believed to have mimicked a Dutch sauce for the King of the Netherlands' state visit to France.

    So, there you all go - more sauces, to go with our gravies and our pudding sauce!! Well 3 of you were darn near perfect - TM, Annette were almost there - did you get there?

    For everyone:
    {{gwi:596883}}

    Glad we all had a nice Christmas - see you next year!!

    Nancy.

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago

    I had the bechamel, hollandaise, espagnole and finally the veloute and was thinking their must be a tomato base one but couldn't come up with a name duh, LOL.
    Thanks for the stars Nancy, now on to today's trivia.

    Annette

  • thinman
    9 years ago

    I got nowhere, Nancy, except to the realization that I know zip about French cooking, and precious little about any other cooking.

    Thanks for the mind expansion.

    TM

  • mnwsgal
    9 years ago

    While I enjoy watching cooking shows and collecting recipes I rarely do more than basic cooking for dinners. I learned early that DH prefers simple food without sauces, except for tomato based sauces. Perhaps when/if we move to an apartment I will take on cooking as a new hobby and experiment with sauces. I copied off a Julia Child hollandaise recipe last night. Probably already have it in a J.Child cookbook somewhere.

    Thanks for the fun and info, Nancy.

    Edited to add: Watching Downton Abbey and heard that Daisy made a bechamel sauce.

    This post was edited by mnwsgal on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 10:31

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