Exploring My French Canadian Heritage: A Journey Through the Five French Mother Sauces

Sauce two — Velouté

My take on chicken Velouté — Image courtesy of the author.

I’ve decided to take on French cooking to reconnect with my French Canadian heritage. This post will update you on my recent challenge to learn the five French Mother Sauces.
In my last post, I spoke of Béchamel sauce. Today’s sauce, Velouté, has an exciting story.

Velouté sauce is a classic French sauce and one of the five “mother sauces” in traditional French cuisine. Its name translates to “velvety” in English. The great chefs traditionally made roux-thickened Velouté with clear stocks, such as chicken or fish. It is similar to Béchamel sauce except that Béchamel uses milk instead of clear stock.

Velouté’s origins

Food historians believe Velouté sauce was first created in the 18th century, during the reign of King Louis XIV. This time was the height of French Cuisine’s popularity. A chef of the royal court named Antoine Beauvilliers wrote the first known recipe for Velouté sauce in his 1814 book “The Art of French Cooking.” So while August Escoffier classified the mother sauces, Beauvilliers’ book made them famous.

Although the origin of Velouté seems less controversial than that of Béchamel, it is not without some…