Espagnole (pronounced just like the word for Spanish — español) is a basic brown sauce that's one of the five so-called mother sauces of the culinary arts. It's also the starting point for the demi-glace, a rich and deeply flavorful sauce that's traditionally served with red meat.
Basic brown sauce.
Photo © Danilo Alfaro
A sauce like this might seem intimidating, but it's not as crazy-difficult as you might think. In fact, if you can make stock, you can make an Espagnole sauce — the procedures are really similar. For that reason, before you tackle the Espagnole, it couldn't hurt to do a quick review on how to make brown stock, or how to make roux.
If you want to save time, you can use a store-bought stock instead of making your own. Just don't use one with added salt. As you reduce it, you'll just be concentrating the saltiness. At a minimum, try to find a low-sodium stock. Here's the basic brown sauce recipe. And here are a few more sauce recipes:
Basic brown sauce.
Photo © Danilo Alfaro
A sauce like this might seem intimidating, but it's not as crazy-difficult as you might think. In fact, if you can make stock, you can make an Espagnole sauce — the procedures are really similar. For that reason, before you tackle the Espagnole, it couldn't hurt to do a quick review on how to make brown stock, or how to make roux.
If you want to save time, you can use a store-bought stock instead of making your own. Just don't use one with added salt. As you reduce it, you'll just be concentrating the saltiness. At a minimum, try to find a low-sodium stock. Here's the basic brown sauce recipe. And here are a few more sauce recipes:
- Béchamel Sauce Recipe
- Chicken Velouté Sauce
- Classic Tomate Sauce
- Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
- Beurre Blanc Sauce
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