Cooking Lessons Mother Sauces and Derivatives 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A cook adds sautéed mushrooms and a splash of white wine to a velouté made with chicken stock. Which classic derivative sauce is being prepared?
- Sauce Suprême (Correct answer)
- Sauce Allemande
- Sauce Chasseur
- Sauce Bercy
Correct answer: Sauce Suprême
Sauce Suprême is a chicken velouté finished with cream and often mushroom essence.
Question 2: Which mother sauce is unique in that it relies on emulsification rather than a roux or reduction for its body?
- Espagnole
- Hollandaise (Correct answer)
- Velouté
- Tomato sauce
Correct answer: Hollandaise
Hollandaise is an emulsion of egg yolks and clarified butter, not a roux-thickened sauce.
Question 3: A béchamel enriched with Gruyère or Parmesan cheese becomes which derivative sauce?
- Sauce Soubise
- Sauce Nantua
- Sauce Mornay (Correct answer)
- Sauce Crème
Correct answer: Sauce Mornay
Mornay is béchamel with grated cheese, typically Gruyère and Parmesan, melted in.
Question 4: Which combination correctly pairs a mother sauce with its traditional thickening agent?
- Espagnole with egg yolks
- Velouté with blond roux (Correct answer)
- Hollandaise with brown roux
- Béchamel with cornstarch slurry
Correct answer: Velouté with blond roux
Velouté is made by thickening a light stock with a blond roux.
Question 5: Demi-glace, a foundation for many small sauces, is classically made by combining Espagnole with what?
- Heavy cream
- Equal parts brown stock, then reducing by half (Correct answer)
- Tomato purée only
- Clarified butter
Correct answer: Equal parts brown stock, then reducing by half
Demi-glace is traditionally equal parts Espagnole and brown stock reduced by half.
Question 6: A hollandaise flavored with a reduction of tarragon, shallots, and vinegar becomes which sauce?
- Sauce Maltaise
- Sauce Mousseline
- Sauce Choron
- Sauce Béarnaise (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Sauce Béarnaise
Béarnaise is hollandaise built on a tarragon-shallot-vinegar reduction.
Question 7: Which mother sauce traditionally begins with rendering salt pork or bacon and sweating mirepoix before adding the main ingredient?
- Classic tomato sauce (Correct answer)
- Béchamel
- Hollandaise
- Velouté
Correct answer: Classic tomato sauce
Escoffier's classic tomato sauce starts with salt pork and mirepoix before tomatoes and stock.
Cooking Lessons Mother Sauces and Derivatives 2
A cook adds sautéed mushrooms and a splash of white wine to a velouté made with chicken stock.
Which classic derivative sauce is being prepared?