French Sauce Names Explained

• Béchamel – butter, a little flour and creamy milk. Can be flavoured with stock, vegetables, mushrooms etc, but is far richer and tastier than the British ‘white sauce’, which is made with water.
• Bérnaise – egg yolk, vinegar, herbs, pepper and shallots.
• Bordelaise – onions, shallots, garlic and lots of ceps, which can be cooked with wine, stock and/ or a Béchamel sauce.
• Chasseur – carrots, shallots, garlic and parsley, all minced up in a rich stock.
• Gribiche – emulsified hard-boiled egg yolks, mustard, chopped pickled cucumbers, capers, parsley, chervil and tarragon
• Marseillaise – shallots, lots of garlic, olive oil, paprika and stock.
• Mornay – Béchamel with gruyère cheese, and sometimes mushroom stock.
• Perpignan – stock, dried ham, truffles, mushrooms, herbs and madeira.
• Périgourdine / Périgueux – Like Perpignan sauce, but with white wine, and no herbs or mushroom.
• Provençal – tomatoes, herbs, onions, garlic, olive oil.
• Robert – white wine, stock, herbs, tomato purée, and mustard.