Velouté is a white sauce often served in poultry or seafood dishes and is made from white stocks, such as chicken, veal, or fish, depending on the protein in your final recipe.
As one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine, It is also a starting base for various derivative sauces.
Learning how to prepare this velvety and smooth sauce will provide you with a base for experimenting and creating your unique sauces, besides elevating your culinary skills.
Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.
-Wolfgang puck – Austrian-American chef and restaurateur.
Jump To Section
- Velouté Sauce: The Origin
- 10 Essential Tips For A Perfect Velouté Sauce
- Velouté And Its Derivative Sauces
- What To Serve With Velouté And Its Derivative Sauces
- Classic Velouté Sauce Recipe
Velouté Sauce: The Origin
Velouté is derived from the French adjective “velour,” which means velvet.
Velouté is one of the four original Mother Sauces defined by chef Marie-Antoine Carême in the early 19th century.
However, researchers suggest that the sauce seems to pre-date Carême, and a version of it was included in François Pierre de la Varenne’s book, The French Cook, in 1651.
La Varenne introduced many firsts to French cuisine, including using a roux to thicken sauces rather than bread crumbs. He was credited with the invention for collecting and publishing numerous sauce recipes.
Later, French chef Auguste Escoffier categorized the four mother sauces of Carême, keeping Veloutê as part of the five mother sauces of French cuisine.
10 Essential Tips For A Perfect Velouté Sauce
It isn’t a complex sauce; actually, in easy steps, you will master it, however, if you want to end up with authentic silk, smooth and lump-free, as the name promises.
Mise en Place
Mise en place is a French culinary term that means “to put everything in place.” In practice, it is an essential step before preparing any recipe; you will organize the kitchen utensils and portion the ingredients in advance, avoiding mess and mistakes at the time of preparation. Therefore, get everything organized and portioned before starting the preparation of the Velouté sauce.
Get rid of residues
Any presence of residues can reflect and ruin the flavor and appearance of the sauce. So keep pots and pans clean. Remember that Velouté is blond in color, revealing any dirty present in the sauce.
No lumps
To avoid lumps in your sauce, the roux is tempered with the warm liquid, giving time for the ingredients to be thoroughly mixed and then added to the rest. Pass the sauce through a fine sieve or Chinoy in the final step. That way, no undercooked flour granules will end up on the plate.
Avoid burning the sauce
White sauces burn easily, so prefer a stainless steel double-bottom pot and gently cook over medium heat. Also, use a wooden spoon or plastic spatula to scrape the pan’s bottom and sides, as the milk solids tend to stick and burn.
The right roux
The different roux stages correspond directly to the final color of the sauce. Velouté sauce requires a blond roux that cooks for about 5 minutes over low heat.
The right stock
Velouté is a white sauce and requires a white veal, chicken, or fish stock, depending on the protein in your final recipe.
Nappé consistency
In French cuisine, nappé is the term used for a sauce’s creamy, velvety, and dense texture. To check if it has reached the right point, dip a spoon in the preparation, and when you run your finger along the back of the spoon, the “trail” formed by the finger has to remain, indicating that the Velouté sauce is ready.
Écumer
Écumer is a French term that means to remove foam or impurities from the surface of the boiling liquid with the help of a ladle or spoon. Not doing that results in a heavy and indigestible sauce.
Seasoning:
Seasoning the sauce with salt and pepper early in the cooking process can make it salty and spicy as the sauce reduces. The idea is to adjust the seasoning in the final step of preparation.
Strain the sauce
Strain the sauce to obtain a homogeneous texture, besides avoiding residues that form on the pan’s bottom and sides.
Velouté And Its Derivative Sauces
As one of the 5 Classic Mother Sauces of French Cuisine, Velouté is a starting point for many other sauces.
What To Serve With Velouté And Its Derivative Sauces
- Poached Chicken With Suprême Sauce And Pilaf Rice
- Sole Fillet In Velouté Sauce
- Smooth Chicken And Mushroom Velouté
- Deboned Chicken Legs Stuffed With Bulgur In A Riesling Sauce
- Veal Blanquette With Pilaf Rice
- Roasted Squash Velouté with pumpkin seeds
Classic Velouté Sauce Recipe
A simple, quick, and versatile sauce. Check now how to prepare it.
Now, get to work! 😋
Velouté Sauce
Equipment
- Whisk
- Sieve or chinoy
- Small saucepan
- Medium pot
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 liter Chicken stock
- 60 g Butter
- 60 g Flour
- 1 pc Bouquet garni
- Salt to taste
- White pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparing roux
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the butter begins to foam, add the flour and cook for 5mins. Set aside to cool.
Preparing bouquet garni
- Parsley stalks, 1 bay leaf, 1 celery stalk, wrapped in a green leek leaf, tied with culinary string.
Preparing sauce
- Bring the white chicken stock to simmering in the medium pot.
- Temper the roux with a little stock and then mix with the rest gradually, whisking constantly. Do not let it boil.
- Add the bouquet garni and skim any impurities from the surface of the liquid – écumer.
- When the velouté is coating the back of a spoon, remove the bouquet garni, season to taste, and strain the sauce.
Notes
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