The Ferguson Recipes – Recipes, Plain & Simple
📖 The Recipes Visit our Contact Page to find out how you can contribute your favorite recipes.
The Ferguson Recipes – Recipes, Plain & Simple
The Ferguson Recipes

Texas Brownie Frosting 🌄 💤 ⏳
Texas Fruit Cake 🌄 💤 ⏳
Thai Coconut Soup With Shrimp And Chicken 💤 ⏳
The Basics of The Five Mother Sauces 🌄 💤 ⏳
The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies 🌄 💤 ⏳
The Easiest Loaf of Bread You Will Ever Bake 🌄 💤
The Ferguson Recipes Blue Bunnies Soccer Team 🌄 💤 ⏳
The Field's Potato Leek Soup 🌄 💤 ⏳
🖨 🖨
The Basics of The Five Mother Sauces
The Basics of The Five Mother Sauces
{Serving suggestion only*}
Click Image to Zoom
Master the culinary foundation of French cuisine with this essential guide to the five "mother sauces." Discover how béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomate sauces form the backbone of countless classic dishes. Learn the key thickening agents, base liquids, and crucial ingredients that distinguish each sauce. Perfect for culinary students and home cooks looking to elevate their cooking skills with these fundamental techniques that professional chefs consider essential knowledge. - Claude
No Jump Zone
Ingredients
See Directions
Directions
Breaking Down the Five Mother Sauces
Sauce Thickener Base
Béchamel White roux Milk
Velouté Blond roux White stock*
Espagnole† Brown roux Brown stock**
Hollandaise*** Emulsification Butter
Tomate† Blond roux Tomatoes
 
* chicken, veal, or fish
** beef/veal
† uses mirepoix
🧑‍🍳 The Cook:  Dave Ferguson 🗂️ Categories: 🥣 Sauces & Stocks, 😎 Uncle Dave's, 🤯 Tips & Hints, 💡️ Tips for Meat & Seafood, 💡️ Tips & Hints for Everyday
📚 Collections: Uncle Dave's Cookbook, The TFR Cookbook
The Basics of The Five Mother Sauces was added on May 16, 2025 and last updated on June 22, 2025.
*Serving suggestion only. 😂 If a food photo doesn't look like it was taken by a monkey named Frank, it was most likely AI generated and not the result of Frank's minimal culinary or photographic skills. Unless you failed the "I'm not a robot" test, your recipes will probably not look like the ones in the pictures. See Creamy Turkey Veggie Soup to read more about AI images.
📄 A Quick Note About The Recipes At The Ferguson Recipes: We love sharing recipes, but please be aware that most haven't been professionally tested in our kitchen or independantly verified. Your safety is important to us, so always practice safe food handling and cooking techniques. Cook smart and use your best judgment! Eggs: If you make a recipe that uses raw eggs, please consider using pasteurized eggs. Allergens: Food allergens have not been identified in each individual recipe. Please use caution if you have any food allergies. Have questions about a specific recipe? Feel free to reach out to us.
💡️ Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, Disclaimers, and Terms of Service
🍪 Cookie Policy: Cookies are only used for registered users for the keep logged-in function, if you select it. They are also used to let us know that you don't want cookies set. Ironic, ain't it!
🤐 Privacy Policy: I don't share your information with anyone; I don't even know how!
📜 Terms of Service: Be nice!
ℹ️ About TFR: Click me to learn more about The Ferguson Recipes!
🏛️ Founded April 13, 2006
©️ 2006 - 2026 fergusonrecipes.com
📧 Contact!
📄Recipe Disclaimer: While The Ferguson Recipes strives to present reliable and delicious recipes, please note that most of the recipes on this site have not undergone rigorous testing or independent verification. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you always follow standard food safety guidelines when preparing any dish. Eggs: If you make a recipe that uses raw eggs, please consider using pasteurized eggs. Allergens: Food allergens have not been identified in each individual recipe. Please use caution if you have any food allergies. If you have any questions or concerns about a specific recipe, please feel free to contact us.
🔎️ About Searches
  • ‼️ Please enter at least 3 characters with at least 1 letter. (50 character limit.)
  • 🍏 Use quotes for exact match (e.g.,"apple pie")
  • 🍲 Use + to require words (e.g.,+chicken +rice)
  • 🥩 Use | for "OR" (e.g., beef|chicken)
  • 🚫 Use - to exclude (e.g., chocolate -nuts)
  • 🌟 Use * as a wildcard (e.g., chick*)
  • 🥣 Combine filters
    • 🥣 Try (e.g., +Mexican +taco* -rice)
    • 🥣 or (e.g., +"green beans" +ferguson)
  • ⚠️ Some special characters might be ignored.
  • 🍪 Search by category (e.g., sweets|cookies)
  • 🧂 Search by ingredient (e.g., cinnamon, nutmeg)
  • 🔍 Try multiple words for better results
  • 🛑️ NOTE: One or more "-" without anything else will find no recipes.
  • ⚠️ Occasionally, the highlighting process breaks due to embedded hyperlinks, some wierd characters, some weird punctuation, sun spots, acne spots, etc. Nowt to be done about it.
✖ Zoomed image