Espagnole Sauce , its history and a recipe by the Bard of Bat Yam, Poet Laureate of Zion , Stephen Darori

Espagnole sauce






Beef with espagnole sauce and French fries

Espagnole sauce (French pronunciation: ​[ɛspaɲɔl]) is a basic brown sauce, and is one of Auguste Escoffier's five mother saucesof classic French cooking. This sauce was already compiled in different Spanish cooking handbooks of the late 19th century,[1]and Escoffier popularized the recipe, which is still followed today.[2]

Espagnole has a strong taste, and is rarely used directly on food. As a mother sauce, it serves as the starting point for many derivatives, such as sauce africaine, sauce bigarade, sauce bourguignonne, sauce aux champignons, sauce charcutière, sauce chasseur, sauce chevreuil, and demi-glace. Hundreds of other derivatives are in the classical French repertoire.

Escoffier included a recipe for a Lenten espagnole sauce, using fish stock and mushrooms, in Le Guide culinaire, but doubted its necessity.

Preparation

The basic method of making espagnole is to prepare a very dark brown roux, to which veal stock or water is added, along with browned bones, pieces of beef, vegetables, and various seasonings. This blend is allowed to slowly reduce while being frequently skimmed. The classic recipe calls for additional veal stock to be added as the liquid gradually reduces, but today, water is generally used, instead. Tomato paste or pureed tomatoes are added towards the end of the process, and the sauce is further reduced.


Etymology

Although espagnole is the French word for "Spanish", the sauce's connection to Spanish cuisine is argued by French cooks. According to Louis Diat, the creator of vichyssoise and the author of the classic Gourmet's Basic French Cookbook:

"There is a story that explains why the most important basic brown sauce in French cuisine is called sauce espagnole, or Spanish sauce. According to the story, the Spanish cooks of Louis XIII's bride, Anne, helped to prepare their wedding feast, and insisted upon improving the rich brown sauce of France with Spanish tomatoes. This new sauce was an instant success, and was gratefully named in honor of its creators."

In Kettner's Book of the Table, published in 1877, an entirely different explanation is given:


When the Bourbons made their way to the Spanish throne under Louis XV, and when Spanish fashions came back to Paris, the French cooks took a hint from the Spanish pot-au-feu—the olla podrida—and produced a variation of their brown sauce which they called "Spanish". The essential principle of the French pot-au-feu was beef; the essential principle of the Spanish was bacon, ham, the red Estremadura sausage—all well smoked... The Duc de St. Simon sent home marvellous accounts of the hams of Montanches; there grew up a rage for Spanish hams; and the French were not to blame, for they have no hams of their own which have any reputation. Great as they are in pig's flesh, they are poor hands at bacon and ham; and the treasures of Montanches were a revelation to them. They ran wild after ham... And so, by introducing the flavour of the Estremadura bacon and ham into the old brown sauce of the French, there came into being the Spanish sauce... The hams of Montanches are not too plentiful in this world of sorrow, and the cooks came to be satisfied with any ham—even with French ham, which is little better than salted pork. So the meaning of the prescription was lost; the peculiarity of the Spanish sauce passed away, and its name became a puzzle.The name "Kettner" in the title refers to Auguste Kettner, former chef to Napoleon III, who emigrated to England and in 1867 opened a restaurant in Soho—Kettner's—one of the oldest restaurants in London.


Espagnole: A Basic Brown Sauce  Recipe



75 mins
Prep: 15 mins,
Cook: 60 mins
Yield: 8 servings (2 oz each)


Espagnole (pronounced like the word for Spanish: español) is a basic brown sauce that is one of the five mother sauces of classical cuisine. It's also the starting point for a rich and deeply flavorful sauce called demi-glace, which is traditionally served with red meats.

Making espagnole sauce is not too different from making velouté—they're both essentially a stock-based sauces thickened with roux. Where they differ is that espagnole is made with brown stock (i.e. beef stock, and see the note below), and it includes additional ingredients, such as tomato purée (which adds color and acidity) and mirepoix, which is a fancy name for chopped up carrots, celery and onions, which add a tremendous amount of flavor and aroma.

You'll also see something called a sachet, which is simply a few dried herbs and spices bundled up in cheesecloth and tied with a long piece of cooking twine to make it easy to fish it out afterward.

To make demi-glace, you'd combine equal parts espagnole and brown stock along with additional mirepoix (and probably another sachet) and reduce it by half (hence demi). Here's a shortcut method.

What You'll Need

1/2 cup onions, diced

1/4 cup carrots, diced

1/4 cup celery, diced

1 oz clarified butter

1 oz all-purpose flour

3 cups brown stock (i.e. beef stock)

2 tbsp. tomato purée

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

3–4 fresh parsley stems

7–8 whole black peppercorns


How to Make It

1. Fold the bay leaf, thyme, parley stems and peppercorns in a square of cheese cloth, and tie the corners with a piece of kitchen twine. Leave the string long enough so that you can tie it to the handle of your pot to make it easier to retrieve it.
2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat until it becomes frothy.
3. Add the mirepoix and sauté for a few minutes until it's lightly browned. Don't let it burn, though.
4. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the mirepoix a little bit at a time, until it is fully incorporated and forms a thick paste (this is your roux). Lower the heat and cook the roux for another five minutes or so, until it just starts to take on a very light brown color. Don't let it burn, though! 
5. Using a wire whisk, slowly add the stock and tomato purée to the roux, whisking vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps.
6. Bring to a boil, lower heat, add the sachet and simmer for about 50 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by about one-third, stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom of the pan. Use a ladle to skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.
7. Remove the sauce from the heat and retrieve the sachet. For an extra smooth consistency, carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.
8. Serve hot. If you won't be serving the sauce right away, keep it covered and warm until you're ready to use it.

NOTE: You can use store-bought beef stock for making your espagnole, but as always, make sure to use a low-sodium or, if at all possible unsalted, stock. Anytime you're reducing a liquid with salt in it, you'll be concentrating the saltiness, which you might not want to do, especially if you plan to use the resulting sauce to make yet another sauce, which itself might be reduced. Better to season at the very end of cooking.