Veloute Sauce | How to make /Vuh-loo-tay/

Veloute Definition

What is Velouté sauce? Veloute is one of the 5 French mother sauces listed by Auguste Escoffier in the early 1900s along with bechamel, tomato, hollandaise, and espagnole. It is a savory sauce made with a blond roux (don’t let the butter brown!) and white stock made from either veal, chicken, or fish.

Generally speaking, in North America chicken stock is primarily used to make it. In other parts of the world, veal is the stock of choice. Naturally, fish stock is generally used when creating a fish dish.

How to make velouté sauce

Velouté Sauce Recipe

For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use chicken stock as the basic liquid ingredient. If you’d like to make a veal or fish veloute, simply replace the chicken stock with equal amounts of veal or fish stock. This recipe makes 2 cups.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and diced
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 stalk fresh thyme
• 2 fresh parsley stalks
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Then add the diced onion, celery, and carrot.
2. Cook the vegetables until they start to sweat, but don’t brown them.
3. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables to make a roux, lower the heat, and stir for 2 – 3 minutes.
4. Increase the heat and slowly add the stock, whisking vigorously until it comes to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the bay leaf, fresh thyme, and parsley.
6. Let simmer for at least 10 to 15 minutes, or up to an hour.
7. Strain through a mesh cloth or a fine sieve.
8. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning if needed.
9. Serve right away or dot with butter and refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to 1 week.

NOTES:

What is a roux? A roux is a combination of equal parts butter and flour that is used to thicken a sauce. A blond roux is when you don’t allow the butter to brown.

What is the right nappe for the sauce? First of all, the nappe is the desired consistency of a sauce. The perfect nappe is when the sauce is just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Why use white pepper instead of fresh ground black pepper? White pepper is used for aesthetics. Since we’re making a white sauce, we use white pepper. Black pepper would still taste amazing but the sauce would be speckled.

Why strain the sauce? Straining out all the vegetable bits and pieces of herbs creates a velvety smooth rich sauce. It’s a texture thing.

Why dot with butter when refrigerating? Dotting with soft butter or drizzling with dots of melted butter keeps a skin from forming on top of the sauce. This technique is referred to quite often in classical French recipes.

How to pronounce Veloute

If you type this into google you’ll get something like: / Vul-loo-tee / with the accent on the middle syllable. DON’T BE FOOLED. If you say it that way, count on getting some very strange looks.

I am in no way fluent in French, but I do take my cues from French native Julien Miquel’s YouTube videos on how to pronounce French words. He is an accomplished winemaker with a voice like chocolate velvet. His pronunciation sounds more like this (slight accent on the last syllable):

Vuh – loo – tay

3 Leading Sauces made from Veloute

Allemande

According to French cuisine, allemande sauce should be made with a veal veloute. However, it is often made with chicken veloute in North America.

Allemande sauce is made by adding 1 egg yolk, 2 ounces (1/4 cup) heavy cream, and a squeeze of lemon juice to the basic veloute recipe.

Supreme

Make supreme sauce by stirring in 4 ounces (1/2 cup) heavy cream, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and a squeeze of lemon into the basic veloute recipe.

White Wine Sauce

Start this sauce by reducing 4 ounces (1/2 cup) white wine by half in a hot saucepan over medium-high heat. Then stirring frequently, add 2 cups of veloute sauce, 2 ounces (1/4 cup) heavy cream, 1 tablespoon butter, and a squeeze of lemon.