Salsa espagnole is a brown sauce that is a mother sauce of French cuisine, made with brown broth, butter, and flour. Its name has no clear Spanish origins. It can be used as a base for other French sauces and is typically made with bacon or ham, tomatoes, and aromatic vegetables.
Salsa espagnole is a brown sauce that is a mother sauce, one of the basic sauces of French cuisine. Its name comes from the French word for “Spanish,” despite the fact that the sauce has no immediate ties to Spanish cuisine or culture. The recipe for this brown sauce was originally standardized by French chef, restaurateur, and cooking writer Auguste Escoffier in the late 19th century, and hasn’t changed much since. Salsa espagnole typically comprises a brown broth, such as beef or veal broth, and butter and flour cooked together until medium brown to form a thickening agent known as brown or dark roux. There are many variations on the recipe, and the sauce can be used as a base for many other popular French sauces, such as Chausseur sauce, a variation that includes mushrooms, shallots, and white wine.
The mother sauces of French cuisine are the most basic sauces, upon which other sub sauce recipes can be based. There were originally four mother sauces named by French chef Antonin Careme in the 19th century. These four sauces were béchamel, or béchamel, made with milk and a white roux; espagnole, or brown sauce, made from brown broth and brown roux; veloute, made with light broth and blond roux; and allemande, a variation on veloute made with egg and cream. Later in the 20th century, Auguste Escoffier expanded the list of mother sauces to include tomato sauce, butter sauce, hollandaise, and mayonnaise.
Salsa espagnole has no clear Spanish origins, even though it takes its name from the French word for “Spanish.” There are some theories that attempt to explain the name. The first claims that Louis XIII’s wife Anne had Spanish cooks on her staff who helped cook the couple’s wedding feast and updated the French brown sauce by adding a quintessentially Spanish ingredient, tomatoes. Another theory suggests that during the reign of Louis XV, the French associated smoked meats, such as bacon, ham, and smoked sausage, with Spanish cuisine, and that salsa espagnole was a variation of brown sauce with ham, bacon, or both added to it. A final theory suggests that it is the color of the sauce that led to its name, as the French associated golden sauce allemande with their stereotypical image of a German, and dark colored sauce espagnole with their stereotypical image of a Spaniard.
Most recipes for salsa espagnole include butter and flour which form the roux used to thicken the sauce. The stock used is brown stock, usually calfskin. Bacon or ham is usually also found in the recipe, as are tomatoes or tomato puree. Most recipes also include a variety of aromatic vegetables, such as carrots and onions, and seasonings, such as bay leaves and cloves. Other ingredients may also be added, such as red wine, garlic, celery or horseradish.
Salsa espagnole is usually made by cooking the vegetables and seasonings in butter. Flour is then added to the pot and stirred into the butter to form a roux which is cooked until medium brown. Then, the stock is added, along with pepper and salt, and the mixture is simmered for about an hour before the seasonings can be strained off and the sauce is ready to serve.
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