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The word "sauce" is a French word that means a relish to make our foodmore appetizing. Sauces are liquid or semi-liquid foods devised to makeother foods look, smell, and taste better, and hence be more easilydigested and more beneficial. Because of the lack of refrigeration in theearly days of cooking, meat, poultry, fish, and seafood didn't last long.Sauces and gravies were used to mask the flavor of tainted foods.200 A.D

. - The Romans used sauces to disguise the taste of the food. Possiblyto conceal doubtful freshness. According to the article Food & Cooking in RomanBritain by Marian Woodman:The main course, or primae mensai varied both in the number andelaboration of dishes. Roast and boiled meat, poultry, game or other meat delicacies would be served. No dish was completewithout its highly flavoured and seasoned sauce. Contrary topresent day preference, the main object seemed to be to disguisethe natural taste of food - possibly to conceal doubtful freshness,possibly to demonstrate the variety of costly spices available to thehost. Sometimes so many ingredients were used in a sauce it wasimpossible to single out any one flavour. One Roman cook bitterlycomplained that some of his fellow cooks 'When they season their dinners they don't use condiments for seasoning, but screech owls,which eat out the intestines of the guests alive'. Apicius wrote at theend of one of his recipes for a particularly flavoursome sauce, 'Noone at table will know what he is eating'. These sauces wereusually thickened with wheat flour or crumbled pastry. Honey wasoften incorporated into a 'sweet-sour' dish or sauce.Highly flavoured sauces often containing as many as a dozeningredients were extensively used to mask the natural flavours of Roman food. The most commonly used seasoning was liquamen,the nearest equivalent today being a very strong fish stock, withanchovies as its main ingredient. This was so popular that it wasfactory-produced in many towns in the Roman empire.

1651

- A little heard of sauce today, but very popular in the 17th century is SauceRobert. It is similar to the present day Espagnole Sauce. Both Sauce Rober andEspangnole are basically a brown roux (a combination of fat and flour to create athickening agent).

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In le Grand Cuisinier (1583) there is a mention of a sauce Barbe Robert,sauce already found in le Viandier under the name "taillemaslée" (friedonions, verjus, vinegar, mustard) for roasted rabbit, fry fish and fry egg.

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François Rabelais (Circa 1483-1553)in le Quart-Livre, mention: "Robert,the one who invented the sauce Robert indispensable for roast, rabbits,duck, pork, poached eggs..."

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Some attribute this sauce to a French sauce-inventor Robert Vinot but thisman lived in the 17th century, much later than the first description of thesauce inLe Viandier from Taillevent,

There are five foundation sauces or basic sauces, called in French grandessauces or sayces meres. Two of them have a record of two hundred yearsbehind them; they are the "bechamelle" and the "mayonnaise". They havelasted so long, not only because they are very good, but also because theyare so adaptable and provide a fine basis for a considerable number of other sauces.The other three, which also date back to the 18th century, are the "veloute,"the "brune," and the "blonde." These five sauces still provide the basis for making of many modern sauces, but no longer of most of them.Modern sauces may be divided into two classes: the "Careme" and"Escoffier" classes. Among the faithful, in the great kitchen of the world,Escoffier is to Careme what the New Testament is to the Old. See "Mother Sauces" for descriptions of the five basic sauces.Aioli

(eye-YO-lee) - (French) The French word for garlic is "ail." Sometimescalled the "butter of Provence." Aioli is garlic-flavored mayonnaise made frompounded cloves of garlic, egg yolks, oil, and seasoning. Just before it is served,lemon juice and a little cold water are added. It is served as a sauce for a varietyof garnishes and main courses.

History:

It is believed to have originated in Provence, France. As the landscapeof the Provence area is not suited for cows as other areas of France, more for sheep, goats, and olive trees, butter is not a common ingredient in Provencalfood. See "mayonnaise."

Béarnaise sauce

(bair-naz) - It is a variation of hollandaise sauce. White wine or vinegar, diced shallots, tarragon, and peppercorns are cooked together andreduced and sieved and then added to hollandaise sauce. The spice tarragon iswhat gives it a distinctive taste. The sauce is served with beef and someshellfish.

History:

Chef Jules Colette at the Paris restaurant called Le Pavillon Henri IV inthe 19th century invented Béarnaise sauce in Paris, France. It was namedBéarnaise in Henry's honor as he was born in Bearn, France (a region in the

Pyreness mountain range in southwest France). It is said that every chef at therestaurant tried to claim the recipe as his own.

Béchamel Sauce

(bay-shah-mel) - As the housewife in the 17th Century did nothave the luxury of modern refrigeration, they were wary of using milk in their recipes. Peddlers were known to sell watered down or rancid produce. Basically,only the rich or royalty could use milk in their sauces.In France, it is one of the four basic sauces called "meres" or "mother sauces"from which all other sauces derive. It is also know as "white sauce." It is asmooth, white sauce made from a roux made with flour, boiled milk, and butter. Itis usually served with white meats, eggs, and vegetables. It forms the basis of many other sauces.

History:

There are four theories on the origin of Béchamel Sauce:

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The Italian version of who created this sauce is that it was created in the14th century and was introduced by the Italian chefs of Catherine deMedici (1519-1589), the Italian-born Queen of France. In 1533, as part of an Italian-French dynastic alliance, Catherine was married to Henri, Dukeof Orleans (the future King Henri II of France. It is because of the Italiancooks and pastry makers who followed her to France that the Frenchcame to know the taste of Italian cooking that they introduced to theFrench court. Antonin Carème(1784-1833), celebrated chef and author,wrote in 1822:

"The cooks of the second half of the 1700’s came to know the taste of Italian cooking that Catherine de’Medici introduced to theFrench court."

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Béchamel Sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623),Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s.Béchamel Sauce is a variation of the basic white sauce of Mornay. He isalso credited with being the creator of Mornay Sauce, Sauce Chasseur,Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.

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Marquis Louis de Béchamel (1603–1703), a 17th century financier whoheld the honorary post of chief steward of King Louis XIV's (1643-1715)household, is also said to have invented Béchamel Sauce when trying tocome up with a new way of serving and eating dried cod. There are nohistorical records to verify that he was a gourmet, a cook, or the inventor of Béchamel Sauce. The 17th century Duke d'Escars supposedly iscredited with stating:

"That fellow Béchameil has all the luck! I wasserving breast of chicken a la crème more than 20 years before hewas born, but I have never had the chance of giving my name toeven the most modest sauce."