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Sauce

Brown Sauce or Espagnole

A classic French brown sauce made by dissolving brown roux in brown stock and simmering until scum is skimmed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Brown Sauce or Espagnole

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Dissolve the brown roux in a tall, thick saucepan with the brown stock.

  2. Place the saucepan on an open fire and stir with a spatula or whisk until it begins to boil.

  3. Remove the spatula and lean the saucepan slightly to one side using a wedge, allowing boiling to occur at one point.

  4. Remove the scum as it collects.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Brown roux
Thickens the stock into a smooth, body-rich sauce as its starch swells when heated.
Brown stock
Provides the liquid base and the main savoury flavour of the sauce.

The step that matters

Leaning the saucepan to boil at one point. Tilting the pan lets boiling happen in one spot while the rest stays below a simmer, so the sauce keeps its clarity. Skimming scum as it rises removes impurities that would otherwise cloud the sauce and spoil its texture.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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