MOTHER SAUCES
hen French chef Auguste Escoffier devised in 1903 (still in print and referenced widely in cookery), he catalogued the mother sauces, originally established by Marie Antoine Carême in the late 18th century. The selection of cooked and warmed sauces form the cornerstone of what chefs learn when they first begin culinary school, and set the foundations for a universe of saucy deviations, or what Escoffier pegs as secondary, daughter or small sauces. He also prescribes what a good sauce should be: smooth, light (without being watery nor too viscous), glossy to the eye, and decided in taste.
