Andre Soltner on Mother Sauces

"Mother sauces were the first things I learned when I started my apprenticeship in 1948. They’re the foundation of cooking, especially French cooking. But we don’t call them mother sauces in French; we call them les fonds, the basics. According to Escoffier, the first person to codify them, there are five of les fonds: espagnole, hollandaise, béchamel, tomat, and velouté. From each of these, you can make fifty or more other sauces. I spent the three years of my apprenticeship learning them."