To make velouté, cook equal parts butter and flour into a pale blond roux, then whisk in a cup of warm light stock and simmer until it coats a spoon. Season with salt and white pepper. It is the savory French mother sauce.
What is velouté?
Velouté means velvety, and that is exactly what it is: a smooth, pale sauce with the body of cream and the savor of good stock. It is one of Escoffier's five mother sauces and the direct sibling of béchamel. The technique is identical, a roux thinned with liquid, but where béchamel uses milk, velouté uses a light stock from chicken, fish, or veal.
That single swap is why velouté matters. It carries the flavor of whatever stock you build it on, which makes it the parent of a whole family of finished sauces. Add cream and you have suprême. Add an egg-yolk liaison and you have allemande. Learn the base and those are no longer separate recipes.
What goes in velouté?
- ·1 oz butter (2 tbsp)
- ·1 oz all-purpose flour (about 1/4 cup)
- ·1 cup warm light stock (chicken, fish, or veal)
- ·1/4 tsp salt
- ·White pepper to taste
The ratio is the same equal-parts roux as béchamel, one cup of stock to each ounce of butter and flour for a medium sauce. The quality of the stock is the whole game here, because unlike milk, the stock is the flavor.
How do you make velouté?
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until it foams.
- Whisk in the flour and cook the roux two to three minutes, stirring constantly, until it turns the color of pale straw. This is a blond roux, slightly more cooked than for a white sauce.
- Pour in the warm stock in a slow stream, whisking the whole time so no lumps form.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook ten to fifteen minutes, skimming any foam off the surface, until it coats the back of a spoon.
- Season with salt and white pepper. Strain through a fine sieve for a flawless finish.
What should you know before making velouté?
- Use the best stock you have. A velouté tastes exactly as good as the stock under it, and no seasoning fixes a weak one.
- Cook the roux to pale gold, not white. That extra minute is what separates velouté from béchamel.
- Skim while it simmers. The slow skim is what gives velouté its clean, glossy surface.
- Match the stock to the dish. Fish velouté for seafood, chicken velouté for poultry, veal for white meats.
Where did velouté come from?
Velouté was set among the grand sauces of French cooking by Auguste Escoffier, who organized the kitchen's many sauces into five mothers and their families in 1903. It sits beside béchamel as the second of the white sauces, distinguished by stock in place of milk.
Drawn from the public-domain text of Auguste Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire (1903).
What can you make from velouté?
Common questions.
What is the ratio for velouté sauce?
Equal parts butter and flour by weight, whisked into one cup of stock per ounce of each. One ounce butter, one ounce flour, one cup light stock makes a medium velouté.
What is the difference between velouté and béchamel?
They use the same roux technique. Béchamel is thickened with milk, velouté with a light stock. That is why velouté tastes savory and carries the flavor of whatever stock you use.
What stock should I use for velouté?
A light, pale stock: chicken, fish, or veal. Match it to the dish. Avoid dark or heavily roasted stocks, which would make the sauce cloudy and too strong.
What is velouté used for?
It is a base sauce for poached chicken and fish, pot pies, and creamed dishes, and the parent of suprême and allemande. It is rarely served plain and almost always finished into something.
How long does velouté keep?
Three to four days in the fridge with wrap pressed onto the surface. Reheat gently with a splash of stock to loosen it.