Being able to make the perfect sauce is the cornerstone to many, many great recipes. And the key to perfecting the sauce is knowing how to make the top “mother’ recipes, the basic sauces that are the starting point for many tasty variations. I had spent most of my life fearing these sauces, the idea being that sauce are tricky to get right. Only once I actually followed the step by step guides to these sauces, did I discover the joy that comes with a really good sauce.

These three are my go-to sauces:

The classic white or Bechamel sauce

This is probably the simplest of the sauces. There is no stock involved, just milk, flour and butter. A white sauce is made by thickening hot milk with a simple white roux of melted butter and flour. A bechamel is a white sauce flavoured with onion, cloves and nutmeg if you wish.

Perfect for:

Béchamel can be used as an ingredient in baked pasta recipes like lasagne, and also in casseroles. It’s also the base for some of the most common white sauces, cream sauces and cheese-based sauces.

Follow this handy step by step guide to making the classic white bechamel sauce

The Classic Tomato sauce

A really good tomato sauce can be just the thing to make a pasta or meat dish great.

Traditionally, the tomato sauce was thickened with roux, and some chefs still prepare it this way. But the tomatoes themselves are enough to thicken the sauce.

Perfect for:

Bolognese and other pasta dishes, some stews or with eggs.  

Follow this handy step by step guide to making the classic tomato sauce

The classic Hollandaise sauce

Hollandaise is a little bit more complicated to make. This tangy, buttery sauce is made by slowly whisking clarified butter into warm egg yolks. Clarified butter is used because it is just pure butterfat and keeps the emulsion of the Hollandaise sauce stable.

Perfect for:

Hollandaise sauce can be used on its own, and it’s particularly delicious on seafood, vegetables, and eggs such as in a traditional eggs benedict.

Follow this handy step by step guide to making the classic hollandaise sauce