Gourmet Chef Recipes: Mirepoix

Five mother sauces. Every classical sauce descends from one of them — and once you see the tree, you stop memorising recipes and start cooking from ratios. Mirepoix is the gourmet sauce book professional kitchens learn from, rebuilt for your phone. No account, no sign-up, works with the aeroplane mode on. THE SAUCE TREE Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Tomato and Hollandaise — each one opens into the sauces built on top of it. Tap Espagnole, see Bordelaise, Chasseur, Madeira, Robert. Tap Hollandaise, see Béarnaise, Choron, Maltaise, Mousseline. The relationships are the lesson. RATIOS, NOT JUST RECIPES Equal weights of butter and flour. One litre of stock to 60 g of roux. Three yolks to 250 g of clarified butter. Numbers small enough to hold in your head while both hands are busy. TECHNIQUE Why an emulsion breaks and how to bring it back with a spoonful of water. What nappe actually looks…