Velouté sauce is one of the five main sauces, dubbed "mother sauces" of classic French cuisine. The other mother sauces are Espagnole, tomato, béchamel, and Hollandaise.
Velouté is classified as a white sauce and has a stock base and a smooth, velvet-like texture. The word "velouté" itself is derived from "velour," which translates to "velvet."
Velouté, along with the other mother sauces, is a base sauce that can be used to make other sauces, such as allemande sauce, sauce supreme, and white wine sauce. There are three types of velouté sauce -- chicken, veal and fish, and the type of sauce depends on what stock is used to make it. Of all three, chicken is the most common. Velouté sauce is an important ingredient in many French dishes involving poultry or seafood, including chicken wellington and baked haddock.
Making your own velouté sauce is easy. All you need is:
Instructions:
To store this sauce, you can refrigerate it for up to a week or freeze it for about a month. The sauce might thicken when it's frozen but will return to its smooth, original consistency when reheated on the stove.