The base is red.

Sauces are so important in our meals; they provide a different consistency, flavour, colour and smell. And I wanted to share with you some knowledge about these sauces, how to make them, their variations and what to eat them with. As there are five 'mother' sauces and more 'small' sauces than I care to count this was going to be quite a project. But one I really wanted to do as I cannot imagine life without some of these wonderful concoctions. Don't get me wrong; I haven't written down all the sauces in the world, not even all the sauces in one single 'cuisine'. What I have done was provide you, I hope, with the most used sauces in most restaurants, varieties are created on an ongoing basis and with the five mother sauces now in your possession, I am sure that you yourself will be able to add to the ever-growing list.

I started this project five days ago with an article on the first of the five mother sauces, Sauce Béchamel or white sauce. A day later I wrote about the second of the mother sauces, Sauce Velouté. Two days ago I was all about the third mother sauce; Sauce Espagnole. Yesterday was devoted to the fourth mother sauce; Sauce Hollandaise. And today I finally come to the last of the mother sauces; Sauce Tomate. You will already have guessed the main ingredient in this sauce; tomatoes. Although we recognise tomato sauce on pasta and pizza, there are a few more steps involved in this mother sauce to create its full flavour.

First you have to render salt pork and then fry some aromatic vegetables. Then you add tomatoes, stock and a ham bone, and simmer it in the oven for a couple of hours. Cooking the sauce in the oven helps to heat it evenly and there is a limited chance of burning... The sauce can be thickened with roux, as was done traditionally, but the tomatoes will act as a thickening agent themselves when cooked long enough (the same as with jams and chutneys). The original recipe contains salt pork, a ham bone and chicken or veal stock but you can leave out the bone, replace the salt pork with 60 millilitre olive oil and replace the stock with vegetable stock.

Sauce Tomate

Ingredients:

• 60 gram diced salt pork
• 500 gram diced onion
• 240 gram diced carrot
• 240 gram dice celery sticks
• 1 minced clove of garlic
• 800 gram (2 cans) crushed or chopped tomatoes, including the liquid
• 950 millilitre veal or chicken stock
• 1 ham bone
• Salt and sugar to taste
• Herb sachet
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 fresh parsley stems
• 8-10 crushed black peppercorns

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150°C
2. Tie the sachet ingredients into a cheesecloth sack using a piece of kitchen twine
3. In a heavy, oven-safe casserole pan, render the salt pork over low heat until the fat liquefies (or heat up olive oil)
4. Add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic and fry for a few minutes until the onion is translucent but not brown
5. Add the tomatoes, the ham bone, the stock and the sachet, bring to a boil, cover, and transfer the pot to the oven. Simmer in the oven, partially covered, for two hours
6. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the sachet and ham bone and blend the sauce in a blender or food processor until smooth, working in batches if necessary
7. Season to taste with salt and a small amount of sugar — just enough to cut the acidity of the tomatoes
• If you are not serving the sauce right away, keep it covered and warm until you're ready to use it

The recipes below are all based on half the amount of sauce of the recipe above.

Spanish Sauce
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, fry 250 gram chopped onions, 125 gram chopped green pepper and 1 minced clove of garlic until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 250 gram sliced mushrooms and continue to fry until the mushrooms are soft. Add a half recipe of Sauce Tomate, bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco and serve.

Sauce Creole 
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, fry 200 gram chopped onions, 125 gram chopped green pepper, 200 gram chopped celery and 1 minced clove of garlic until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add a half recipe of Sauce Tomate, 1 bay leaf, ½ teaspoon dried oregano and the zest of 1 lemon. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper (to taste) and serve.

Portuguese Sauce
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, fry 200 gram chopped onions until they're translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 475 gram peeled, deseeded and finely chopped tomatoes (concassé) and 1 minced clove of garlic and continue to fry until the tomatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. Add a half recipe of Sauce Tomate, bring to a simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Sauce Provençale
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, fry 200 gram chopped onions until they're translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 475 gram peeled, deseeded and finely chopped tomatoes (concassé), 1 minced clove of garlic and 2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence. Continue to fry until the tomatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. Add a half recipe of Sauce Tomate, 2 tablespoons capers and 2 tablespoons chopped black olives, bring to a simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

The mother sauce and its four small sauces are each perfect with pasta and the mother sauce itself can also be used as the base for pizzas. Sauce Provençale is perfect with grilled chicken and fish but any of the sauces can take the place of another: it is all up to your own taste and preference.

This is the last article about the five mother sauces; I hope they will be helpful, whether you have been cooking for years or are just starting to cook. Each of the sauces can be adapted to your own tastes and preferences and most of them can be adapted for special diets but, let's face it, a sauce will always be to enrich a meal so making them fat free is nigh on impossible: you need the fat for flavour and texture.

Sauce Espagnole and Sauce Tomate keep well in the freezer and only need reheating and a good stir once hot. Sauce Béchamel can be frozen but needs a little bit more elbow grease once defrosted, meaning that you will have to whisk it whilst reheating. Demi-glace (made from Espagnole) can be frozen or kept in the fridge where it will solidify slightly, which means you can literally take out a tablespoon to add to soups, stocks and gravies as and when needed. Sauce Velouté can be frozen but, like Béchamel, needs a little more work whilst reheating. Sauce Hollandaise needs to be eaten as soon as possible after it is made and does not keep well in either fridge or freezer.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this 'project' as much as I have had creating it. Until the next time and the next project?

Enjoy