Velouté

velouté meaning ‘velvety’, is the term used for a basic French sauce which is made with stock—veal, chicken, or (for a fish velouté) fish. First of all a roux is made with butter and flour; then plenty of stock is blended in and flavouring added. After prolonged simmering, the sauce will have acquired its velvety texture. A liaison of egg yolk and/or a little cream can be added at the end to enrich it and make it even more velvety.

Velouté, with the addition of various other ingredients, acquires new names. To take but two examples, adding egg yolk and chopped mushroom produces sauce allemande, while tomato turns velouté into sauce aurore. Sauce Bercy, based on shallots and white wine, is exceptional in that when it is used for fish it is made with a velouté de poisson, and when for meat with a concentrated meat stock.