Naming Brown Sauces

Most derivative brown sauces were “invented” in the nineteenth century and compiled by Escoffier in his famous Guide Culinaire at the beginning of the twentieth century. Whereas today chefs tend to give sauces descriptive names (such as red wine duck sauce or shallot butter sauce), nineteenth-century chefs named their sauces more whimsically. When preparing a variation on a classic sauce, the chef may decide to retain the original classic name or give the sauce an entirely new name.