Veganizing Classic Sauces – Espagnole Sauce
A sauce…or perhaps a gravy…whatever you call it, this useful vegan recipe can be used to make rich stews, hearty soups, intensely flavored sauces and yes, even gravy to pour over your mashed potatoes.
This is part III of my multi-part series explaining how I veganized five classical French sauces. In parts I and II, I introduced my take on Vegan Béchamel and Velouté…both important sauces that significantly expand the home cook’s recipe archive. This week, I explore a very rich version of brown sauce that is commonly known as Espagnole Sauce. I offer my base recipe, that is easily converted into many different sauce derivates, plus ideas on how I use the ideas of this roux-based sauce to create stews and flavorful sauces in a more condensed manner.
Most home cooks probably laugh at the notion of making elaborate sauces at home.
I don’t blame anyone who feels this way. It’s a lot of time to invest in the kitchen, waiting patiently for the ingredients in a sauce to slowly break down and release their magic essence into the surrounding liquid. This is supposed to be the kind of preparation and work that goes on in a professional kitchen…and one reason people pay good money to eat out whenever they have enough disposable income in their budget.
Sauce Espagnole, otherwise known simply as brown sauce, is a perfect example of the kind of sauce I’m talking about.
According to my culinary bible of classical cooking, Larousse Gastronomique, “sauce espagnole is a brown sauce, which is used as a basis for a large number of derivative brown sauces.” So, in other words, it’s a base sauce to make other sauces. And from my experience, even this base sauce is rarely made in restaurants these days. Instead, a rich stock is reduced and concentrated until it becomes thick and has a wobbly gel-like consistency. Two- to three-spoons of this glaze are added to a hot sauté pan – usually with other flavoring ingredients – to create a sauce made in the last possible moment. Or the demi-glace (as it’s called) can be used to add intensive flavor to soups or stews.
And to go even further, most restaurants don’t even invest time in their kitchen to make a demi-glace…they just purchase it already made for them.
You might be saying at the point, “hmm…interesting” while asking yourself why on earth would a home cook want to know how to make a vegan version of something they never considered…or even know how to use in their kitchen?
Fair question. Here’s my answer – Mushroom Bourguignon with Roasted Carrots.
The process of making a classical espagnole sauce involves making a richly flavored broth, flavoring it with a small amount of tomato purée and thickening the liquids with a dark roux.[1]
A vegan version of this same sauce requires far less time to make because there is no massive reduction and concentration of the broth – that’s what takes the time. The only necessary component requiring some pre-cooking is in making my Umami Broth…a simple procedure that takes less than an hour and can be made days or weeks in advance. Once you have the broth, the rest is basically the same as making a simple béchamel – start by making a darker roux, then slowly incorporating the broth with tomato purée and cooking the mixture 20-30 minutes. This gets you a brick red creamy sauce that is delicious on mashed potatoes. But apart from flavoring soups and stews, the vegan applications are relatively limited.
Now here’s the part that’s valuable to learn if you want to create deeply flavored vegan food that’s on a different level…a level that is often better than what vegan restaurants present these days. If you begin a recipe by properly cooking your aromatic vegetables (typically onions, carrots, celery, garlic) until they soften and begin to caramelize, then adding the oil and flour, all that flavor from the cooked vegetables goes right into your roux. Adding the broth next creates a creamy mixture with layers of flavor that elegantly coats vegetables with delicious intensity. This is the process I used in creating my Mushroom Bourguignon with Roasted Carrots….as well as my Caramelized Onion Sauce that is simply divine when combined with potatoes.
Learning how to make a vegan version of espagnole sauce offers any home cook a path to understanding how to make thick and comforting sauces…or gravies…or soups…or perhaps a stew like the classical French Bourguignon. I think you will agree with me after making and tasting one of the recipes presented below…there is no turning back to a world of thin-tasting store-bought imitations.
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[1] Roux is a mixture of equal parts fat and flour that is gently cooked in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Refer to my prior newsletter articles about Béchamel and Velouté for a thorough explanation
