Espagnole

Espagnole (French sauce espagnole — “Spanish sauce”) is one of the five classic mother sauces of French cuisine, systematised by the great chefs Antonin Carême and Auguste Escoffier. It is a rich, dark, deep-flavoured brown sauce.

Its base is a brown stock (from roasted bones) and a dark roux, to which browned vegetables (mirepoix), tomato paste, and spices are added, and then it is simmered for a long time, skimming off the foam, until the sauce becomes smooth and concentrated. Espagnole itself is rarely served at the table — instead it serves as the base for a great many derivative sauces. The most important of them is demi-glace, obtained by further reduction. Mastering espagnole is an important step in learning classical French cooking.