No. 414

Brown, Espagnole or Spanish Sauce

Sauce Brune Espagnole

Espagnole or Spanish sauce is a leading sauce from which many smaller ones are made. To obtain a good espagnole, it is necessary to have good stock (No. 421); in case there be no stock specially prepared for this purpose, use good clear broth. For four quarts of stock, melt in a saucepan one pound of butter, stir into it the same weight of very dry, good flour, so as to obtain a clear paste; then let it cook for four or five minutes on the fire, without ceasing to stir, and afterward set it back on to a very slow fire, or in a slack oven, to let it get a good dark brown color, being careful to move it about often. When the roux is cooked, take it from the oven and dilute with the prepared stock, not having it too hot, and stir the liquid again over the fire to bring it to a boil. Should the sauce not be sufficiently smooth--should any lumps appear in it, then strain it through a fine sieve, and put it back into the saucepan; and at the first boil, set it on one side so that it only boils partially, and let it despumate in this way for two or three hours. Skim off well the fat, and strain the broth into a vessel to let get cold, meanwhile stirring frequently.

← No. 413 Half-Glaze Sauce, Clear and Thickened Stocks, Essences & Auxiliaries No. 415 Veloute Sauce →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's espagnole is a brown roux sauce built on four quarts of stock, a restaurant quantity that scales down cleanly by quarters. The whole thing hinges on browning the roux slowly enough that it darkens without scorching.

Scale it downOne pound butter, one pound flour and four quarts stock will reduce over the hours of partial boiling and skimming, so expect appreciably less than four quarts of finished sauce. A quarter batch (4 oz butter, 4 oz flour, 1 quart stock) fits a domestic pan.
The slack oven"Slack" means roughly 250-300F. That is the temperature for the long browning stage, and the low heat is the point: a brown roux taken slowly to dark mahogany in the oven browns evenly, where stovetop heat can scorch the flour at the pan bottom and turn the sauce bitter. Ranhofer sets no time for it, only "being careful to move it about often."
Temperature contrastRanhofer says to dilute with stock "not having it too hot" into a roux just out of the oven. The classic rule is that roux and liquid should not both be hot; a warm-to-tepid stock whisked into a hot roux disperses without lumping. Add the first cup or two gradually, then the rest.
DespumateRanhofer's word for the long, one-sided simmer the French kitchen calls dépouiller; the English term itself comes from Latin despumare, to skim off froth. Set the pan half off the burner so the sauce boils only on the near side, and lift the fat and scum from the still side. Two to three hours is not padding, it is how the sauce clears and concentrates.
"Very dry, good flour"Flour kept in bulk could take up damp, which is presumably why Ranhofer specifies "very dry" flour. Modern bagged all-purpose flour needs no such treatment. Bread flour is not an improvement here — the extra gluten does nothing useful in a roux.
The stockRanhofer points to his own No. 421, and allows "good clear broth" in its place. A good unsalted brown stock is the substitute; do not use anything already salted or reduced, since hours of despumation will concentrate whatever salt is present.
Cooling and keepingStirring as it cools prevents a skin and speeds the drop through the temperature range where a stock-based sauce spoils. Chill it promptly, lift the fat cap the next day, and use within three or four days, or freeze in portions.
What it is forThis is a mother sauce, not a finished one. Reduced with equal parts brown stock it becomes demi-glace (see No. 413); with mushrooms, shallots and wine it becomes the small brown sauces that fill the rest of this section.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef of Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the French grande cuisine he practised for an American clientele, and the treatment here follows the hierarchy Antonin Carême had set out earlier in the century, in which a handful of leading sauces generate all the rest. The name is old and its origin is disputed: it is often said to commemorate the Spanish cooks who came to France with Anne of Austria or with Louis XIV's Spanish bride, but that story is traditional rather than documented, and the sauce as described here is thoroughly French. What the entry really records is a kitchen with staff and time — four quarts at a go, two or three hours of half-boil, someone to skim it — which is why the technique survived in professional cooking long after home cooks abandoned it.