Mother sauces

I have been teaching myself about the mother sauces in a quest to better understand and master cooking, sometimes they refer to the four mother sauces and sometimes five. I have seen mayonnaise or vinaigrette as a sixth sometimes but here is what I learned.

The mother sauces date back to the early 1800's when a frenchman by the name of Antonin Careme categorized all sauces as coming from five "mother sauces" they are as follows:

1. Bechamel-a white sauce

2. Veloute - a blond sauce

3. Espagnole- a brown sauce

4. Hollandaise- a buttery sauce

5. Tomato - a red sauce

If you look at the actual recipe for these sauces you would be amazed at how often you are using them and not even realizing it. The first three use a roux as a basic part which is really cool to know. Roux=1 part flour+1 part fat(usually butter)