2 homemade sauces: mushroom wine and Béarnaise

Skip the grocery line (and preservatives that come with many canned goods) and whip up your own batch of sauces.

Many a steak lover considers this sauce ambrosia, but it is equally good with veal or chicken. Store-bought mushroom gravies just don't come close in taste or economy.

What you need:

• 50 g (1/4 c or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter or margarine
• 60 g (2 oz) Black Forest or Virginia ham, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced
• 50 g (1/4 c) all-purpose flour
• 750 ml (3 c) beef stock or canned beef broth
• 375 ml (1 1/2 cups) chicken stock or canned chicken broth
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) tomato paste
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
• 1 ml (1/4 tsp) dried thyme, crumbled
• 1 ml (1/4 tsp) black pepper
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) butter
• 2 shallots, minced
• 250 g (8 oz) button, shiitake, or portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 150 ml (2/3 c) dry red wine

What to do:

1. In a large, heavy saucepan over moderate heat, melt the butter or margarine. Add the ham and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly golden, abut eight minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it is soft, about five minutes. Add the carrot and cook until it is tender, about five minutes.

2. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetable mixture and stir until it is blended. Gradually add the beef and chicken stocks, tomato paste, salt, thyme, and pepper, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring frequently and skimming off any scum that rises to the surface, until the sauce thickens and thickly coats the back of a spoon, about 30 minutes. Strain the sauce through a sieve and discard the solids.

3. In a large skillet over moderate heat, melt the butter. Add the shallots and cook until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender. Add the red wine, increase the heat, and boil, uncovered, until the mixture is reduced by half.

4. Add the mushroom mixture to the sauce, stirring until the ingredients are well blended.Makes 800 millilitres (three and a half cups).

Adding immediate elegance to almost any meal, egg sauces, notably this Béarnaise Sauce, are among the most refined. Once made with either raw eggs or eggs only lightly cooked in a double boiler, these recipes cook the eggs enough to remove any fear of salmonella contamination.

Slow and steady is the rule when cooking egg sauces — or you may scramble your culinary plans. Béarnaise is a sauce served with filet mignon in the finest restaurants for the finest prices. Jars sold in specialty food stores are rarely as delicious.

What you need:

• 75 g (1/3 c) chopped fresh tarragon
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) white wine vinegar
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) minced shallot
• 2 egg yolks
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) water
• 1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
• 90 ml (6 tbsp) clarified unsalted butter, liquid but not hot
• 0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) white pepper

What to do:

1. In a small saucepan over moderately high heat, combine the tarragon, white wine vinegar, and shallot, and cook for one to two minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool.

2. In a one litre (four cup) saucepan over moderately high heat, combine the egg yolks, water, salt, and tarragon mixture, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.

3. Remove the saucepan from the heat. The mixture will begin to curdle, but continue whisking until the mixture becomes smooth. Stir in the clarified butter, 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) at a time. Add the pepper and stir until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Makes 250 millilitres (one cup).

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