Espagnole sauce Espagnole sauce Espagnole sauce () is a basic brown sauce, and is one of Auguste Escoffier's five mother sauces of classic French cooking. This sauce was already compiled in different Spanish cooking handbooks of the late 19th century, and Escoffier popularized the recipe, which is still followed today. Espagnole has a strong taste, and is rarely used directly on food. As a mother sauce, it serves as the starting point for many derivatives, such as sauce africaine, sauce bigarade, sauce bourguignonne, sauce aux champignons, sauce charcutière, sauce chasseur, sauce chevreuil, and demi-glace. Hundreds of other derivatives are in the classical
French cuisine and created new combinations and pairings. Some have speculated that a contributor to nouvelle cuisine was World War II when animal protein was in short supply during the German occupation. By the mid-1980s food writers stated that the style of cuisine had reached exhaustion and many chefs began returning to the haute cuisine style of cooking, although much of the lighter presentations and new techniques remained. There are many dishes that are considered part of French national cuisine today. A meal often consists of three courses, "hors d'œuvre" or "entrée" (introductory course, sometimes soup), "plat principal" (main course), "fromage" (cheese