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Glite Dictionary
sauce Espagnole

sauce Espagnole

8.6
A dark brown French mixture for meat made from browned vegetables, beef stock and tomatoes
  • noun
  • /sɔs ɛspæɡˈnoʊl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : salsa Espagnole
  • In classic French cooking, sauce Espagnole serves as a base for many other sauces.

Examples

  • The chef prepared a traditional sauce Espagnole to serve with the roast beef.

  • A good sauce Espagnole requires patience and careful browning of the vegetables.

  • Learning to make sauce Espagnole is essential in classical French cooking.

  • I love sauce Espagnole with my steak.

  • Have you ever tried sauce Espagnole?

  • To master French cuisine, one must learn to prepare a rich and flavorful sauce Espagnole.

  • The chef elevated the dish by adding a homemade sauce Espagnole made from fresh ingredients.

Synonyms

Espagnole
vssauce Espagnole
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A brown sauce made from meat stock, tomatoes, and cooked vegetables used as a base in French cooking

is the classic French mother sauce version used as a main brown base
brown sauce
vssauce Espagnole
3.5

A savory dark sauce made from beef stock thickened with butter and flour and served with roast meat

is the French classical version with tomatoes and caramelized vegetables

Surface Forms

sauce Espagnole singular
sauces Espagnole plural

Morphology

sauce + Espagnole

The word 'sauce' makes the general meaning (a kind of sauce) immediately clear, but 'Espagnole' is a proper culinary name (originally French for 'Spanish') and does not transparently convey the specific composition (brown stock, tomatoes) or its status as a classical French 'mother sauce'. A B1 learner who knows the constituents would recognize it as a particular kind of sauce but would likely not be able to infer the precise ingredients or culinary role without prior exposure.

Etymology

Sauce Espagnole comes from French cooking and its name literally means 'Spanish sauce'. Cooks called this rich brown sauce Espagnole because Espagnole means 'Spanish' in French and the recipe used tomatoes and spices people linked to Spain, so the name stuck — that's why today it refers to the classic brown sauce made from browned vegetables, stock, and a little tomato.