French mother sauces
In French cuisine, the mother sauces (French: sauces mères, pronounced [sos mɛʁ]), also known as greater sauces (grandes sauces, pronounced [ɡʁɑ̃d sos]), are a group of sauces upon which many other sauces – "daughter sauces" or lesser sauces – are based. Different classifications of mother sauces have been proposed since at least the early 19th century.