Name: Espagnole Sauce
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 8 hr (includes making stock)
Yield: Makes about 2 2/3 cups
Ingredients: 1 small carrot, coarsely chopped; 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped; 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 4 cups hot beef stock or reconstituted beef-veal demi-glace concentrate*; 1/4 cup canned tomato purée; 2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped; 1 celery rib, coarsely chopped; 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns; 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf

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Espagnole is a classic brown sauce, typically made from brown stock, mirepoix, and tomatoes, and thickened with roux. Given that the sauce is French in origin, where did the name come from? According to Alan Davidson, in The Oxford Companion to Food, "The name has nothing to do with Spain, any more than the counterpart term allemande has anything to do with Germany. It is generally believed that the terms were chosen because in French eyes Germans are blond and Spaniards are brown."

Cooks' note:

Sauce can be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled, covered.

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