Foundations of Stocks, Sauces and Soups
Course Outline

Course Fee: $60
ACF Approved CEH: 8 Hours
Subject Area: Fundamentals of Professional Cooking Series
Course Approved by: The American Culinary Federation
Instructor: Amber Johnson
Instructional Videos Included (17 total videos):
Preparing Chicken Stock, Preparing Vegetable Stock, Preparing a Sachet, Preparing Clear Stock, Preparing Brown Stock, Preparing Fish Stock, Preparing Reductions and Glazes, Preparing Roux, Preparing Bechamel and Mornay, Preparing Veloute, Preparing Espagnole, Preparing Tomato Sauce, Buerre Blanc, Clarified Butter, Preparing Hollandaise, Preparing Pan Gravy and Meat Jus, Creating Alternatives to Traditional Sauces

This course has been developed and optimized for online delivery using the licensed title Professional Cooking, 8th edition, published by Wiley and Sons, Inc. and authored by Wayne Gisslen. The fee for this course includes access to all online course materials and an official certificate of completion from chefcertification.com. Once your course is completed, your course completion will be authenticated, and a certificate of completion will be generated. This official certificate of completion will be uploaded to your account, and will be available through the course dashboard for this course.

Introduction/Course Description:

The importance of stocks in the kitchen is indicated by the French word for stock: fond, meaning “foundation” or “base.” In classical cuisine, the ability to prepare good stocks is the most basic of all skills because so much of the work of the entire kitchen depends on them. A good stock is the foundation of soups, sauces, and most braised foods and stews.

In modern kitchens, stocks have lost much of the importance they once had. In the first place, increased reliance on portion-controlled meats has made bones for stock a rarity in most establishments. Second, making stocks requires extra labor, which most restaurants today aren’t able to provide. Finally, more food today is served without sauces, so stocks aren’t seen to be quite as necessary.

Nevertheless, the finest cuisine still depends on soups and sauces based on high-quality stocks, so stock-making remains an essential skill you should learn early in your training. Stocks and sauces are almost never served by themselves but are components of many other preparations.


Course Objectives/Program Outline

Module One - Stocks

Students will explore:

  • Preparing a basic mirepoix.
  • Flavoring liquids using a sachet d’épices, or spice bag.
  • Preparing white veal or beef stock, chicken stock, fish stock, and brown stock.
  • Cooling and storing stocks correctly.
  • Preparing meat, chicken, and fish glazes.
  • Evaluating the quality of convenience bases, and use convenience bases.

Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.

Module Two - Sauces

Students will learn to:

  • Explain the functions of sauces, and list five qualities a sauce adds to food.
  • Prepare white, blonde, and brown roux, and use them to thicken liquids.
  • Prepare and use beurre manié.
  • Thicken liquids with cornstarch and other starches.
  • Prepare and use egg yolk and cream liaison.
  • Finish a sauce with raw butter (monter au beurre).

Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.

Module Three - Sauce Families

Students will become familiar with:

  • Preparing the five leading sauces: béchamel, velouté, brown sauce or espagnole, tomato, and hollandaise.
  • Preparing small sauces from leading sauces.
  • Identifying and prepare five simple butter sauces.
  • Preparing compound butters and list their uses.
  • Preparing pan gravies.
  • Preparing miscellaneous hot and cold sauces.

Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.

Module Four - Soups

Students will learn to:

  • Describe the basic categories of soups.
  • Identify standard appetizer and main-course portion sizes for soups.
  • State the procedures for holding soups for service and for serving soups at the proper temperature.
  • Prepare clarified consommé.
  • Prepare vegetable soups and other clear soups.
  • Prepare cream soups.
  • Prepare purée soups.
  • Prepare bisques, chowders.
  • Prepare specialty soups, and national soups.

Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.

Final Exam

Multiple choice questions taken from each module

Final Learning Statement

Learning statements should be in a narrative format – as opposed to an outline format. Depending on individual writing styles Learning statements should be around 1 page. The learning statement can vary according to individual style. Your learning statement should answer the broad question of "what did you learn?". To help get you thinking, here are some suggested questions:

  • What are the major concepts of the course that you have learned?
  • What new professional language have you acquired relating to the topic?
  • What new resources did you find in the study of the content?
  • Are there any ideas that presented themselves as enlightening and useful?

Requirements for Course Certificate of Completion

The following are the general course requirements for issuing a certificate of completion for this course:

  • Student must receive 80% or better on each module quiz as well as the final exam
  • Student must complete a Final Learning Statement at the end of this course