A Mornay sauce is a Béchamel sauce with shredded or grated Gruyère cheese added. Some variations use different combinations of Gruyère, Emmental cheese, or white Cheddar. A Mornay sauce made with cheddar is commonly used to make Macaroni and cheese.
Etymology
The name origin of Mornay sauce is debated. It may be named after Philippe, duc de Mornay (1549â€"1623), Governor of Saumur and seigneur du Plessis-Marly, writer and diplomat, but a cheese sauce during this time would have to have been based on a velouté sauce, for Béchamel had not yet been developed.
Sauce Mornay does not appear in Le cuisinier Royal, 10th edition, 1820. Perhaps sauce Mornay is not older than the great Parisian restaurant of the 19th century, Le Grand Véfour in the arcades of the Palais-Royal, where sauce Mornay was introduced.
In the Tout-Paris of Charles X, the Mornay name was represented by two stylish men, the marquis de Mornay and his brother, styled comte Charles. They figure in Lady Blessington's memoir of a stay in Paris in 1828â€"29, The Idler in France. They might also be considered, when an eponym is sought for sauce Mornay.
See also
- Mother sauces
- Hot Brown sandwich
- Croque-monsieur
- List of sauces
- Macaroni and cheese
References
External links
- Sauce Mornay at Wikibook Cookbooks
