Escoffier's sauce tomate is not the Italian tomato sauce of popular imagination — it is a roux-thickened, pork-enriched, long-simmered preparation that treats the tomato as a flavouring ingredient within a structured sauce rather than as the sauce itself. The classical method begins with a light roux, moistened with white stock, into which a generous quantity of tomato purée or blanched, crushed tomatoes is incorporated. A mirepoix of carrot, onion, and celery is sweated with diced salt pork (lard maigre) or blanched bacon, adding a smoky, porky richness that underpins the tomato's acidity. A bouquet garni of thyme, bay, and parsley stems completes the aromatics. The sauce simmers for 1-2 hours, skimmed regularly, until the raw tomato acidity mellows into a balanced, rounded sweetness. The roux provides body and prevents the sauce from being merely a thin tomato broth. After straining through a chinois (pressing the mirepoix firmly to extract all flavour), the sauce is finished with a knob of butter and a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes were insufficiently ripe. The result is a velvety, rust-coloured sauce that tastes of tomato, pork, and aromatic vegetables in harmony. This is the base for sauce portugaise, provençale, and other tomato derivatives. Modern interpretations often omit the roux and pork, but the classical version has a depth and body that simplified versions cannot match.
Roux-thickened — unlike Italian tomato sauce, this is a structured mother sauce. Salt pork or bacon provides smoky depth beneath the tomato. Simmer 1-2 hours to mellow raw tomato acidity. Strain through chinois for smooth finish. Finish with butter and sugar if needed for balance.
For the deepest tomato flavour, use a combination of fresh tomatoes (for brightness) and double-concentrated tomato paste (for intensity). Roast the fresh tomatoes at 180°C for 20 minutes before adding — this caramelises their sugars and removes excess moisture. If the sauce will become sauce provençale, add a head of garlic (halved crosswise) to the simmering sauce and remove before straining — it infuses without being assertive.
Treating it as Italian marinara — Escoffier's sauce tomate is roux-thickened and pork-enriched. Under-simmering — raw tomato acidity makes the sauce harsh and one-dimensional. Omitting the salt pork — the sauce lacks the savoury depth that makes it a mother sauce rather than a purée. Using underripe tomatoes without compensating with sugar — the sauce tastes sour.
Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire; Larousse Gastronomique