One of the first things that you learn in chef school (besides the fact that not everyone should be allowed to hold a knife) is the five “mother sauces” — béchamel, velouté, Espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato. These five sauces are the foundation of a chef’s sauce repertoire and the departure point for numerous other sauces. Master these, and everything else will be easy to execute.

Sometimes when you cook the perfect steak, you’ll want a sauce to serve atop or alongside it. Not every sauce works well with steak; you’ll want to match your perfect steak with the perfect sauce. Here are five Butcher Block-approved sauces that you can create in minutes.

(Almost) Chimichurri

This beloved and versatile Argentinian sauce gets a Jamaican twist with the addition of Scotch bonnet pepper, a substitution for red pepper flakes.

Place two cloves of garlic, a tightly packed cup of Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, a small piece of Scotch bonnet pepper, two teaspoons dried oregano, three tablespoons red wine vinegar, and half-cup of olive oil in a food processor or blender. Process until the mixture has a fine texture. Add salt and cracked black pepper to the desired taste for your family. Let the sauce rest (allowing the flavours to develop) for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Mustard Sauce

Two main ingredients — no, really! — create one tasty sauce.

Combine half a cup of sour cream or crème fraîche with two tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Simmer on low heat for a couple of minutes; add salt and cracked black pepper if desired.

Blue Cheese Sauce

Steak and blue cheese? Yum!

Make a roux by melting one-eighth of a cup of unsalted butter over medium heat and whisking in a tablespoon of flour. The consistency should be smooth and free of lumps. While whisking, slowly add a two-thirds cup of milk and a quarter of a cup of crumbled blue cheese. Cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is velvety in texture.

Easy Béarnaise Sauce

Fun fact: Béarnaise is hollandaise (a mother sauce) with tarragon.

Place a finely chopped medium-sized shallot, three tablespoons of water, two tablespoons of Champagne (or white wine) vinegar, and a sprig of fresh tarragon in a saucepan and simmer for three minutes. Strain and cool. Place the liquid back in the pan. Whisk two egg yolks into the liquid over medium heat until you get a custard-like consistency. Remove from heat. Whisk in a tablespoon of olive oil, a quarter of a cup of butter, and two sprigs of fresh tarragon that have been finely chopped. Add salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Bring the steakhouse home with this umami-rich sauce.

Melt half-cup of unsalted butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add two-and-a-quarter cups of sliced white mushrooms, four cloves of chopped garlic and a small white onion that has been finely chopped. Sauté until mushrooms are soft. Add one-and-a-half cups of red wine (a merlot works well), reduce to medium heat and cook until the liquid has reduced in volume by half. Add a tablespoon of butter and half-cup of chopped flat-leaf parsley.

Photos: Yummly, Leite’s Culinaria, All Recipes, Pinterest, and FODMAP.