Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 Read online

  1 Tb wine vinegar or lemon juice

  ½ tsp salt

  ¼ tsp dry or prepared mustard

  Add the vinegar or lemon juice, salt, and mustard. Beat for 30 seconds more.

  1½ to 2¼ cups of olive oil, salad oil, or a mixture of each. If the oil is cold, heat it to tepid; and if you are a novice, use the minimum amount.

  The egg yolks are now ready to receive the oil, and while it goes in, drop by drop, you must not stop beating until the sauce has thickened. A speed of 2 strokes per second is fast enough. You can switch hands or switch directions, it makes no difference as long as you beat constantly. Add the drops of oil with a teaspoon, or rest the lip of the bottle on the edge of the bowl. Keep your eye on the oil rather than on the sauce. Stop pouring and continue beating every 10 seconds or so, to be sure the egg yolks are absorbing the oil. After ⅓ to ½ cup of oil has been incorporated, the sauce will thicken into a very heavy cream and the crisis is over. The beating arm may rest a moment.

  Then beat in the remaining oil by 1 to 2 tablespoon dollops, blending it thoroughly after each addition.

  Drops of wine vinegar or lemon juice as needed

  When the sauce becomes too thick and stiff, beat in drops of vinegar or lemon juice to thin it out. Then continue with the oil.

  2 Tb boiling water

  Vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and mustard

  Beat the boiling water into the sauce. This is an anti-curdling insurance. Season to taste.

  If the sauce is not used immediately, scrape it into a small bowl and cover it closely so a skin will not form on its surface.

  REMEDY FOR TURNED MAYONNAISE

  You will never have trouble with freshly made mayonnaise if you have beaten the egg yolks thoroughly in a warmed bowl before adding the oil, if the oil has been added in droplets until the sauce has commenced to thicken, and if you have not exceeded the maximum proportions of ¾ cup of oil per egg yolk. A mayonnaise has turned when it refuses to thicken, or, in a finished mayonnaise, when the oil releases itself from suspension and the sauce curdles. In either case, the remedy is simple.

  Warm a mixing bowl in hot water. Dry it. Add 1 teaspoon of prepared mustard and 1 tablespoon of sauce. Beat with a wire whip for several seconds until they cream and thicken together. Beat in the rest of the sauce by teaspoons, thickening each addition before adding the next. This always works. Just be sure you add the turned sauce a little bit at a time, particularly at first.

  REFRIGERATION

  After several days under refrigeration, mayonnaise has a tendency to thin out, especially if it is stirred before it comes to room temperature. If it does turn, bring it back using the preceding system.

  Mayonnaise Made in the Electric Blender or Food Processor

  Mayonnaise in the blender takes a whole egg whirled with a pinch of mustard and salt for 30 seconds, then a tablespoon of lemon juice whirled another 10 seconds, and finally, with the machine at full speed, in goes a thin stream of oil, about a cupful. Add more, and the machine clogs. You scrape it out, your rubber spatula impaling itself on the sharp-pointed blade, and you get less than the 1¼ cups of mayonnaise you should have because part of it remains plastered in the machine. It’s mayonnaise, all right, but the processor makes more sauce of a better quality. Here’s how:

  For about 2 cups of mayonnaise in the food processor (with steel blade)

  1 egg and 2 yolks

  Process the egg and the yolks for 1 minute.

  ¼ tsp dry mustard

  ½ tsp salt

  Fresh lemon juice and/or wine vinegar

  With the machine running, add the mustard, salt, and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar.

  2 cups best quality oil—olive oil and/or salad oil

  More salt, pepper, and lemon juice or vinegar as needed

  With the machine still running, start adding the oil in a stream of droplets, continuing until you have used half the oil and the sauce is very thick—do not stop processing until sauce has thickened. Thin out with lemon juice or vinegar, then continue with the oil. Season carefully with more salt, pepper, and lemon juice or vinegar.

  MAYONNAISE VARIATIONS

  Mayonnaise aux Fines Herbes

  [Mayonnaise with Green Herbs]

  For: hors d’oeuvres, eggs, fish, meats

  3 to 4 Tb of fresh, minced green herbs, such as tarragon, basil, chervil, chives, parsley, oregano

  1½ cups mayonnaise

  If the sauce is to be kept for several days, blanch the herbs for 1 minute in boiling water. Drain, run cold water over them, and pat dry with a towel. The herbs will look greener, and will not turn sour in the sauce. Stir them into the mayonnaise.

  Mayonnaise Verte

  [Green Herbal Mayonnaise]

  For: hors d’oeuvres, eggs, fish, meats

  Ingredients for about 4 Tb of herb purée:

  8 to 10 spinach leaves

  2 Tb chopped shallots or green onions

  ¼ cup water-cress leaves

  ¼ cup parsley leaves

  1 Tb fresh tarragon or ½ Tb dried tarragon

  Optional: 2 Tb fresh chervil

  Bring 1 cup of water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the spinach and shallots or onions and boil 2 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients and boil 1 minute more. Strain, run cold water over the herbs, and pat dry with a towel.

  Ingredients for 1½ cups of mayonnaise

  If you are making the mayonnaise in an electric blender, add the herbs to the blender with the egg, then proceed as usual. For a handmade mayonnaise, either purée the herbs in a blender, or chop them into a purée and force them through a sieve, then stir the herbs into the finished sauce.

  Sauce Riviera

  Beurre Montpellier

  [Green Mayonnaise with Butter or Cream Cheese, Pickles, Capers, and Anchovies]

  For: hors d’oeuvres, sandwich spreads, eggs, fish, and as a spread for cold sliced veal, beef, or pork

  For about 2¼ cups

  2 Tb each: sour pickles, capers, and canned anchovies or anchovy paste

  ½ cup softened butter or cream cheese

  The preceding mayonnaise verte

  Chop the pickles, capers, and anchovies into a very fine mince, then cream them with the butter or cheese. Beat the mixture, a tablespoon at a time, into the green mayonnaise.

  Sauce Tartare

  [Hard Yolk Mayonnaise]

  The yolks of hard-boiled eggs will also absorb oil and turn into a mayonnaise, but with its own characteristic taste and consistency. When sieved egg whites are beaten into it, the sauce acquires a nice lightness and body which makes it useful for spooning over cold foods. This sauce cannot be made in an electric blender; it becomes so stiff the machine clogs.

  For 1½ to 2 cups

  3 hard-boiled egg yolks

  1 Tb prepared mustard

  ¼ tsp salt

  Pound and mash the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with the mustard and salt until you have a very smooth paste. Unless the yolks are smooth and free from lumps, they will not absorb the oil.

  1 cup oil

  Wine vinegar or lemon juice as needed

  Proceed as for regular mayonnaise, beating in the oil by droplets at first until the sauce has thickened, and thinning out with vinegar or lemon juice as necessary.

  3 to 4 Tb minced sour pickles

  3 to 4 Tb minced capers

  2 to 4 Tb minced fresh green herbs such as parsley, chives, tarragon

  Optional: 2 or 3 sieved hard-boiled egg whites

  Twist the minced pickles and capers into a ball in the corner of a towel to extract their juice. Beat them gradually into the sauce. Then beat in the herbs, and finally the optional egg whites. Correct seasoning.

  Sauce Rémoulade

  [Mayonnaise with Anchovies, Pickles, Capers, and Herbs]

  With the addition of half a teaspoon or so of anchovy paste, sauce rémoulade has the same flavorings as sauce tartare, but it is a regular mayonnaise rather than one made with hard yolks.
/>   Mayonnaise Collée

  [Gelatin Mayonnaise — for Decorating Cold Dishes]

  When gelatin is dissolved and congealed in mayonnaise, the sauce will hold its shape and can be used for coating cold eggs, fish, and vegetables, or may be squeezed out of a pastry bag to make fancy decorations.

  For about 1¾ cups

  (This is the correct consistency for coating cold foods with a spoon. If the mayonnaise is to be forced through a pastry bag, it must be stiffer; you would use 2 tablespoons of gelatin dissolved in ½ cup of liquid then beaten into 2 cups of mayonnaise.)

  ⅓ cup of liquid as follows:

  2 Tb white wine or white vermouth

  1 Tb wine vinegar

  2½ Tb chicken-, beef-, or fish-stock

  1 Tb (1 envelope) gelatin

  Pour the liquid into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin on it and let it dissolve for several minutes. Then stir the mixture over low heat until the gelatin is completely free of granules. Let it cool to tepid.

  1½ cups mayonnaise

  Beat the gelatin mixture gradually into the mayonnaise. Correct seasoning. The sauce will thin out, then gradually thicken as the gelatin sets.

  Use it just before it sets. If it becomes too stiff, stir it briefly over gentle heat.

  Sauce Aïoli

  [Provençal Garlic Mayonnaise]

  For: boiled fish, especially cod, bourride (Provençal fish soup), snails, boiled potatoes, green beans, and hard-boiled eggs

  This rich, thick mayonnaise with its fine garlic flavor must be made in a fairly traditional way if it is to have its correct taste and consistency. The garlic should be pounded in a mortar until it is mashed into a very smooth paste. You cannot make it successfully in an electric blender because for some unfortunate reason the garlic acquires a raw and bitter taste, and the egg white required for blender-made sauce does not produce the fine, heavy texture that is characteristic of a proper Mediterranean aïoli.

  For about 2 cups

  1 slice—⅜ inch thick—of stale, white homemade-type bread

  3 Tb milk or wine vinegar

  Remove crusts and break the bread into a small bowl. Stir in the milk or vinegar and let the bread soak for 5 to 10 minutes into a soft pulp. Twist the bread into a ball in the corner of a towel to extract the liquid.

  A heavy bowl or mortar

  A wooden pestle

  4 to 8 cloves mashed garlic

  Place the bread and garlic in the bowl and pound with the pestle for at least 5 minutes to mash the garlic and bread into a very, very smooth paste.

  1 egg yolk

  ¼ tsp salt

  Pound in the egg yolk and salt until the mixture is thick and sticky.

  1½ cups good olive oil

  A wire whip

  3 to 4 Tb boiling water or fish stock

  2 to 3 Tb lemon juice

  Then, drop by drop, pound and blend in the olive oil. When the sauce has thickened into a heavy cream, you may switch from a pestle to a wire whip and add the oil a little bit faster. Thin out the sauce as necessary with drops of water or stock, and lemon juice. Sauce should remain quite heavy, so it holds its shape in a spoon. Correct seasoning.

  NOTE: If the sauce turns or curdles, you can reconstitute it by following the directions for turned mayonnaise.

  Fish Soup Note

  If the aïoli is to be stirred into a fish soup, more egg yolks are used, usually one per person.

  Sauce Alsacienne

  Sauce de Sorges

  [Herbal Mayonnaise Made with Soft-boiled Eggs]

  For: hot boiled beef, chicken, or fish

  For about 2 cups

  2 eggs

  Boil the eggs for 3 minutes (3½ if they are chilled). Place the yolks in a mixing bowl and put the whites—which should be just set—aside.

  1 Tb prepared mustard

  ½ tsp salt

  1 Tb wine vinegar or lemon juice

  1 cup oil

  Proceed as for making mayonnaise beating the yolks until they are thick and sticky, then beating in the mustard, salt, and vinegar or lemon juice. Finally beat in the oil, drop by drop at first.

  ¼ cup whipping cream, sour cream, or beef, chicken, or fish stock

  1½ Tb finely minced shallot or green onions

  1½ Tb capers

  3 to 4 Tb minced parsley, tarragon, basil, etc.; or dill only

  The soft-boiled egg whites, chopped or seived

  Gradually beat the additional liquid into the sauce. Beat in the rest of the ingredients. Season to taste.

  OIL AND VINEGAR SAUCES

  Vinaigrettes

  SAUCE VINAIGRETTE

  [French Dressing]

  For: salads and simple marinades

  The basic French dressing of France is a mixture of good wine vinegar, good oil, salt, pepper, fresh green herbs in season, and mustard if you like it. Garlic is employed usually only in southern France. Worcestershire, curry, cheese, and tomato flavorings are not French additions, and sugar is heresy.

  The usual proportion of vinegar to oil is one to three, but you should establish your own relationship. Lemon juice or a mixture of lemon and vinegar may be used, and the oil may be a tasteless salad oil, or olive oil. For salads, make the dressing in the empty bowl or a jar, so that all ingredients are well blended and flavored before the salad is mixed with the dressing. And be sure the salad greens are perfectly dry so the dressing will adhere to the leaves. Salad dressings are always best when freshly made; if they stand around for several days they tend to acquire a rancid taste.

  For about ½ cup

  ½ to 2 Tb good wine vinegar or a mixture of vinegar and lemon juice

  ⅛ tsp salt

  Optional: ¼ tsp dry mustard

  6 Tb salad oil or olive oil

  Big pinch of pepper

  Either beat the vinegar or lemon juice in a bowl with the salt and optional mustard until the salt is dissolved, then beat in the oil by droplets, and season with pepper, or place all ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake vigorously for 30 seconds to blend thoroughly.

  Optional: 1 to 2 Tb minced green herbs, such as parsley, chives, tarragon, basil; or pinch of dried herbs.

  Stir in the optional herbs and correct seasoning just before dressing the salad.

  VARIATIONS

  Sauce Ravigote

  [Vinaigrette with Herbs, Capers, and Onion]

  For: cold or hot boiled beef, boiled chicken, boiled fish, pig’s feet, calf’s head, and vegetables

  1 cup vinaigrette

  1 tsp chopped capers

  1 tsp very finely minced shallot or green onions

  2 Tb minced fresh green herbs, parsley, chives, tarragon, chervil, or parsley only

  Stir all the ingredients into the vinaigrette and taste for seasoning.

  Vinaigrette à la Crème

  [Sour Cream Dressing—Dill Sauce]

  For: cold eggs, vegetables, and cold or hot fish

  1 egg yolk

  4 Tb whipping cream or sour cream

  ½ cup vinaigrette

  Lemon juice to taste

  2 Tb minced fresh green herbs, parsley, chives, tarragon, chervil, burnet, or just dill

  Beat the egg yolk and cream in a bowl until thoroughly blended. Then beat in the vinaigrette in a stream of droplets as though making a mayonnaise. Season to taste with lemon juice, and stir in the herbs.

  Sauce Moutarde

  [Cold Mustard Sauce with Herbs]

  For: cold beef, pork, and vegetables

  2 Tb prepared mustard, preferably the strong Dijon type

  3 Tb boiling water

  Rinse a small mixing bowl in hot water. Add the mustard and beat with a wire whip, adding the water by droplets.

  ⅓ to ½ cup olive oil or salad oil

  Again by droplets, beat in the olive oil to make a thick, creamy sauce.

  Salt and pepper

  Lemon juice

  1 to 2 Tb parsley or minced fresh green herbs

  Beat in salt, pepper, and lemon juic
e to taste. Then beat in the herbs.

  HOT BUTTER SAUCES

  Sauces au Beurre

  BEURRE BLANC-BEURRE NANTAIS

  [White Butter Sauce]

  For: boiled fish originally, but now for all kinds of fish and shellfish, and vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, as well as for sautés of veal, chicken, kidneys, livers, and so forth.

  This famous sauce originated in Nantes, on the Loire River, and is traditionally served with pike, brochet au beurre blanc. Warm, thick, creamy, and butter-colored, the original sauce is only butter creamed with shallots, wine vinegar, lemon, and seasonings. The idea was taken up by nouvelle cuisine chefs in the early seventies because it is a far easier sauce system than the long-simmered classics, and it is delicious with so many dishes. Rather than a lemon and vinegar base, you use a strong reduction of fish or meat juices—the residue, for instance, of sautéed chicken livers or foie gras deglazed with wine and shallots and, perhaps, a dash of wine vinegar all reduced almost to a syrup; this is then enriched by the beating in of a large quantity of butter. It is, in fact, the usual buttered deglazing sauce, but rather than beating in 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter for 4 to 6 servings, you might add as much as half a pound. With butter at 100 calories per tablespoon, an otherwise simple sauté can be marvelously yet astronomically (even lethally) fattening; but, as we imply in most of our recipes, “the amount of butter is up to you.”