Ravigote Sauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart heavy stainless-steel or lined copper saucepan
• •1-liter heatproof measuring jug
• •Balloon whisk
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Warm sauce boat

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the finish

   Have the ordinary velouté hot but not boiling. Cut the cold shallot butter into eight or ten pieces, then chop the chervil, tarragon, and chives finely and keep them cool. Combine the wine and vinegar in a measuring jug; the starting volume should be 2½ cups (600 ml), so the stopping point is exactly 1¼ cups (300 ml).

   Shallot butter is a prepared compound butter, not plain butter followed by a handful of raw shallot. Have it finished before the reduction begins, just as you would have the ordinary velouté ready.
2. 2

   Reduce by half

   Pour the wine and vinegar into a wide, nonreactive saucepan and bring them to a lively but controlled simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce until only 1¼ cups (300 ml) remain, about 12 to 15 minutes, pouring the liquid into the measuring jug near the end to check it honestly. This exact reduction is the dish: stop short and the sauce tastes blunt, go too far and it becomes hard and sour. If you overshoot, add cool water a teaspoon at a time until the reduction returns to the 300 ml line.

3. 3

   Add the velouté

   Return the measured reduction to the saucepan and lower the heat. Whisk in the hot ordinary velouté in three additions, making each one smooth before adding the next. Bring the sauce to a gentle boil and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, whisking across the bottom and into the corners. It should nappe, coating the back of a spoon in an even ivory layer while remaining fluid enough to pour. If small lumps appear, take the pan off the heat and whisk firmly; if they persist, pass the sauce through a fine sieve. It can be rescued.

4. 4

   Monter au beurre

   Take the saucepan completely off the heat and wait until the bubbling stops. Monter au beurre, mount the sauce with butter, by whisking in the cold shallot butter one piece at a time, adding the next only when the last has disappeared. The sauce should become glossy and slightly fuller without turning greasy. Never boil it now. If yellow beads of butter gather on the surface, put 1 tablespoon of cool water in a clean bowl, whisk in one ladleful of the separated sauce until smooth, then add the rest gradually while whisking. Ça se rattrape.

5. 5

   Fold in herbs

   Fold in the chervil, tarragon, and chives only after the butter is fully incorporated. Taste for balance: the sauce should be lively with wine and vinegar, rounded by velouté and butter, and freshly green at the finish. Do not return it to a boil, which dulls the herbs and weakens the butter emulsion.

6. 6

   Hold and serve

   Serve the ravigote at once, spooned generously over boiled poultry or certain white abats. If it must wait, set the saucepan in a bain-marie, a warm water bath, for no more than 30 minutes and whisk it occasionally; direct heat is too fierce for the finished sauce. Bring the remainder to the table in a warm sauce boat. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose a dry, clean white wine without obvious sweetness or heavy oak. Reduction concentrates everything in the bottle, including faults, and this sauce has nowhere for them to hide.
• •Shallot butter is a finished component in its own right. Plain butter and raw shallot added separately won't give the same mellow finish during such brief cooking. We don't apologize for butter, and we don't ask it to disguise unfinished mise en place.
• •Use all three herbs fresh and in equal measure. Tarragon brings anise, chervil softens it, and chives supply the mild onion note; dried herbs turn dusty in a sauce whose character depends upon freshness.
• •Abats is the butcher's collective term for heads, hearts, livers, kidneys, feet, and related parts. The source specifies certain white abats, which narrows the field to pale, gently cooked pieces such as calf's head, sweetbreads, or feet rather than every organ in the butcher's case.
• •Serve ravigote with poached chicken, boiled capon, calf's head, sweetbreads, or feet. Its acidity is meant to meet gelatin and richness, not to overwhelm delicate food with vinegar.

Advance Preparation

• •The ordinary velouté and shallot butter must be prepared as finished components before this recipe begins. Keep the velouté chilled for up to two days, then heat it gently while making the reduction.
• •The wine and vinegar can be reduced to exactly 1¼ cups (300 ml) up to two days ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate it, then return it to the saucepan before adding the hot velouté.
• •For a dinner party, complete the sauce through the gentle velouté simmer shortly before serving. Add the shallot butter and fresh herbs at the last moment; the completed sauce loses gloss and green freshness if repeatedly cooled and reheated.
• •Refrigerate leftovers promptly and use them within two days. Reheat over a warm water bath while whisking, never over direct high heat; if the butter separates, rebuild the sauce with cool water as directed in the method.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 70g)