Chef Juliette
Ordinary or White Consommé
Beef shin, lean beef, and fowl begin in cold water and rise slowly toward a tremble. Skim before the boil, and you learn the quiet discipline that gives every clear French broth its backbone.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Fennel Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 116, Fennel Sauce, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
A classical derivative in one clean gesture: scald the fennel, fold it into Butter Sauce (No. 66), and guard the gentle heat so mackerel meets a glossy sauce, never a broken one.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Weeknight
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
10 min cook•20 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (1.9 L)
Sauce Fenouil (fennel sauce) teaches one of the canon's most useful principles: a derivative sauce is won at the finish. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is this: once the finished Butter Sauce (No. 66) is warm, it must never boil. Boiling destroys the liaison that gives the sauce its soft body and buttered gloss.
The source entry assumed a saucier who could draw a pint of Butter Sauce (No. 66) from a service bain-marie, scald the herb, and send the derivative at once. At home, a heavy saucepan and a small sieve do the same work. The standing service pan is brigade scaffolding and goes; the brief scald and unboiled finish are the dish and stay. For this two-quart batch, the book's finishing ratio is simply multiplied fourfold, so only the quantity changes.
Scald the fennel for seconds, dry it well, then fold it through at the last moment. You want an ivory sauce carrying clean green flecks, glossy enough to nap a spoon and bright enough to meet oily mackerel. The step that decides everything is the warming: stop before the first bubble.
Sauce Fenouil belongs to the French classical fish-sauce repertoire rather than to one province; its practical home is beside mackerel, whose rich, oily flesh welcomes fennel's clean aniseed lift. Classical kitchens made it as a derivative of Butter Sauce (No. 66), using a few seconds of scalding to soften the herb's raw bite without cooking away its perfume. The fennel here is the tender green herb, not a purée of the bulb, correcting the common assumption that fennel sauce must begin with a braised vegetable.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
tender fennel fronds and leaves
Quantity
1/2 cup (120 ml / about 15 g)
finely chopped
cold water (optional)
Quantity
1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml / 15 to 30 g)
only if the sauce needs rescuing
Equipment Needed
- •Four-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan
- •Small saucepan
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Balloon whisk or flexible spatula
- •Instant-read thermometer, optional
Instructions
- 1
Scald the fennel
Bring a small saucepan of water to a full boil. Put the finely chopped fennel in a fine-mesh sieve, lower it into the water for five to eight seconds, then lift it out immediately. Shake away the water and blot the fennel thoroughly on a clean towel. The scald softens its raw aniseed bite; a longer boil washes away the perfume and green colour.
Don't refresh the fennel in ice water. The scald is so brief that immediate draining is enough, and keeping extra water away protects the sauce's body. - 2
Warm the base gently
Put the finished Butter Sauce (No. 66) in a heavy four-quart saucepan and set it over the lowest heat. Stir slowly with a whisk or flexible spatula until it flows in a thick ribbon and reaches about 140 to 150°F (60 to 65°C). It must not simmer. If greasy butter beads appear around the edge, remove the pan from the heat at once. Ça se rattrape: put 1 tablespoon of the cold water in a clean bowl, whisk in one ladleful of sauce until smooth, then whisk in the remaining sauce gradually. Add the second tablespoon of water only if the emulsion still looks tight or oily.
- 3
Finish with fennel
Take the saucepan off the heat and fold in the scalded fennel until the green flecks are evenly distributed. Return the pan to the lowest heat for no more than thirty seconds if the sauce needs warming. Don't reduce, boil, or strain it now; the referenced sauce arrives complete, and this final turn of the spoon is what makes Sauce Fenouil.
- 4
Serve without waiting
Spoon about 1/4 cup (60 ml) per serving beside or beneath mackerel, leaving crisp skin uncovered. If you must hold the sauce, cover it and keep it over barely warm water for no longer than fifteen minutes, stirring often and watching for any sign of bubbling. Serve while the sauce is glossy and the fennel still tastes fresh. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose the feathery fronds and tender green leaves of fennel, not diced bulb. The bulb brings sweetness, water, and texture, producing a different sauce; this one depends on the clean perfume of the herb.
- •For four portions of mackerel tonight, make one eighth of the full batch: use 1 cup (240 ml / about 250 g) Butter Sauce (No. 66) and 1 tablespoon (15 ml / about 2 g) chopped fennel. C'est la même grammaire, only a smaller pan.
- •Serve Sauce Fenouil with grilled, roasted, or pan-cooked mackerel whose skin has been allowed to brown properly. Spoon the sauce beside the fish so its buttered gloss and the crisp skin remain distinct.
Advance Preparation
- •Wash and dry the fennel fronds earlier in the day, then keep them wrapped in a barely damp towel in the refrigerator. Chop and scald them only when the sauce is nearly ready.
- •Have the finished Butter Sauce (No. 66) ready before scalding the fennel. If it is chilled, rewarm it very slowly; Sauce Fenouil itself is best finished immediately before serving.
- •Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate them in a covered container for no more than one day. Reheat over barely warm water, stirring constantly. Do not freeze this egg-and-butter liaison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 60g)
Calories
160 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
170 mg
Total Carbohydrates
3 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
1 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from The Small Compound Sauces - Hot English Sauces
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
White Veal Stock, and Poultry Stock
Break the veal bones small, then give them eight hours at a bare tremble. This pale, gelatinous fond becomes the quiet foundation beneath velouté, blanquette, and every sauce that must stay light.
Chef Juliette
Oriental Sauce
Sauce Orientale concentrates lobster-rich American Sauce with curry, then folds in cream away from the fire: a glossy, gently spiced derivative made for lobster, crayfish, and firm fish.
Chef Juliette
Poulette Sauce
An old lesson in sauce families: Sauce Allemande takes mushroom liquor, then butter, lemon, and parsley, becoming a glossy Poulette for sheep's trotters, leeks, cauliflower, and anything needing gentle richness with a bright edge.