Chef Juliette
Aioli Sauce, or Provence Butter
Aïoli is garlic pounded to silk, then bound with yolk and olive oil one patient drop at a time, an ivory-gold emulsion with enough force to anchor a long outdoor supper.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Whisked Mayonnaise
Created by Chef Juliette
Mayonnaise fouettée is the cold-sauce lesson in timing: mayonnaise and liquid aspic, sharpened with tarragon vinegar and horseradish, whisked over ice until airy, glossy, and still loose enough to cloak vegetables.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Make Ahead
Dinner Party
Outdoor Dining
20 min
Active Time
5 min cook•25 min total
YieldAbout 2¼ cups (530 ml), enough for 10 to 12 servings of vegetable salad
Mayonnaise Fouettée (whisked mayonnaise) teaches the narrow border between an emulsion and a gel. The one true thing to know before you touch the bowl is this: the aspic must be melted, cool, and fully fluid, then the whisk must stop at the first sign of setting. Keep going and the sauce loses its flow; stop on time and it is pale, lively, and loose enough to cloak each vegetable without drowning it.
The original preparation assumed a copper basin set directly on ice, finished mayonnaise and clear savory jelly waiting in the garde-manger, and a quantity meant for service. For one cook, one stove, one evening, a stainless-steel bowl nested over ice does the same work, and this batch keeps the source's exact nine-to-eight volume ratio of jelly to mayonnaise while cutting the quantity for a home table. The copper and the brigade volume are scaffolding. The cold whisking and the precise stopping point are the dish.
Mix first, chill second, then whisk gently. Watch the edges, not the clock: when the sauce turns very frothy and the whisk begins to leave a faint trace, lift the bowl from the ice at once. If it firms before you can dress the salad, ça se rattrape, and a few seconds over lukewarm water will return the flow.
Mayonnaise fouettée belongs to the Parisian garde-manger, the cold kitchen responsible for composed salads, aspics, and buffet dishes. Despite its name, it is not simply mayonnaise made by hand with a whisk: finished mayonnaise is combined with melted aspic and aerated over ice so it gains lightness and a delicate cling. It passed readily from the grand cold buffet to the bourgeois table because its logic is practical, giving cooked vegetables a glossy coating that stays with them rather than draining onto the dish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
clear savory aspic jelly
Quantity
1⅛ cups (270 ml / 270 g)
melted gently and cooled until fully fluid
prepared plain mayonnaise
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 230 g)
cold
tarragon vinegar
Quantity
2¼ teaspoons (11 ml / 11 g)
fresh horseradish
Quantity
2¼ teaspoons (11 ml / 7 g)
finely grated or finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| clear savory aspic jellymelted gently and cooled until fully fluid | 1⅛ cups (270 ml / 270 g) |
| prepared plain mayonnaisecold | 1 cup (240 ml / 230 g) |
| tarragon vinegar | 2¼ teaspoons (11 ml / 11 g) |
| fresh horseradishfinely grated or finely chopped | 2¼ teaspoons (11 ml / 7 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Small saucepan
- •2-quart (2-liter) stainless-steel mixing bowl
- •4-quart (4-liter) bowl for the ice bath
- •Medium balloon whisk
- •Fine hand grater
Instructions
- 1
Ready the aspic
Warm the prepared aspic jelly over the lowest heat only until it becomes completely liquid. Do not let it simmer. Measure the required amount and cool it to about 24 to 27°C (75 to 80°F), when it is no longer warm but still pours without a wobble. Warm aspic relaxes the mayonnaise; aspic already beginning to set leaves little gelatin flecks. If a skin forms, warm it again for a few seconds and let it settle.
Use a clear, softly set savory aspic. A jelly stiff enough to bounce will give the finished sauce a rubbery body instead of a delicate coating. - 2
Prepare the ice bath
Fill a large bowl halfway with ice and add just enough cold water to settle the cubes. Test that the stainless-steel mixing bowl can sit securely in it, then remove the mixing bowl until the sauce has been combined. Metal answers the cold promptly, which is all the copper basin contributed to this preparation.
- 3
Combine before chilling
Put the fluid aspic, cold mayonnaise, tarragon vinegar, and freshly grated horseradish into the mixing bowl. Whisk slowly off the ice until the mixture is completely uniform, with no streaks of mayonnaise or pockets of jelly. Keep the motion measured. You are joining prepared components before the cold begins to set them, not trying to build volume yet.
- 4
Whisk over ice
Set the bowl into the ice bath and whisk gently in steady circles for 2 to 4 minutes. The sauce will lighten, swell slightly, and become very frothy; watch the thin film around the sides, because that is where setting begins first. Stop the instant the whisk leaves a faint trace and the sauce starts to gain body. If it becomes softly set or mounded, lift it from the ice and hold the bowl over lukewarm water for 5 to 10 seconds while whisking gently. As soon as it flows in a broad ribbon, set it on the counter. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Test and serve
Spoon a little sauce over the back of a chilled spoon. It should cling in a thin, frothy veil, then fall slowly from the edge rather than sitting in a mound. If it runs like plain mayonnaise, return it to the ice for 15-second intervals; if it holds its shape, loosen it briefly over lukewarm water. Fold it at once through cool, thoroughly dried cooked vegetables. Do not refrigerate the finished sauce before dressing the salad, because the aspic will continue to set. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The jelly here is clear savory aspic, not fruit gelatin. Choose a mild chicken or veal aspic that melts cleanly and sets tenderly; its seasoning should support the tarragon and horseradish, not announce the stockpot.
- •Use fresh horseradish and grate it shortly before mixing. Prepared horseradish already contains vinegar and salt, which changes the source's deliberate balance of equal measures of horseradish and tarragon vinegar.
- •The vegetables must be cool and very dry. Water left from blanching dilutes the sauce, while warm vegetables melt its delicate body; drain them well and spread them on a towel before chilling.
- •This is not a sauce to whisk in the morning and forget in the refrigerator. Prepare its components ahead, certainly, but perform the final cold whisking shortly before the salad goes to the table.
Advance Preparation
- •Prepare the mayonnaise and aspic up to one day ahead and keep them separately chilled. Shortly before finishing, remelt only the measured aspic and cool it until fully fluid but no longer warm.
- •Cook the vegetables up to one day ahead, then drain, dry, and chill them thoroughly. Keep them covered once their surfaces are dry.
- •For outdoor dining, carry the mayonnaise, aspic, vinegar, and horseradish at 4°C (40°F) or colder and whisk the sauce over fresh ice shortly before serving. Keep the dressed salad chilled and discard it after 2 hours without refrigeration, or after 1 hour when the air is hotter than 32°C (90°F).
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 47g)
Calories
145 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
285 mg
Total Carbohydrates
0 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 Cold Sauces and Compound Butters
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Andalouse Sauce
Sauce Andalouse teaches the discipline of every cold derivative sauce: begin with a stable emulsion, add deep tomato in measured stages, then fold in fine capsicum without sacrificing its clean gloss.
Chef Juliette
Bohemian Sauce
Sauce bohémienne turns cold Béchamel into the steady heart of a mayonnaise, enriched with yolk and oil, sharpened with tarragon vinegar, then finished with mustard for the cold table.
Chef Juliette
Genoa Sauce
Sauce Génoise is the cold emulsion that proves texture begins before oil: pistachios and pine nuts pounded to silk, built into mayonnaise, then sharpened with lemon and greened with four scalded herbs.