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.
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Green Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
Sauce verte is an emulsion lesson in one bowl: begin with mayonnaise stiffer than you want, then add vivid herb juice in the classical three-to-one proportion for cold fish and shellfish.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•45 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (8 cups / 1.9 L)
Sauce verte (green sauce) teaches one essential lesson about mayonnaise derivatives: begin thicker than you mean to finish. The herb juice brings color, freshness, and enough water to loosen the emulsion, so a merely creamy mayonnaise becomes a thin sauce. Start very stiff, add the green gradually, and the finished Sauce verte will fall from a spoon in a broad, glossy ribbon.
The original kitchen assumed a saucier, a basin of stiff Mayonnaise, and the green preparation from Vincent Sauce (No. 132) already waiting for service. Its copper bowl and tammy belong to that separate preparation and needn't be dragged through this entry again. At home, one stainless-steel bowl and a balloon whisk finish the sauce. The brigade's open-ended quantity was scaffolding; fixing the batch at two quarts makes it measurable, while the three parts mayonnaise to one part herb juice remain the dish itself. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Reserve some of the mayonnaise before the green goes in. If the sauce loosens too quickly or beads with oil, that reserve becomes the firm foundation from which you rebuild it. Ça se rattrape. The stiffness of the mayonnaise before the first addition is the step that decides everything.
Sauce verte belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen family of cold mayonnaise derivatives, where cooks varied color and seasoning while leaving the emulsion as the foundation. Unlike the loose herb sauces found elsewhere at French tables, this one is governed by a precise proportion: one part prepared herb juice to three parts stiff mayonnaise. Its cross-reference to Vincent Sauce (No. 132) shows the canon's working grammar, with one carefully prepared green element serving several related sauces.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
very stiff Mayonnaise
Quantity
6 cups (1.44 L / 1.25 kg)
well chilled
spicy seasoning blend
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g), or to taste
fine salt with ground white pepper and a restrained pinch of cayenne
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very stiff Mayonnaisewell chilled | 6 cups (1.44 L / 1.25 kg) |
| strained herb juicewell chilled | 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) from Vincent Sauce (No. 132) |
| spicy seasoning blendfine salt with ground white pepper and a restrained pinch of cayenne | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g), or to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large stainless-steel mixing bowl
- •Balloon whisk
- •Flexible rubber spatula
- •2-quart covered storage container
Instructions
- 1
Chill the components
Bring the Mayonnaise and the strained herb juice prepared as specified in Vincent Sauce (No. 132) to the same cold temperature. Set a clean stainless-steel bowl and whisk in the cold for ten minutes as well. Matching temperatures help the emulsion accept the added liquid evenly.
- 2
Test the mayonnaise
Put 5 cups of the very stiff Mayonnaise into the chilled bowl and keep the remaining 1 cup cold. The mayonnaise in the bowl should mound firmly and hold the track of the whisk; if it flows flat on its own, it isn't stiff enough for the herb juice. Whisk in half the spicy seasoning, keeping the cayenne quiet. The sauce should taste lively, not hot.
The reserved mayonnaise is part of the measured six cups, not an extra ingredient. It completes the classical three-to-one proportion whether it is folded in normally or used to rescue the sauce. - 3
Add the green
Whisk the herb juice into the mayonnaise in four additions, incorporating each completely before adding the next. Work steadily without beating in unnecessary air. The sauce will soften from a mound to a heavy ribbon and turn a clear herb green. If watery liquid or beads of oil appear at the edge, stop immediately. Put the reserved stiff mayonnaise into a clean cold bowl, then whisk the slack sauce into it one spoonful at a time until smooth. Ça se rattrape.
A smooth sauce that merely seems softer isn't broken. Chill it for ten minutes before judging; cold restores some body without changing the book's proportion. - 4
Finish and rest
Fold in any reserved mayonnaise not used for the rescue, followed by the remaining seasoning to taste. The finished Sauce verte should coat the back of a spoon, then fall in a broad ribbon rather than pour like cream. Cover it directly at the surface and chill for thirty minutes so the texture settles and the seasoning becomes clear.
- 5
Serve it cold
Stir the Sauce verte gently before serving, without thinning it. Spoon it generously beside cold poached or roasted fish, crab, lobster, prawns, or other cold shellfish. Keep the serving bowl nested over ice during a long dinner, and return the sauce to the cold promptly. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The mayonnaise must be unusually stiff before the herb juice enters. A spoon should leave a trench that stays open; ordinary soft mayonnaise cannot take one-third its volume in liquid without slumping.
- •Measure the three-to-one proportion by volume. This is not decorative precision: the herb juice supplies both flavor and water, and too much changes a spoonable emulsion into dressing.
- •Use the spicy seasoning with restraint. White pepper and cayenne should sharpen the cool herbs without warming the mouth; cold fish is delicate company.
- •For guests who are pregnant, elderly, very young, or immunocompromised, use Mayonnaise made with pasteurized yolks. Keep the finished sauce refrigerated and discard it after two hours at room temperature.
Advance Preparation
- •Prepare the very stiff Mayonnaise and the herb juice specified in Vincent Sauce (No. 132) separately up to one day ahead, then keep both tightly covered and cold. Combine them on the day of service for the clearest herb color.
- •The finished Sauce verte may be made up to four hours before dinner. Press reusable wrap or parchment directly against its surface, chill it, and stir gently before serving.
- •For a smaller table, reduce every quantity together while preserving three parts stiff mayonnaise to one part herb juice. The proportion stays; only the bowl becomes smaller.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 27g)
Calories
145 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
0 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
0 g
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