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
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Cambridge Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
A cold sauce with real backbone: hard-boiled yolks, anchovy, capers, mustard, and garden herbs worked with oil until satin-smooth, ready for sliced beef, veal, lamb, ham, or tongue.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Picnic
Make Ahead
Outdoor Dining
20 min
Active Time
12 min cook•1 hr 2 min total
YieldAbout 1/2 cup (120 ml), 4 servings as a condiment
Sauce Cambridge (a cold hard-yolk, anchovy, and herb emulsion) teaches a useful branch of the mayonnaise family. C'est la même grammaire: begin with an emulsifying base, introduce the oil slowly, and never ask speed to do the work of attention. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is this: the oil can only be absorbed by a yolk paste already pounded smooth.
The grand-kitchen formula gave six yolks to a saucier equipped with a heavy mortar and a cloth tammy. Neither the perpetual stockpot nor the salamander has any work here. For one cook and four diners, every quantity is halved exactly; a small food processor or home mortar replaces the extra pair of hands, and a fine-mesh sieve replaces the tammy. The old sieve itself was brigade scaffolding and can go. Forcing the sauce through a fine mesh must stay, because that refinement is part of the dish.
Finished properly, Sauce Cambridge is dense and satin-smooth, mustard-ochre with fresh green parsley running through it, followed by the saline depth of anchovy and caper. It should cling generously to a slice of cold meat rather than run across the plate. Before the first drop of oil goes in, make certain no chalky crumb of yolk remains.
Sauce Cambridge belongs to the French classical repertory of cold sauces shaped around Anglo-French dining tables in London and Paris, rather than to an old household tradition specific to Cambridge. Its classical source calls it an Anglicised version of Sauce Vincent: the fresh-herb character remains, while hard-cooked yolks, anchovy, capers, and mustard give Cambridge greater savor and firmness beside cold meats. It is a derivative by technique and family resemblance, not one of the foundational mother sauces itself.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large eggs
Quantity
3
hard-boiled and cooled; yolks only
salt-cured anchovy fillets
Quantity
2 fillets (about 8 g)
rinsed and dried
capers
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2 g)
drained and dried
fresh chervil, tarragon, and chives
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 1 g) total
finely chopped and mixed in roughly equal proportions
smooth Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / 8 g)
neutral oil, such as grapeseed or sunflower
Quantity
3 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons (57 ml / 52 g)
white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / 7.5 g)
cayenne pepper
Quantity
1 small pinch (about 1/32 teaspoon / 0.05 g)
fresh parsley
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 0.5 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large eggshard-boiled and cooled; yolks only | 3 |
| salt-cured anchovy filletsrinsed and dried | 2 fillets (about 8 g) |
| capersdrained and dried | 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2 g) |
| fresh chervil, tarragon, and chivesfinely chopped and mixed in roughly equal proportions | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 1 g) total |
| smooth Dijon mustard | 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / 8 g) |
| neutral oil, such as grapeseed or sunflower | 3 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons (57 ml / 52 g) |
| white wine vinegar | 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / 7.5 g) |
| cayenne pepper | 1 small pinch (about 1/32 teaspoon / 0.05 g) |
| fresh parsleyfinely chopped | 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 0.5 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Small saucepan
- •Sturdy mortar and pestle or small food processor
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Small whisk
Instructions
- 1
Cook and cool eggs
Put the eggs in a small saucepan and cover them with cold water by 1 inch (2.5 cm). Bring the water just to a boil, cover the pan, remove it from the heat, and leave the eggs for 11 minutes. Transfer them immediately to cold water. Once completely cool, peel the eggs, remove the yolks, and pat the yolks dry; reserve the whites for another meal.
Cool yolks make a firmer, more obedient paste. Warm yolks soften the oil and make the emulsion unnecessarily difficult. - 2
Pound the foundation
Combine the yolks, anchovies, capers, chervil, tarragon, and chives in a sturdy mortar or small food processor. Pound or process them patiently, scraping the sides often, until they form a fine, cohesive paste with no visible crumbs of yolk. This smooth foundation is the step that decides the sauce. Oil added to a lumpy paste only coats the lumps; it cannot remove them.
- 3
Build the emulsion
Reserve 1/2 teaspoon of the measured vinegar, then beat the mustard into the yolk paste. Add the oil a few drops at a time at first, whisking or processing until each addition disappears before the next goes in. Once the paste has taken the first tablespoon confidently, continue in a very thin thread. Beat in the remaining 1 teaspoon vinegar after all the oil has been absorbed. If the sauce loosens and free oil shines on its surface, stop. Ça se rattrape: put the reserved vinegar in a clean bowl and whisk in the broken sauce one teaspoon at a time until it becomes smooth again. If no rescue is needed, whisk the reserved vinegar into the finished emulsion.
- 4
Season and sieve
Work in the cayenne, then press the sauce firmly through a fine-mesh sieve with the back of a spoon or a flexible spatula. Keep pressing until only a thin fibrous film remains. The old cloth tammy can leave the kitchen, but this refining step must stay: it removes anchovy fibres, caper skins, and stubborn yolk grains, giving Sauce Cambridge its close, satin texture.
- 5
Whisk and finish
Scrape the sieved sauce into a cold bowl and whisk it briskly for 30 seconds to smooth and lighten it, then stir in the chopped parsley. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Taste before reaching for salt, because the anchovies, capers, and mustard usually provide enough. Serve beside cold sliced beef, veal, lamb, ham, or tongue. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Use a fresh, neutral oil. A strongly flavored extra-virgin olive oil overwhelms the chervil and turns bitter when worked vigorously; grapeseed or sunflower lets the anchovy, mustard, and herbs keep their proper balance.
- •Salt-cured anchovies are closest to the source method. Rinse away the surface salt and dry them thoroughly. Oil-packed fillets also work when well drained and blotted, but their packing oil does not replace the carefully measured oil in the sauce.
- •Fresh herbs matter here. Dried chervil and chives remain woody and refuse the sieve. If chervil cannot be found, use tender flat-leaf parsley for its portion and accept that the result will be less delicate.
- •For a picnic, pack the sauce in a sealed jar inside an insulated cooler and keep it at or below 40°F (4°C). Do not leave an egg-based sauce unrefrigerated for more than two hours, or one hour in very hot weather.
Advance Preparation
- •The eggs can be hard-boiled up to three days ahead and kept chilled in their shells. Separate the yolks only when you are ready to make the sauce.
- •Sauce Cambridge is best made several hours before serving so the anchovy, mustard, and herbs settle into one another. Keep it covered and refrigerated, then whisk briefly before bringing it to the table.
- •The finished sauce keeps for up to three days in the refrigerator. Its fresh herb flavor is brightest on the first and second days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 33g)
Calories
160 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
140 mg
Sodium
145 mg
Total Carbohydrates
1 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
3 g
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