Mint Sauce

Sauce à la menthe (mint sauce) teaches that extraction doesn't always ask for heat. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is that this sauce never meets one. Cut the mint finely without crushing it, and the vinegar draws out its scent while the leaves remain green and distinct.

Unlike the grand sauces, the source formula assumed no saucier, simmering stockpot, or salamander. Its only brigade scaffolding was a ready pair of hands and precise knife work. Here the quantities are halved for one home table, enough for four to six people, while the original proportion of mint, white cassonade, vinegar, and water remains intact. One cook, one bowl, one evening.

The cutting and the standing time are the dish, so neither can go. Use a sharp knife, add the ingredients in the source's order, and let the sauce rest until the sugar has disappeared and the vinegar smells of fresh mint rather than raw sharpness. Before you begin, dry the leaves completely; wet mint dilutes the sauce before it has even started.