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.
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Escoffier Roberts Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 53, Escoffier Roberts Sauce, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Sauce Roberts proves that finishing is a technique: equal volumes of bottled sauce and excellent brown stock, warmed gently to a gloss for grills, with the original condiment served cold beside sliced meat.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Weeknight
Quick Meal
5 min
Active Time
10 min cook•15 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts hot sauce, or 1 quart cold sauce
Sauce Roberts d'Escoffier (prepared sauce for grills and cold meats) teaches a small but exact lesson: finishing a prepared sauce is still cooking. Equal volume means equal volume, and excellent brown stock does not merely thin the bottle; it opens the sauce, brings it to serving consistency, and carries its seasoning over grilled meat. Know that ratio before touching the pan.
The source assumes a saucier on staff, brown stock never off the fire, and a salamander tending the grill while each order is sauced. Your home equivalent is a heavy saucepan, a whisk, a well-made stock, and the grill or broiler you already own. The brigade quantity becomes a freezer-friendly quart of each, and the long holding can go because holding was scaffolding; the equal-volume finish and gentle heat are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Warm it, never boil it. Finished Sauce Roberts should pour in a glossy ribbon and be nappant, lightly coating the back of a spoon. If it separates or grows greasy, take it off the heat and whisk until it comes home; ça se rattrape. The step that matters is adding the hot stock gradually while the bottled sauce stays below a boil.
The bottled Sauce Roberts in Escoffier's entry belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen pantry, where prepared condiments stood beside brown stocks and were finished differently for grill service and the cold-meat table. It is often mistaken for a complete pan-made sauce Robert, but this particular entry records a service formula: equal-volume brown stock for hot use, no dilution for cold meats. Its range from pork and veal to poultry and even fish shows that the canon treated a balanced piquant sauce as a working condiment, not the property of one meat alone.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
good bottled Sauce Roberts
Quantity
4 cups (950 ml / approximately 1 kg, depending on brand)
excellent brown stock
Quantity
4 cups (950 ml / 950 g)
for hot service
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| good bottled Sauce Roberts | 4 cups (950 ml / approximately 1 kg, depending on brand) |
| excellent brown stockfor hot service | 4 cups (950 ml / 950 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart (3.8-liter) heavy saucepan
- •1-quart (950-ml) heatproof jug
- •Balloon whisk
- •Heatproof ladle
Instructions
- 1
Choose the service
For hot service, use all the bottled Sauce Roberts and brown stock in exact equal volume. For cold service with cold meat, leave the bottled sauce undiluted and keep the stock for another purpose. The cold sauce is not the hot mixture chilled down; the source gives two distinct uses of the same prepared condiment.
- 2
Heat the stock
Pour the 4 cups (950 ml / 950 g) excellent brown stock into a heavy saucepan and bring it just to a bare simmer. It should tremble at the edge without boiling hard. Pour it into a heatproof jug and cover it so it stays hot.
- 3
Warm the Roberts
Return the saucepan to low heat and add the 4 cups (950 ml / approximately 1 kg) bottled Sauce Roberts. Stir slowly until it loosens and flows readily from the spoon, but do not let it boil. Strong heat can dull its piquancy and draw the fat out of the sauce before the stock has a chance to join it.
- 4
Whisk in the stock
Add the hot brown stock in three portions, whisking each one completely into the Sauce Roberts before adding the next. Once all the stock is incorporated, hold the sauce at the barest simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, just until it is smooth, glossy, and nappant, leaving a light film on the back of a spoon. Do not reduce it aggressively; the source specifies dilution, not reconstruction. If oily beads appear, remove the pan from the heat and whisk firmly from the center. If it still refuses to join, whisk a few spoonfuls in a clean warm bowl until smooth, then incorporate the rest gradually. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Serve without delay
For hot service, ladle the Sauce Roberts into a warmed sauceboat or spoon it directly over grilled pork, veal, poultry, or fish. For cold service, stir the undiluted bottled sauce until smooth and serve it cool beside sliced cold meat. À table!
Chef Tips
- •This entry begins with its named prepared condiment. Choose a bottle labeled Sauce Robert or Sauce Roberts and described as a piquant brown sauce; generic steak sauce changes the dish.
- •The brown stock must have body without excessive salt. A good homemade or frozen stock becomes lightly gelatinous when cold; thin, salty broth will only make thin, salty sauce.
- •If no proper bottled Sauce Roberts is sold where you live, don't improvise with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, or mustard. Use a separate formula that actually builds Sauce Robert; this entry governs how the prepared sauce is served, not how its bottle is manufactured.
- •A two-quart batch is generous. Freeze the hot finished sauce in 1-cup portions, enough for several servings, and reheat only what the table needs.
Advance Preparation
- •Measure the bottled Sauce Roberts and brown stock earlier in the day, but keep them separate until shortly before service. The finishing takes about ten minutes.
- •Cool leftover hot Sauce Roberts promptly in shallow containers and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze in small portions for up to 2 months. Reheat gently to a bare simmer, whisking as it warms.
- •For cold service, keep the bottled sauce chilled and stir it smooth just before carrying it to the table. Do not dilute it with stock.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 60g)
Calories
40 calories
Total Fat
2 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
5 mg
Sodium
330 mg
Total Carbohydrates
4 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
2 g
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