Chef Juliette
Oriental Sauce
Sauce Orientale concentrates lobster-rich American Sauce with curry, then folds in cream away from the fire: a glossy, gently spiced derivative made for lobster, crayfish, and firm fish.
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Béarnaise Tomatée Sauce or Choron Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
Sauce Choron is Béarnaise in its tomato-red register: glossy, sharp with vinegar and shallot, rich with butter, and kept only tepid so the emulsion reaches tournedos intact.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Date Night
5 min
Active Time
10 min cook•15 min total
YieldAbout 1⅔ cups (400 ml), 6 servings
Sauce béarnaise tomatée, dite Sauce Choron (tomato-finished Béarnaise), teaches the rule governing every warm butter emulsion: temperature is an ingredient. The tomato must be smooth, concentrated, and as tepid as the sauce before they meet. Add a cold, watery purée or put the finished sauce over direct heat, and the gloss loosens into grease.
The source assumed a saucier watching the emulsion, a horsehair tammy ready for straining, and a reliably tepid corner of the stove. The book keeps Béarnaise Sauce (No. 62) as its own preparation, and so do we. For one cook, one stove, one evening, a fine-mesh sieve replaces the tammy and the quantity becomes about 400 ml, enough for six generous plates rather than a service pan. The separate saucier and old equipment were brigade scaffolding; the vinegar-and-herb reduction, yolk-thickened butter emulsion, concentrated tomato, and gentle temperature are the dish and must stay.
When it is right, Sauce Choron falls from the spoon in a coral-red ribbon, rich but sharpened by the Béarnaise reduction. The final chopped chervil and tarragon are deliberately omitted, exactly as the source directs. Before combining anything, bring the sauce and tomato to the same tepid temperature. That is the step that decides it.
Sauce Choron belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen repertoire, where Béarnaise was extended with intensely red tomato purée for Tournedos Choron and later accompanied grilled poultry and pale butcher's meats. It is sometimes mistaken for hollandaise merely colored with tomato, but its grammar is Béarnaise: a shallot, chervil, tarragon-stalk, and vinegar reduction beneath the egg-and-butter emulsion, with the source version deliberately omitting the final chopped herbs.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Béarnaise Sauce
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / about 240 g) Béarnaise Sauce (No. 62)
prepared through straining with its final chopped chervil and tarragon omitted
very red tomato purée
Quantity
⅔ cup (160 ml / 170 g)
sieved and reduced until thick
tepid water (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
large egg yolk (optional)
Quantity
1
reserved for a severe rescue
fine salt (optional)
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Béarnaise Sauceprepared through straining with its final chopped chervil and tarragon omitted | 1 cup (240 ml / about 240 g) Béarnaise Sauce (No. 62) |
| very red tomato puréesieved and reduced until thick | ⅔ cup (160 ml / 170 g) |
| tepid water (optional) | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| large egg yolk (optional)reserved for a severe rescue | 1 |
| fine salt (optional) | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •1-quart heavy saucepan
- •Medium heatproof bowl
- •Balloon whisk
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Instant-read thermometer, optional
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the Béarnaise
Prepare the Béarnaise Sauce (No. 62) according to its own entry through the tammy step, using a fine-mesh sieve as the honest home equivalent. Stop before adding the final chopped chervil and tarragon; Choron keeps the herbs in the founding reduction but leaves out that fresh finish. Hold the strained sauce in a warm bowl, off direct heat.
Do not replace the cited Béarnaise with bottled hollandaise. The shallot, chervil, tarragon-stalk, and vinegar reduction is Choron's backbone, not an optional accent. - 2
Concentrate the tomato
Put the sieved tomato purée in a small heavy saucepan. If it is already dense enough for a spoon drawn across the pan to leave a clean path, warm it gently and stop. If loose liquid closes that path at once, stir over medium-low heat until the excess water has cooked away. The source assumed a prepared, intensely red purée; reducing an honest canned purée supplies that home equivalent without changing the sauce's intent.
- 3
Match the temperatures
Let the tomato settle to roughly 43 to 49°C (110 to 120°F), pleasantly warm against a fingertip but never hot. Bring the Béarnaise to the same range by resting its bowl briefly over a bain-marie, a warm-water bath, then remove it. Cold tomato can seize the butter, while excessive heat cooks the yolks and splits the emulsion.
- 4
Fold and rescue
Whisk the tomato purée into the Béarnaise in three additions, combining each completely before adding the next. The finished Sauce Choron should hold a glossy ribbon and nappe, meaning coat, the back of a spoon without running like broth. If it turns oily, stop. Ça se rattrape: whisk 1 teaspoon of the tepid water in a clean bowl, then add the broken sauce a spoonful at a time until the emulsion catches. If it still refuses, whisk the reserved yolk with another teaspoon of tepid water over the gentlest bain-marie until creamy, remove it from the heat, and rebuild the sauce into that base.
- 5
Season and serve
Taste and add salt only if the tomato has muted the seasoning. Do not add chopped chervil or tarragon, and do not put the finished sauce back over direct heat. Keep it tepid in its bowl for no longer than 30 minutes, whisking once before serving. Spoon it generously over tournedos, grilled poultry, or veal, allowing it to pool rather than painting the plate with it. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose a plain tomato purée containing tomatoes and, at most, salt. Basil, garlic, and olive oil pull the sauce away from its Béarnaise foundation. Good canned tomato is the classical pantry doing its job.
- •The purée must be thick before it reaches the emulsion. Watery tomato dilutes the yolks' hold on the butter, leaving a thin sauce with beads of fat around the rim.
- •Keep Sauce Choron tepid, never hot. A small thermometer removes the guesswork, but your finger tells the truth too: the bowl should feel comfortably warm, not demand that you pull away.
- •This sauce was made for tournedos, where its vinegar and tomato cut through browned beef and butter. With grilled poultry or veal, pour a dry red with freshness rather than great weight.
- •Serve promptly. Refrigerate any remainder within two hours, but expect the emulsion to firm and lose some gloss; it is better spooned cold the next day than forced back over heat. We don't apologize for butter, and we don't scorch it either.
Advance Preparation
- •The tomato purée can be sieved and reduced up to two days ahead. Chill it covered, then return it gently to the tepid range before combining.
- •Make the Béarnaise close to serving time. Once Sauce Choron is assembled, hold it off direct heat for no more than 30 minutes.
- •Set the serving bowl and plates somewhere warm before beginning. Cold porcelain tightens a butter emulsion quickly, while a very hot plate can loosen it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 68g)
Calories
255 calories
Total Fat
25 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
155 mg
Sodium
220 mg
Total Carbohydrates
4 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
2 g
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