Bonnefoy Sauce, or White Bordelaise Sauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •1-quart (1-liter) heavy saucepan or small saucier
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Small balloon whisk
• •Heatproof bowl
• •Flexible spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the finish

   Warm the prepared Velouté gently, keeping it below a simmer. Cut the cold butter into twelve small, even cubes and return it to the cold while you mince the tarragon. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a heatproof bowl. Once the wine begins reducing, the sauce moves quickly, so have every finishing element within reach.

   Cold butter gives you time to build the emulsion cube by cube. Soft or melted butter enters too quickly and is more likely to leave an oily sauce.
2. 2

   Reduce presque à sec

   Put the minced shallots and white Bordeaux in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a lively simmer, then lower the heat and reduce until the wine is presque à sec, almost dry. The shallots should remain pale and moist, with only a glossy film of wine moving across the pan when it is tilted. This is the step that decides the sauce. If the liquid disappears before the shallots soften but nothing has browned, add a tablespoon of the same wine and continue more gently. If the shallots scorch, begin the reduction again; burnt wine cannot be reasoned with.

   Trust the pan, not the clock. Almost dry means a damp shine beneath the shallots, not a chalky pan floor.
3. 3

   Simmer with Velouté

   Add the warm prepared Velouté and scrape the bottom of the pan thoroughly. Bring the sauce to the barest simmer and cook for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping the heat low enough that only a few bubbles disturb the surface. It should become concentrated and coat the back of a spoon without turning pasty. If it tightens before the full simmer is complete, loosen it with a teaspoon of warm water and lower the heat.

4. 4

   Pass the sauce

   Rub the sauce through the fine-mesh sieve with a flexible spatula, pressing the softened shallot thoroughly against the mesh. The sieve is the home equivalent of the book's tammy and preserves the intended smoothness without changing the method. Scrape the underside of the sieve into the bowl, because that clinging spoonful carries both body and flavor.

5. 5

   Monter au beurre

   Return the strained sauce to the clean pan and warm it only until comfortably hot, then take it completely off the fire. Monter au beurre means mounting with butter: whisk in one cold cube at a time, allowing each to disappear before adding the next. Keep the pan off the heat. If the butter begins collecting in oily beads, stop immediately. Ça se rattrape: whisk a teaspoon of ice-cold water in a clean bowl, then whisk in the broken sauce one spoonful at a time until it becomes glossy again. Never boil it after the butter goes in.

   If the butter stops melting, set the pan over the lowest heat for two or three seconds, then remove it and continue whisking. Brief warmth, not continuous fire.
6. 6

   Add tarragon and serve

   Fold in the chopped tarragon and taste the sauce. A properly seasoned Velouté should carry the seasoning, so adjust only if your base requires it. Serve Sauce Bonnefoy immediately over grilled fish, chicken, or veal, spooning it generously enough to pool beside the meat. If it must wait, hold it for no more than ten minutes in a warm place and whisk it once before serving. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Graves gives the sauce a dry, firm wine character; Sauterne makes it rounder and sweeter. The source permits both, so choose according to what you are serving. Dry Graves is particularly good with grilled fish.
• •Use real unsalted butter, cold and cut evenly. Margarine and butter substitutes contain the wrong balance of fat and water for a stable monter au beurre, and their flavor has nowhere to hide.
• •The prepared Velouté is a finished component, not something to re-create inside this recipe. Use one based on fish stock for grilled fish or a pale poultry or veal stock for white meat, while keeping the stated quantity unchanged.
• •A small saucepan matters. In a broad skillet, this modest amount of wine vanishes before the shallots have time to soften, and the Velouté reduces too aggressively during its twenty-minute simmer.
• •Sauce Bonnefoy favors simply grilled sole, turbot, brill, trout, chicken, or veal. Keep the grill seasoning restrained so the tarragon and white Bordeaux remain legible.

Advance Preparation

• •The wine and shallot reduction may be made several hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Warm it gently before adding the prepared Velouté.
• •The sauce may be simmered with the Velouté, passed through the sieve, cooled, and refrigerated for up to one day. Rewarm it gently and mount with the cold butter only when the meal is ready to go to the table.
• •Do not refrigerate and boil the fully butter-mounted sauce. If leftovers must be reheated, use the gentlest heat and whisk in a few drops of cold water as soon as the sauce loosens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 30g)