Chaud-Froid Sauce, au Vert-pré

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 5- to 6-quart heavy saucepan
• •Small lidded saucepan for the herb infusion
• •Fine-mesh sieve lined with damp muslin
• •Large metal bowl and a larger bowl for an ice bath
• •Clean wooden skewer for marking the reduction level
• •White saucer and chilled metal spoon for testing

Instructions

1. 1

   Set the reduction mark

   Pour the hot velouté into a wide, heavy 5- to 6-quart saucepan. Dip a clean wooden skewer straight down to the pan floor and mark the sauce level; this is the eight-cup line to which both reductions must return. Keep the velouté at the barest simmer while the infusion is prepared.

   A wide saucepan gives controlled evaporation. A narrow stockpot makes the reduction slow and encourages unnecessary boiling.
2. 2

   Infuse the wine

   Bring the white wine just to a full boil in a small saucepan. Remove it immediately from the heat, add the chervil stalks, tarragon leaves, chives, and parsley leaves, then cover tightly and leave undisturbed for 10 minutes. Strain through damp muslin or a dampened fine sieve without pressing the herbs; pressing clouds the infusion and brings a bruised, grassy taste.

3. 3

   Reduce with jelly

   Add the melted poultry jelly and the strained herb infusion to the velouté at the same time. Bring the mixture to a steady bare simmer, skimming away any foam, and reduce until it returns to the marked eight-cup level, about 30 to 40 minutes. This first reduction concentrates the velouté and distributes the jelly evenly; a hard boil dulls the herb perfume and darkens a sauce that should remain delicate.

4. 4

   Finish with cream

   Add the cream little by little, whisking each addition smooth before the next. Continue at a bare simmer, stirring across the pan floor often, until the sauce again reaches the eight-cup mark and nappes the back of a spoon in an opaque, even layer. If the cream turns grainy, stop boiling and blend the sauce briefly until smooth, then pass it through damp muslin into a clean bowl. The fine straining is the home equivalent of the brigade's tammy.

5. 5

   Tint it pale

   Reserve 1 cup of the strained sauce before colouring. Warm the Green Colouring Butter (No. 143) only until barely fluid, then add it to the larger portion in drops, whisking completely and testing the colour on a white saucer after every addition. Stop when the sauce is a breath greener than the intended pale shade, then whisk in the reserved untinted sauce. If the colour jumps too dark, don't panic. Ça se rattrape: the reserved sauce softens it before it reaches the table. Do not assume the full quantity of colouring butter is needed.

6. 6

   Cool to coating point

   Set the bowl over an ice bath and stir steadily, scraping the sides back into the centre, until the sauce is cool, glossy, and thick enough to cover a chilled spoon without running clear at the edges. If it begins setting before use, place the bowl over barely warm water and stir until it flows again; never boil it after colouring. If a chilled-spoon test remains thin, return the sauce to the saucepan, reduce it for 5 minutes, strain, and test again.

7. 7

   Coat the fowl

   Set thoroughly chilled, dry cooked fowl on a rack over a tray. Ladle the chaud-froid au Vert-pré over it in one uninterrupted coat, allowing the excess to fall away, then refrigerate until set. Apply a second thin coat only where the first is translucent. For a Printanier presentation, arrange the early-season vegetable garnish after the sauce has set so its clean pale surface remains intact. Keep the finished dish cold until serving. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The wine quantity preserves the source proportion: its quarter-pint infusion is doubled for this two-quart batch. Bring the wine to the boil, but don't reduce it before the herbs go in.
• •Keep the four herb quantities similar, as the source directs. Tarragon can bully the others when measured with a generous hand; the sauce should taste of a garden, not one leaf.
• •Green Colouring Butter (No. 143) is a finished preparation here. Its concentrated spinach colouring is used in minute amounts and is not re-derived inside this derivative sauce.
• •Judge the colour on white porcelain, not against copper, wood, or a dark worktop. The correct shade is pale spring green, smooth and unflecked.
• •The cooked fowl must be cold and very dry before coating. Moisture makes the sauce slide, while warm meat melts the jelly before it can set.
• •Refrigerate the sauce promptly and use it within 2 days. Do not freeze it; the cream and jelly can separate into a wet, grainy texture after thawing.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the white poultry velouté and clear poultry jelly up to 3 days ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator. Reheat the velouté gently and melt the jelly separately before beginning.
• •The finished sauce may be made up to 2 days ahead. Let it set under cover, then return it to coating consistency over a barely warm water bath, stirring gently and never boiling.
• •Cold cooked fowl may be coated the day before serving. Once the glaze has set, cover without touching its surface and keep refrigerated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)