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Anchovy Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
Sauce aux Anchois teaches the quiet discipline of finishing off heat: ivory Normande sauce, anchovy butter, and tender pieces of washed fillet held in a glossy emulsion that flatters poached or baked fish.
Sauce aux Anchois (anchovy sauce) teaches one quiet law of finishing: once the anchovy butter enters, the fire is over. The Normande foundation should remain ivory and glossy, with its anchovy salinity carried through the cream rather than beaten into an oily slick. Keep the pan off heat, and the sauce holds.
The original formula assumed a saucier on staff, a fish stock never off the fire, and unbuttered Normande Sauce (No. 99) held ready for finishing throughout service. Your home equivalent is a measured batch prepared ahead, warmed gently once, and finished in one pan. The rolling stockpot and repeated service are brigade scaffolding and can go; the off-fire emulsion, the washed fillets, and the original ratio are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The anchovy pieces give small, tender flashes of salt against the smooth sauce, not a coarse paste and not a fishy blow. Have the butter cool and pliable, reserve two spoonfuls of the base, then lift the pan completely from the burner before you whisk. That off-fire mounting is the step that matters most.
Ingredients
unbuttered Normande Sauce
Quantity
6 cups (1.42 L / 1.45 kg) Normande Sauce (No. 99)
prepared anchovy butter
Quantity
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (270 ml / 255 g)
cool and pliable
anchovy fillets
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 85 g)
washed, thoroughly blotted, and cut into small pieces
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unbuttered Normande Sauce | 6 cups (1.42 L / 1.45 kg) Normande Sauce (No. 99) |
| prepared anchovy buttercool and pliable | 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (270 ml / 255 g) |
| anchovy filletswashed, thoroughly blotted, and cut into small pieces | ½ cup (120 ml / 85 g) |
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