Foyot or Valois Sauce (Béarnaise with Meat Glaze)

Sauce Foyot, dite aussi sauce Valois (Béarnaise enriched with meat glaze), teaches the discipline of finishing an emulsion without bullying it. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is that the pale meat glaze must meet a stable Béarnaise Sauce (No. 62) at the same tepid temperature. Too hot, it shocks the yolks; too cold, it firms the butter.

The book assumed a saucier on staff and a stockpot never off the fire, so dissolved pale meat glaze was simply waiting. A home kitchen needs neither brigade nor gallon measure: use half a finished home batch of Béarnaise Sauce (No. 62) and half the book’s glaze, preserving its ratio exactly. The separate service setup is scaffolding and can go; the gradual addition is the dish and stays. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When it lands, butter-yellow turns warm ochre, tarragon stays bright, and the sauce falls in a glossy ribbon that can meet a grilled steak without disappearing beneath it. Add the glaze a teaspoon at a time, whisk each addition smooth, and never put the finished sauce over direct heat. That slow meeting is the one step that decides Foyot.