Caper Sauce

Sauce aux Câpres (caper sauce) teaches the discipline behind every sauce held by a liaison (an egg-and-butter binding): once it is smooth, gentle heat keeps it smooth. The capers bring sharp, briny points through the rich, lemon-touched base, but the one true thing to know before touching a pan is this: the capers are not the danger. Boiling is.

The book's kitchen assumed a saucier with Butter Sauce (No. 66) ready in quantity, then measured capers into each pint at service. It called for no stock and no salamander, so the home version invents neither; a heavy saucepan and a low burner handle about two quarts, with the exact ratio preserved as eight tablespoons of capers. The brigade's continuous holding and last-minute portioning are scaffolding and can go, while the caper ratio and no-boil discipline are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Any tammy work belongs to the preparation of Butter Sauce (No. 66), not this derivative; here a fine-mesh sieve waits only for rescue. Fold in the capers and the sauce stays ivory-gold, glossy with butter, and generous enough to pool around a piece of gently cooked fish. Holding it just below a boil after the capers enter is the step that decides the result.