Chaud-Froid Sauce, au Vert-pré

Chaud-Froid Sauce, au Vert-pré (pale-green herb coating sauce) teaches restraint. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is that its green must whisper, not announce itself. The sauce should remain pale and softly herbal, with the satin body to cover cold fowl in one smooth coat.

The original assumed a saucier at the range, a stockpot never cold, white velouté and poultry jelly ready to hand, and Green Colouring Butter (No. 143) waiting in the larder. At home, begin with those finished components, replace the tammy with a fine sieve lined in damp muslin, and use an ice bath to find the coating point without a brigade watching three pans. The stockpot work is scaffolding and may be completed ahead; the covered infusion, measured reduction, and cautious colouring are the dish and must stay. This batch makes about two quarts in one wide saucepan, enough to coat two cold fowl. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Add the herb infusion at the same moment as the jelly, exactly as the source directs, then reduce before the cream goes in. The final step decides everything: tint with the green in drops, checking against a white saucer, and stop while the shade still looks tender.