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Herb Sauce
Created by Chef Juliette
Sauce aux Fines Herbes cloaks poached fish in a glossy white-wine emulsion, sharpened by shallot butter and kept alive with parsley, chervil, tarragon, and chives.
Sauce aux Fines Herbes (Herb Sauce) teaches one clean rule: once the white-wine base is hot, the fire has finished its work. The shallot butter must be whisked in away from the heat, where it thickens the sauce into a glossy emulsion instead of melting into an oily puddle. The herbs follow last, still green and distinct.
The original assumed a saucier with White Wine Sauce (No. 111) ready for service and enough poached fish to justify a full pint. Your honest equivalent is one cup of the prepared sauce, a small saucepan, and a whisk. I have halved the book's quantity for four to six portions while keeping its proportions and sequence intact. The dedicated saucier and service volume were brigade scaffolding; the finished white-wine foundation, shallot butter, off-fire mounting, and precise quartet of fresh herbs are the dish and must stay.
This is a quiet sauce, ivory, glossy, and green-flecked, made to flatter boiled or poached fish without burying its delicacy. Take the pan completely off the fire before the first piece of butter goes in. That is the step that decides everything.
Ingredients
White Wine Sauce
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / about 240 g) White Wine Sauce (No. 111)
prepared
Shallot Butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g)
cool and cut into 6 pieces
flat-leaf parsley, chervil, tarragon, and chives
Quantity
1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / about 2 g) combined
finely chopped and mixed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| White Wine Sauceprepared | 1 cup (240 ml / about 240 g) White Wine Sauce (No. 111) |
| Shallot Buttercool and cut into 6 pieces | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g) |
| flat-leaf parsley, chervil, tarragon, and chivesfinely chopped and mixed | 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / about 2 g) combined |
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